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Welcome to the 10-minute long guide taking you from beginner to absolute expert on the Capital One Venture X.
There is a reason that this card, despite being less than 3 years old, is one of the top travel credit cards in the entire world, if not the best travel credit card that you can possibly get.
Now, if you don't have this card, you're going to learn a ton in this video and possibly what it could do for you. But this is even more for the people who have this card already and could potentially be missing out on tons of value that they didn't even realize was included, easily accessible within the card. So, I'm going to include tons of screenshots, how-tos, and actually how to work this card to its very fullest potential so you can get everything possible out of the Venture X.
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Now, if I had to guess why you're considering at this point getting the Venture X for yourself, or why you're already holding the card, I can pretty confidently say you probably want the most possible features in a luxury card for the lowest annual price compared to its top-tier competitors. And that reasoning makes it all the more important that you're actually getting everything Capital One packed in here back out of it.
Now, wait a second. Before you can even think about earning miles on this card, let's have a real conversation about the $395 annual fee. When you get a card in this tier, you're going to have to pay for it. And that fee is assessed to you as soon as you are accepted and receive this card in the mail on that first billing statement, and it will continue to be assessed to you every single year after. So make sure that you're ready for that commitment. However, I'll explain in this video how you can actually work that annual fee down to less than zero and make much more money off of this card through your normal habits.
Now, let's see exactly how that works, starting with an earnings multiplier. While most luxury credit cards are super complicated and you almost have to write a huge list of things to remember to do when you hold them, the Venture X is the one refreshing exception to that rule. It's got three earnings categories: you can get 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through the Capital One Travel portal, 5x miles on any flight booked through that same portal, and 2x miles back on everything else that you purchase, with a 2x mile back minimum on any purchase that you make.
Capital One once again breaks with tradition in this luxury credit card space by making a card that you can use as your only card in your setup. Unlike its peers where you're probably only using it on really expensive purchases in their high earnings multipliers and then having a bunch of other cards to round out your spending needs, Capital One lets you do it all and not feel like you're missing out on anything with a very well-rounded earnings multiplier setup.
The single biggest opportunity to earn your miles, though, on the Venture X is not going to be through your everyday spending for most people, but it will be through the 75,000 bonus mile signup offer that's been really consistent over the years with the Venture X. While some credit cards hop and skip around like the Platinum, where you see different offers almost every single month, the Venture X historically has been around 75,000 miles. If you'd like to get this offer through the link in the description, it's a free way at no cost to you to support the channel. Of course, check for other higher offers that may be targeted to you, but the Venture X is pretty stable and consistent around that 75,000 mile offer.
Now, we just talked about the annual fee and how that can be so expensive, but 75,000 miles puts essentially $750 into your pocket. And we're about to start talking about benefits and actually how you can spend these miles down when you've accumulated quite so many. However, another huge piece of value with this card is the travel credit. And every single year, as you assess that annual fee of $395, you also get a travel credit valued at $300 for use in the Capital One Travel portal. The incredible thing about this credit is you can really apply to anything that you can get inside the portal. That could be flights, hotels, rental car bookings, and the credit can be broken up across different uses. For example, for me, I personally booked a trip that was only $220, but I didn't have to force myself to use the entire credit on that spend because I knew I could break it up and use it down the road.
All right, let's get into the fun one: redeeming miles. Now, this is where people start to learn a lot about the options that they have inside of their card. Capital One offers a ton of different ways to get your miles back that you've earned. Some are really valuable uses for those miles, while others are a little less valuable. But the key is to use the miles for whatever makes you happiest in your life. So don't feel pressured to use them one way or another, but I will explain the ingrained value of these miles for each category that we talk through.
The first way is, of course, booking travel with miles through the Capital One Travel portal. If you use this method, you get your miles at a fair value of 1 cent per mile, which means that a $350 flight is going to cost you 35,000 miles. The Capital One Travel portal works exactly like an internet search engine, and a lot of people out there rate the Capital One portal as the smoothest and easiest interface to use of any credit card booking portal.
The next thing that you can do is actually cover purchases that you've already made with your Capital One miles. To do this, you can erase purchases that are coded under any travel category that show up inside your Capital One statement. Just navigate to your Capital One page, hit redeem rewards, and then select cover travel purchases. In this window, you'll get a list of the purchases that you've made, and you'll see that erasing these purchases with miles can be done at a 1 cent per point value.
Now, expert travelers love booking through the portal to get the 5x or 10x miles back for their purchases, and then going back and erasing those purchases by redeeming miles. It's almost like double-dipping off of what Capital One is offering you.
The next travel-specific way is to transfer your miles out to Capital One Transfer Partners. Now, this can be a little bit more complicated, but at its very simplest, it's actually pretty achievable for most people. Capital One has a list of transfer partners that you can view here on your screen. And if you find a booking through their website that you'd like to make, you can connect your Capital One account with your Transfer Partner's loyalty account and you can send the miles that you have on your Capital One, that you've earned through your credit card spending or that massive signup bonus, over to your Transfer Partner and then book it through their site. A lot of times, especially with flights, you can make your miles worth 2 to 3 cents per mile, which is a huge value compared to spending them anywhere else.
Now, there are a few other redemptions that most people consider less than optimal. Gift cards are included in a huge list that Capital One offers, and they go for about 0.8 cents per mile. You could redeem your miles for cash at 0.5 cents per mile. As you can see, it's not nearly as valuable as spending that on the travel portal, where you could take that signup bonus and spend $750 worth of value on those categories of purchases.
Now, the area that will really make you an expert on the Venture X is understanding all the built-in benefits that come with this card. When you get the Venture X, you also get access to the Capital One Lounges, Plaza Premium Lounges, and Priority Pass Lounges. And within two weeks of getting this card, you'll get your Priority Pass membership card mailed to you in the mail. You'll also get a digital version, and that will unlock the exclusive lounge access that you have that comes with the Venture X.
To enhance your travel, you'll also get Global Entry and TSA Pre-Check that comes to you in the form of a $100 credit. So you just have to go through, get that charge to your Venture X, and that will be wiped away from your statement after that transaction's complete. Both of these benefits are good for 5 years, and I can't say enough about how easy it makes traveling and getting into airports.
You'll also get to enjoy Hertz President's Circle status. This allows you for skipping the line and check-in and free upgrades with your rentals. Now, this is a benefit that is going away at the end of 2024, so something to keep in mind if you really value that that comes with this card. I'll always remind people to wave the suggested rental insurance as well, because on your Venture X, you get that auto rental collision damage waiver, which covers you in the event of collision or theft.
Additionally, the reason that you have a nice credit card is to get nice purchase protections. You'll get cell phone protection, which covers your phone to $800 if it's stolen or damaged. You get travel accident insurance, which is a reimbursement potential for up to $2,000 per person if your trip is canceled or cut short due to illness or injury. You'll also get return and extended warranty protections that are built in when you're just purchasing normally on this card.
Finally, I want to leave you with three key tips to maximize the value you can get out of this card, and also give you three pitfalls to avoid to keep in mind that when you have this card to stay away from.
Tip number one is get your travel basics covered before you start your trips. It takes two weeks for your Priority Pass card to arrive after you've enrolled. It also is great to go ahead and enroll in TSA Pre-Check or Global Entry, go through the interview, and then wait for that statement credit to be removed from your billing statement, so you've essentially done that for free. It makes such a world of difference when you're flying, so there's no reason not to go ahead and get this done and check that box so you can enjoy a more luxurious travel experience.
I also always recommend the Venture X for people who want authorized users. Whereas with other cards, it can almost be $200 to add another authorized user onto your card, for the Venture X, it is absolutely free, and you can do this up to five times. And your authorized user can bring guests with them complimentary with them as well into the lounges, so you can bring a whole gang of people with you to enjoy the experiences that you get because you went and got the Venture X.
And finally, do not forget to track and monitor your progress towards your signup bonus. Capital One allows you to do this through the app with just a few clicks, which is a whole lot better than some other credit cards which make it a little trickier to see where you're at. And that is such a big chance to earn miles that I really don't want you to miss out on that opportunity.
Finally, three pitfalls to avoid. If you don't have this card, do some research and think about the transfer partners that it offers. One of the biggest negatives on the Capital One is the lack of domestic airline transfer partners, which means people come in with this expectation that they're going to be getting two to three cents per mile transferring their flights out and getting everything booked through other partners, and they realize that there's not a great option to do that domestically. So come in with a plan of what you would do with your miles because you are making an investment before you get that value out of it with this card.
Tip number two is to have a plan for the Venture X. Whether you're thinking about your credit card strategy for the first time, and I've made a video to help you work through that yourself, or you're getting another credit card, don't just get this card to rack up a ton of miles but not have a plan on what to do with them. Credit cards and airlines and hotels, they devalue the point redemptions all the time, change up the rules, and you can really end up feeling like you've missed out if you just get credit cards without a plan. So know your next vacation or have a use to put that into play with your miles, and you'll end up a whole lot happier and you'll get to enjoy the process all the way through.
My third mistake to avoid is ignoring the Venture X Hopper when you decide to book. If you listen to the hopper and book when the price is low, you'll be automatically enrolled in price drop protection, which can get you up to $50 back if the price drops at any time on a flight in the next 10 days. It's such a no-brainer benefit, but people always blow straight past that and don't consider the savings that they could have when they're traveling by using that tool correctly.
The bottom line on this card is, I believe it's the single best value for a luxury travel credit card. I hope this video made you feel more confident in using your Venture X and showed you how to unlock a few more features within your own card. If you have any extensive questions about this card, feel free to email me at consulting.org@gmail.com. Thanks so much for watching, and we'll see you in the next one.
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