Capital One Venture vs. Bilt Obsidian: Simplicity or Card Maxing? 

• Written by Harlan Vaughn
  

  Harlan Vaughn

  Credit cards, travel rewards, investing, loans, personal finance, deposits

  Harlan Vaughn has over a decade of experience covering credit cards and travel rewards content. His work has been featured in Bankrate, Business Insider, BuzzFeed, Forbes Advisor, NerdWallet and more. With millions of points and miles redeemed for travel, Harlan has used credit card rewards to visit incredible destinations including Iceland, Japan, Hawaii, New Zealand and Chile. His mission is to help others maximize their credit card rewards and benefits. Harlan is a dad of three and lives in Memphis, Tennessee. He’s also interested in personal finance, investing and financial independence. When he’s not digging into those topics or earning rewards with a portfolio of nearly 40 active credit cards, you can find him hiking, enjoying live music and traveling with his family.

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• Edited by Emily Gadd, CCC™
  

  Emily Gadd, CCC™

  Credit Cards, Personal Finance, Health and Wellness

  Emily Gadd is a NACCC Certified Credit Counselor™, editor and personal finance expert responsible for writing about personal finance and credit cards. She got her start writing and editing at Healthline. She is passionate about creating educational content that makes complex topics accessible. Emily holds a credit counselor certification, accredited by the National Association of Certified Credit Counselors (NACCC). She lives in Seattle with her husband and two cats.

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• Reviewed by Jasmin Baron, CCC™
  

  Jasmin Baron, CCC™

  Credit Cards, Travel Rewards, Loyalty Programs, Family Travel, Credit Building, Credit Scores

  Jasmin Baron is a NACCC Certified Credit Counselor™ and CardCritics’ senior editor, responsible for editing and writing credit cards, travel rewards, loyalty program, and other credit-related content. She is passionate about personal finance education and enjoys sharing tips and tricks for making the most of credit card points and miles with her readers. Her expertise in maximizing credit card travel rewards originated from over two decades of aviation industry experience, including 18 years working as a pilot and college professor/flight instructor in her native Canada. Her work has appeared on sites such as CNN Underscored Money, Business Insider, The Points Guy, and point.me. When she’s not planning her next trip with credit card rewards, you’ll probably find her tinkering around in the kitchen, hanging out with her three kids, or playing with her dog, Benji.

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• Last Updated Feb 10, 2026

To choose between the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Bilt Obsidian Card is to decide between simplicity or complexity. Both cards have the same annual fee, but a vastly different set of rewards and benefits. The Venture Card has been around for a while, and the Bilt Obsidian Card is brand new.  

With the Capital One Venture Card, you have the option to keep it simple or take it more advanced, whereas the Bilt Obsidian Card appeals mostly to points maximizers. We’ll break it down so you can decide which is best for you. 

How the Cards Compare: Capital One Venture vs. Bilt Obsidian

Welcome Bonuses

When you pay an annual fee for a credit card, there’s a fair expectation to earn a welcome bonus. Sometimes, these can be worth several hundred dollars, as is the case with the Venture Card. 

Capital One Venture Welcome Bonus

With the Capital One Venture Card, you can currently earn $250 to use on Capital One Travel in your first cardholder year, plus earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening. 

Assuming the 75,000 miles are worth $750 (at 1 cent each) and you take the $250 travel credit at face value, that’s $1,000 in total value — very good for a card with a $95 annual fee. Last time this offer was available, I jumped on it and I’ve had the card since. It’s a phenomenal return for a well-rounded card you can keep for years. I know I will. 

You’ll need to spend $4,000 within the first three months, which breaks down to around $1,333 in spending per month to earn the bonus. That’s on the high side for some, but if you funnel all your regular spending onto the card or plan around a large purchase, it’s attainable. 

Bilt Obsidian Welcome Bonus

On the other hand, you’ll earn $200 of Bilt Cash when you apply and get approved with the Bilt Obsidian Card that’s only redeemable for credits with Bilt partners. And because Bilt is geared toward renters and homeowners, you can also use Bilt Cash to “buy” Bilt points for your housing payment. 

CardCritics™ Opinion

Considering the Bilt Obsidian Card only awards Bilt Cash that you have to spend with a limited set of partners — and it’s only $200 compared to a potential $1,000 or more with the Capital One Venture Card — this round easily goes to the Venture. The rewards are more flexible for travel and can be much more valuable. That’s a big reason why it’s one of the best travel credit cards.

Earning Rewards

Along with the ocean between the welcome offers, the gulf further widens with the rewards structure between these two cards. 

How To Earn Rewards With Capital One Venture

The Venture Card has a simple rewards proposition: You’ll earn 2 Capital One miles on every purchase and 5x miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. 

So you can think of it as a “2x everywhere card” with bonus miles for booking certain travel through Capital One’s portal. Those are easy, flat-rate rewards that anyone can understand. That’s why it’s one of the best Capital One credit cards.

How To Earn Rewards With Bilt Obsidian

Explaining rewards with the Bilt Obsidian Card requires a deep breath. There are options to make — and a calculator is recommended (seriously). 

You’ll earn 2x Bilt points on all travel and 1x points for everyday spending. You can choose to earn unlimited 3x points on dining or 3x points up to $25,000 per year (then 1x) on groceries. 

You also have another choice to make. You can earn either 4% of all your spending in Bilt Cash and up to 1x points on your rent or mortgage payment OR up to 1.25x points on your housing payment. 

With the Bilt Cash option, you’ll earn 4% Bilt Cash from spending on the Obsidian card, and you can redeem $30 in Bilt Cash to earn 1x point per $1,000 of your housing payment. So if your rent or mortgage is $3,000 per month, you can use $90 in Bilt Cash to earn 3,000 Bilt points. To earn $90 in Bilt Cash, you’d need to spend $2,250 on the card, which is 75% of $3,000. 

To put it another way, you need to spend at least 75% of your monthly housing payment to earn enough Bilt Cash to redeem for 1x points each month. Told ya you’d need a calculator. 

With the Housing option, your housing payment multiplier is determined by how much you spend on the card in a billing cycle: 

• Spend 25% but less than 50% of your housing payment, get 0.5x points
• Spend 50% but less than 75% of your housing payment, get 0.75x points
• Spend 75% but less than 100% of your housing payment, get 1x points
• Spend 100% or more of your housing payment, get 1.25x points

If you spend less than 25% of your housing payment, you’ll still get 250 points if you pay it through Bilt. 

The inflection point is spending 75% of your housing payment. With the Bilt Cash option, you can redeem the cash you earn to get 1x points. It’s the same with the Housing option. If you spend more or less, the better deal depends on how much your housing payment is and if you prefer Bilt Cash or points. 

CardCritics™ Opinion

There’s real potential to maximize everything you earn with the Bilt Obsidian Card, particularly if you make your housing payment through Bilt’s platform. How much you’ll earn is tied to your payment amount and how much you spend on the card. 

With the Capital One Venture Card, you earn the same amount for everything (except certain travel booked through Capital One) whether you only buy a few things or make daily purchases. There’s nothing to track and no ratios to remember. That is to say, you don’t need a calculator. Rewards are simple and, for most households, that’s going to be a much better setup. 

Redeeming Rewards

When it comes to redeeming rewards, Capital One and Bilt have simple ways to redeem all the way up to more complex methods. Capital One’s simple redemptions are more straightforward than Bilt’s, while Bilt’s advanced options can be potentially more rewarding. That said, Capital One tends to have a better all-around program, and Bilt has definite winners and losers. 

How To Redeem Rewards With Capital One Venture

You can redeem Capital One miles: 

• To cover the cost of a travel purchase: This is the easiest way to redeem, and your miles are worth 1 cent each. Considering you earn 2x miles for every dollar spent, that’s the equivalent of 2% back toward travel. 
• For travel through Capital One Travel: Miles are also worth 1 cent each here, and you can book flights, hotel or vacation rental stays, rental cars and activities directly through Capital One.
• As a statement credit: This is a terrible way to use your miles, because they’re only worth half a cent each when redeemed this way. 
• To pay for shopping through PayPal or Amazon: This looks convenient at first glance, but when you get into the value, your points are worth less than a penny each — usually 0.08 cents — and that’s not a good deal.
• For gift cards: This is also not usually a great deal. Your points are typically worth 0.08 cents each, which is a little under 1 cent. 
• For transfers to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners: This is where your points can potentially be worth much more than 1 cent each — sometimes much more. If you’re willing to dig into the Capital One’s various partners, most of which have a sweet spot or two, you can do quite well using your miles this way. 

How To Redeem Rewards With Bilt Obsidian

Likewise, Bilt has several rewards options with varying degrees of value. You can redeem Bilt points: 

• For travel through Bilt: Bilt has a travel portal where you can book flights, hotels or Blade helicopter transfers. Points are worth about 1.25 cents each this way, which is a respectable rate. But considering the base earn rate is 1 point per dollar, it may not be the most valuable. 
• For rent payments: Rent payments have a value of 0.55 cents each, which is much less than 1 cent per point.
• For fitness classes: Bilt points are worth 1 cent each for various fitness classes, like training, yoga and more.
• Toward other everyday purchases: You can redeem Bilt points for home delivery services, mobile dining, Lyft rides and Amazon purchases. These all have varying values, but can be at or below 1 cent per point. Be sure to check the value so you know you’re getting a good deal. 
• For gift cards: You can get gift cards to popular merchants like Foot Locker, Home Depot, Starbucks and West Elm, but the value is around 0.7 cents each, which isn’t stellar
• For transfer to Bilt’s airline and hotel partners: Bilt has arguably the most valuable set of transfer partners, hands down. Partners include Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, British Airways and Southwest Airlines for airlines and IHG, Hilton and Hyatt for hotels. Your points can be incredibly valuable for nearly any of Bilt’s program partners.

CardCritics™ Opinion

This one’s more of a tie, because it depends on what you’re going for. If you’re looking for everyday value, Capital One Rewards is better. And if you’re looking for useful transfer partners, it’s really hard to compete with Bilt, although Capital One also has a few valuable program partners, too. 

Card Benefits

When you pay for a card with an annual fee, you usually want to see some benefits, whether that’s travel protections, shopping perks or other value-adds. Both of these cards have the potential to earn more than the cost of the fee. 

Capital One Venture Benefits

With the Capital One Venture Card, you’ll get: 

• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit: Up to $120 statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every four years
• Events and experiences: Access to tickets for concerts and sporting events, and special dining reservations
• Hertz Five Star elite status*: Get a better rental car selection, extra points and the ability to bypass the rental counter when you enroll
• Extended warranty: Eligible items purchased with the card get an additional two years of warranty coverage
• Hotel perks: Book a hotel stay through Capital One’s Lifestyle Collection and receive room upgrades, early check-in and late checkout (subject to availability), plus a $50 experience credit
• No foreign transaction fees: These fees can add an additional charge up to 3% on each international purchase, but you won’t pay them with the Venture Card
• Car rental insurance: Pay for your rental with the card and decline the rental agency’s collision insurance, and get secondary coverage for theft or collision

Though it’s a travel-focused card, it’s notably not one of the best credit cards for travel insurance. Still, there’s plenty on offer. Check out our guide to Capital One Venture Card benefits. 

Bilt Obsidian Benefits

Here’s what comes with the Bilt Obsidian Card: 

• Bilt Travel hotel credit: You’ll get $100 per year, broken into two $50 credits, for qualifying Bilt Travel hotel bookings of two nights or more
• Trip delay insurance: If your trip is delayed more than six hours, you can get up to $300 per trip once per 12-month period toward essentials
• Trip cancellation and interruption protection: You can get your trip refunded for a covered reason, up to $2,000 per covered trip and $5,000 per account per 12-month period
• Lost or damaged luggage coverage: If something happens to your bag, or it’s lost, you can get up to $1,500 per incident up to the actual cost, twice per 12-month period
• Extended warranty: Eligible items purchased with the card get an additional two years of warranty coverage
• Cell phone protection: If your phone is stolen or damaged, and you pay your wireless bill with the card, you can get up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per card with a $50 deductible up to two times per 12-month period 
• No foreign transaction fees: You won’t pay them with the Bilt Obsidian Card
• Car rental insurance: Pay for your rental with the card and decline the rental agency’s collision insurance, and get secondary coverage for theft or collision

These sound good, and the insurance is certainly useful. The $100 hotel credit makes for a flashy bullet point, but the limitations bring it down a notch because you have to book through Bilt and stay at least two nights. More frustratingly, you can’t use the credit all at once, so the onus is on you to remember to use it twice a year: January to June, and July to December. 

CardCritics™ Opinion

The Bilt Obsidian objectively has better travel benefits than the Venture Card, which says a lot considering the Venture is supposed to be more travel-focused. I have an allergy to the coupon-style credits of $50 each, but must admit the actual travel benefits are better. 

Fees and Costs

Neither has a 0% APR offer, although the Bilt Obsidian does have a limited-time reduced APR. After that, its regular rates are shockingly high, though other fees are in line with industry standards. 

Capital One Venture Fees and Costs

• ​​Annual fee: $95
• APR: 19.49% - 28.49% (Variable)
• Balance transfer fee: 4% of the amount of each transferred balance that posts to your account at a promotional APR, none for balances transferred at the transfer APR
• Cash advance fee: Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater
• Foreign transaction fee: None
• Late payment fee: Up to $40
• Authorized user fee: None

Bilt Obsidian Benefits Fees and Costs

• ​​Annual fee: $95
• APR: 10.00% Introductory APR applies to each New Card Purchase that posts to your account during the first 12 billing cycles after the date you open your account. After that a 26.74% to 34.74% Variable APR applies to Purchases. A 26.74% to 34.74% Variable APR applies to Balance Transfers, based on your creditworthiness.
• Balance transfer fee: Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each balance transfer, whichever is greater
• Cash advance fee: Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater
• Foreign transaction fee: None
• Late payment fee: Up to $41
• Returned payment fee: Up to $41
• Authorized user fee: $50 per user

CardCritics™ Opinion

The Bilt Obsidian has a better APR the first year, but also charges a fee for authorized users, whereas the Capital One Venture Card doesn’t. This one is a toss-up, especially since the annual fees are the same and other fees are pretty basic. 

How To Choose Between Capital One Venture and Bilt Obsidian

Here are some scenarios to make a case for each card. 

Seeking Simple Rewards

If you prefer simplicity in your rewards program, the Capital One Venture Card is definitely the way to go. The base rate is strong and there are few categories to track, which isn’t the case with the Bilt Obsidian. Plus, with the Bilt Card, you need to choose between categories and whether you want to earn Bilt Cash or a points multiplier on your housing payment. 

The Venture Card doesn’t ask you to select anything, and rewards are consistent for most purchases. This is the one I would personally recommend if a friend told me they were torn between the two cards. 

Advanced Points Users

The Bilt Obsidian Card has constructed a complex system that will give the average person a headache, but could be a fun puzzle for a points enthusiast. I’d put myself in that category, but this card feels like it’s asking for too much of my time. Any card that needs a calculator and spreadsheet to maximize is a bridge too far, even for me. 

But if you don’t mind being very in touch with your card and are sure of your selections, yes, there’s potential to earn a great number of points. I’d also point out the opportunity cost of not putting your spending on a different card, but true points fans will be lured by the excellent transfer partners. 

Frequent Travelers

I can’t heartily recommend the Capital One Venture Card to a frequent traveler because the usual travel protections are just not up to snuff. And while the Bilt Obsidian has more and better travel protections, some of them are not the best available. So while Bilt Obsidian is better, for the truly frequent traveler, I’d actually say neither is a good choice and point you to the best cards with travel insurance instead. 

Flexible Points Fans

Bilt by far has a better set of travel partners than Capital One, and it’s not even close. Bilt has rounded up some of the best airline and hotel loyalty programs out there. Its airline and hotel partners are top-notch and high-quality, with dozens of valuable redemption options. 

That’s not to spite Capital One, though. If you like its partners — and I’ve found a few of them incredibly useful — you can do very well with the program. But if your end goal is to transfer your reward points, the Bilt Obsidian is better by every metric. 

I personally love the transfers to Alaska Airlines and World of Hyatt, but these cards make me question how much time I’m willing to devote to earning Bilt points. 

Travel Purchasers

If you think you’ll mostly use your rewards to offset the cost of travel purchases, the Capital One Venture Card is the better choice. That’s because of the higher base earning rate and higher per-mile value for travel statement credits. 

You’re also not limited to booking through a portal, so you can book travel however you want, then use your rewards to cover the cost after the fact. 

*Upon enrollment, accessible through the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at that status level through the duration of the offer. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.

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.