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I know I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I feel like I need to discuss the recently-released Capital One Venture X card — lest I lose what little credit card enthusiast cred I have. Following months of rumors that Capital One would be getting into the premium travel card game, that prediction came to pass earlier this month with the reveal of the Venture X card. For context, Capital One’s Venture card is one of its flagships while they also have a VenutreOne card as well. So, why the hype over the Venture X? Well, there are a few reasons, starting with the potential value that it offers.
Let’s start off with the annual fee: the Venture X comes at a cost of $395 per year. While that’s not exactly cheap, it is noticeably lower than the $550 Chase Sapphire Reserve and now $695 American Express Platinum card. What’s more, one of the card’s biggest benefits is that cardholders can earn up to $300 in statement credits on travel booked via Capital One Travel. In other words, right off the bat, the effective annual fee of the Venture X drops to $95 if you use this credit — which happens to match the standard Venture card’s annual fee. Then, when you consider that cardholders earn a 10,000 mile bonus every year on their account anniversary, suddenly that $395 annual cost could be a net $5 gain.
Setting that encouraging math aside, let’s look at what else makes the Venture X card special. When it comes to rewards, 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked on Capital One Travel, 5x miles on flights booked on Capital One Travel, and 2x miles on all other purchases. Personally, having no experience with said travel platform, I can’t exactly speak to whether or not it’s any good — but 10x on hotels is undoubtedly strong and 5x on flights is solid as well (even if booking directly isn’t counted like it is with the Amex Platinum). Yet, to me, the 2x on everything is really the key here as this makes the Venture X a good choice in many more situations. For example, in my case, I’d probably end up using this card for everything that wasn’t dining, grocery, or whatever rotating category Discover has that quarter. Thus, for those who don’t want a ton of cards, this is a pretty solid utility choice.
As for other benefits, the most notable — and another big reason why the Venture X was both anticipated and hyped — is that cardholders enjoy complimentary access to the new Capital One Lounges. If you weren’t aware, Capital One’s first airport lounge recently opened at DFW, with future locations set to open at IAD and DEN in 2022. Of course, since that network is pretty limited so far, they also include a Priority Pass select.
Now for the sign-up bonus. The bad news is that the minimum spend for this offer is pretty hefty, totaling $10,000. However, the good news is that you’ll have six months to meet that limit — and the even better news is that you’ll score 100,000 bonus miles for doing it. On top of that, for a limited time, new cardholders can also earn up to $200 in statement credits for vacation rental purchases made in their first year of card membership.
The last thing I want to note is that Capital One X customers can also add authorized users for no charge. Compare this to the $175 annual fee that Amex charges to add up to three Platinum card AUs or the $75 annual fee Chase charges for Sapphire Reserve AUs. Thus, this could be a pretty significant perk for couples, close friend groups, and others.
Believe it or not, that’s not even everything that the Capital One Venture X has to offer — but I’ll leave it there for now. Needless to say, like many others, I’m definitely impressed with what Capital One has built with this card and look forward to seeing how the card evolves. But will I be applying? Well, not just yet. While I’m definitely attracted to the 2x miles on everything and the credits that make the card basically free, I don’t see myself getting much value from the lounge access seeing as we already have a Platinum card and don’t visit DFW (nor IAD or DEN, for that matter) very often. Plus, even though the $300 travel credit is pretty easy to use, juggling various cards with all these different credits can be a bit more difficult. Yet, while I’m personally holding off, I think there are plenty of people who could benefit from the Capital One Venture X card.
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