Is the Venture Card Annual Fee Worth It?
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Written by
Andrew Lisa
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offers a sizable welcome bonus and rewards cardholders with up to 5X on travel spending through Capital One Travel. The value of these rewards can easily match and surpass the $95 annual fee for avid travelers, particularly if they pair it with an airline card.
This is the Goldilocks card among Capital One’s four-card suite of Venture offerings. It delivers better rewards than the no-fee Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card and VentureOne Rewards for Good Credit, and is less than a quarter of the cost of the premium Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, which has a $395 annual fee.
Venture Card Benefits
Rack Up Rewards
The Venture Card pays rewards in miles, which cardholders can redeem in several ways for $0.01 each.
Its rewards program pays unlimited 5X miles per dollar spent on:
- Rental cars, vacation rentals and hotel stays booked through Capital One Travel
- Entertainment events and tickets, including sports, music, dining and suite experiences booked through Capital One Entertainment
All other purchases earn unlimited 2X miles, a solid default rate that matches the 2% that the best free flat-rate cash back cards — like Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card and Citi Double Cash® Card (an advertising partner) — pay for all purchases. Miles never expire and there is no limit on how many you can collect.
Welcome Offer
Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel. It’s a big incentive for this class of cards. For context, the high-end Venture X offers a 75,000-mile bonus but has an annual fee of $395.
With the Venture Card, the welcome bonus is enough to justify your annual fee for the better part of a decade.
Transfer Partners
Another way to get more value out of this card is to transfer your miles to your airline or hotel chain of choice’s in-house loyalty program — but your options are somewhat limited.
Currently, Capital One has 18 transfer partners — including just three hotel companies — and nearly all of the airlines are international.
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air Canada — Aeroplan
- ALL (Accor Live Limitless)
- Cathay Pacific — Asia Miles
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Choice Privileges
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Guest
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
- Finnair Plus
- Flying Blue
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- TAP Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Virgin Red
- Wyndham Rewards
Two of those offerings shortchange Capital One cardholders on the transfer. EVA credits just 750 miles for every 1,000 transferred. ALL converts 1,000 miles to just 500 points.
Other Ways To Redeem
If you don’t want to transfer your miles to an outside loyalty program, Capital One offers several other flexible options for redemption.
- Use miles as credits for any travel purchases you make with the Venture Card.
- Redeem miles as gift cards.
- Use miles to book travel or entertainment through Capital One.
- Convert miles to cash through a statement credit or a check.
- Shop at Amazon.
- Use miles to pay with PayPal at checkout.
Additional Travel Perks
The Venture Card offers benefits beyond just unlimited 2X or 5X miles that never expire.
If you book one of the more than 100 hotels, resorts and professionally managed vacation rentals in Capital One’s exclusive Lifestyle Collection, you’ll receive a $50 credit on every booking. You also get room upgrades, early check-in and late checkout when available.
Elevated 5X miles aren’t the only benefit of using your Venture card to book through Capital One Travel. Capital One says cardholders save an average of 15% on flights by using the portal’s price prediction tool. The card also comes with free price-drop protection. Along with the card’s price match guarantee on flights, hotels and rental cars, you could do better by booking flights through Capital One Travel than you might by pairing Venture Rewards with an airline card.
You can also skip the wait at the airport with up to a $120 statement credit for a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application every four years. The Venture Card also grants you access to Capital One Dining, which can help you snag hard-to-get reservations and get you into exclusive dining events at a curated selection of top restaurants. Booking entertainment through Capital One gets you not just 5X miles, but also access to VIP packages available only to cardholders.
Is the Fee Worth the Benefits?
It makes sense to pay the $95 annual fee for this card, only if you plan to travel or pursue entertainment experiences frequently and only if you book through Capital One. Otherwise, you can get the same 2% that the card pays for “all other purchases” with a no-fee flat-rate cash-back card.
Another consideration is that the top bonus category, which pays 5X miles, does not include airfare. One way to squeeze extra value out of the Venture Card is to pair it with an airline card that rewards flight purchases more generously.
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card have an annual fee?
Yes. The Venture Card charges a $95 annual fee.
How do I get my Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card annual fee waived?
Thanks to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), Capital One can waive annual fees for active-duty military personnel, as well as their families, if they open an account before they start active duty.
Is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card worth it?
The Venture Card can put you ahead of the $95 annual fee if you book travel and/or entertainment through Capital One.
Is Capital One annual fee worth it?
Like any card that charges an annual fee, it only makes sense to pay it if your spending habits earn you enough rewards to cover the fee or put you ahead of it.
