I have never understood why this card doesn't get more air time. I selected it when I found out I would be moving overseas because I liked the no foreign currency transaction fee. It has become my primary card while I am out of the US. I have been very pleased with the foreign currency rates and have to say, I like the rewards program it offers also. I feel like I will use the miles more readily for the type of travel I normally do also. For example, I normally can book my travel ahead of time enough to get a discounted seat. I would likely never burn miles to get this type of ticket, especially if it is a domestic flight (assuming Saver-level awards are even available), but the way the rewards structure is based on the Venture card, I might use the rewards I have earned to pay for that same ticket. In addition, I will earn miles in my favorite frequent flyer program while flying a route that credit card points paid for. So for those of you that really like the Starwood AMEX or other cards, what keeps you from adding the Capital One Venture card to your wallet. I mean, after all, "What's in Your Wallet?"
I've heard Cap One cards come up many times in discussions of good cards for overseas use. Now that AMEX is going to get rid of their fees, I'd have no reason to add it though. I prefer the MR's over any other points at this point (no pun intended ) The only reason i've been using Visa/MC recently is for mint spending as AMEX FR'd me and said no more mint purchases.
I have to say that they have done a great job on advertising the Capital One credit card. I hear that guys voice in the back of my mind whenever the card comes up. I think part of the issue for me is that historically Capital One had somewhat of a lower credit targeting, negative connotation. Since they bought North Fork and really expanded their banking business and improved the credit quality of their portfolio, its not really the case anymore but in the back of my mind, I still think expensive card, low credit score customers are targeted. I will end up with this or the new Hyatt card as my new card in the next few months, just need to figure out which offers the better proposition for right now. As for your comment about why Starwood - for me 30K spending and *Gold status guaranteed is a plus, not to mention that I do value hotel points higher than airline miles usually. (I can fly coach if I had to, but do not want to sleep in a 1* flea bag hotel/motel). Those other cards also offer lucrative joining bonuses which the Cap One card doesn't have. My credit union debit card provides for no fee on the international travel and great rates, so I have that aspect covered when needed.
If only Capital One had a decent bonus for opening the account, I don't think I've seen anything higher than 10k points. Now that other cards offer no fe I don't see a reason to use it as my MR points and flexperks give me rev. tickets. Plus they give bonuses during the year as incentives. Glad it works for you though, I have friends that use it and they like it too. I say, give me a decent start up bonus as I'd like to give it a chance.
The Travelocity Amex gives me a MUCH greater return for every $ spent. I can book revenue tickets at low fares for few points with the Travelocity card (and you can also earn status miles and upgrade on those tickets).
"If only Capital One had a decent bonus for opening the account, I don't think I've seen anything higher than 10k points." I would agree that this is the single major drawback of the Capital One card now. Still, they sometimes offer 20K (in private links). I have acquired it this way.
I got one last year because of they don't charge foreign currency transaction fees. However, I did rack up more fees than I expected because of ATM withdrawals when I was on vacation, but that was my fault because I didn't read the disclosures correctly. Still, I intend to keep it for any upcoming international travels, though I don't really use it for any of my regular transactions at home.
The AMEX Platinum and Centurion cards or all AMEX cards? Ours is the Costco True Earnings card, a good card IMHO but one which still includes a 2.7% foreign transaction fee AFAIK. We just got a Capital One card and plan to restrict it to foreign use. It's worked as advertised on our first trip with it (to Italy) and the exchange rate itself seems close to mid-market. I also signed up to get an e-mail alert whenever I have a foreign transaction and that comes through almost instantly.
Maybe I'll have to figure out how to sign up to get an invite. I need an incentive especially know that BA Visa has no fe. I
Chase's Hyatt Visa, British Airways Visa, and Continental Presidential Plus Mastercard all come with no foreign currency transaction fees (The Continental Presidential Plus is a new addition effective yesterday or the day before). I would take the rewards on any of those cards over the Capital One program. But then if I wanted points towards purchase of domestic coach airfare, I'd go with a cash back card.
I agree in the abstract and I've been reading your thoughts on credit cards. etc. for years now so I'll ask you a question. If you look at my signature, you'll see Mrs. Fredd and I aren't involved in the Hyatt or BA programs. Re the CO card, we do already have a UA Visa (albeit with fee). Finally, I uploaded for free onto the Capital One card a photo of us boating in a Bangkok klong that really impressed (or amused) the nice young clerks in our Italian hotels. (Okay, that last one doesn't count. ) Based on our travel affiliations, and the fact I'm fairly sold on our cash-back Costco AMEX, are there any of the cards you mentioned that you'd still recommend to us?
Here's what I'll give you -- if you won't put enough spend on the card to make it worth the annual fee for Hyatt or BA, then the Capital One offering is a legitimate choice for international spend only.
I'm not finding a better card than Cap. One Venture. The others seem to offer less mileage accrual. This one is 2 miles/every dollar charged. Also, mileage can be redeemed for lots of travel expenses including time share fees. Check it out: Summary of Key Benefits: Named Money® magazine’s “Best Rewards Card if you aim to rack up airline miles” Get double miles on every purchase, every day Redeem your miles for any travel expense For new accounts, the first year’s annual fee is on us plus earn 10,000 bonus miles No foreign transaction fees This Credit Card is For: People with excellent credit who want to earn rewards faster and travel with more flexibilityRewards: 2 miles per dollar on every purchase One-time bonus of 10,000 miles once you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months Your miles will not expire There’s no limit to the miles you can earn Redeem miles for flights, hotel rooms, car rentals, gift cards and more Additional Rewards Information. We use this as our primary card. Am I missing something?
Whats the redemption procedure on this card? Can you buy basically anything and flag it to be paid by points?
Yes, once it posts and the charge is recognized as travel (hotels, airfare, etc) you get a 1pt=$0.01 conversion rate (the non travel charge conversion rate is I think half of that so not worth it IMO). I have the gold card which gets 1.25 miles per $$. I was going to do the blue one though I don't travel enough to justify the annual fee and there are other cards I use at home that I like more. I pretty much just have it for int'l travel. Chase has started dropping some of their forex charges (BA Visa, etc.) though they all have annual fees too at this point and while the AMEX is nice if you already have it I find that you cannot rely on AMEX as much outside of the states, especially at smaller places, so it is nice to have a forex-free Visa card.
I think the big weakness of this card is that there's a maximum (and a rather low one) of the value you can get for each mile. What they call "miles" aren't really miles, they're pennies, so you're essentially getting 2% back on spend. While 2% is good, if your primary concern is getting cash back, you can beat 2% on other cards (usually in targetted spending catagories)...although I'm not particularly familiar with these schemes others can chime in with more info. The big downside, versus airlines miles, is that you can't affordably use your points from the Cap. One card for international tickets in premium cabins because you can't get more than 1 cents per mile (or 2 cents per dollar spent) in value, whereas even using my United Mileage Plus Credit Card I can redeem 105,000 miles for a business class ticket to Europe that could cost $6-7 thousand dollars....that's a lot better than 1 cent per mile (or 2 cents per mile which is the fair comparisson because I earn only 1 mile per dollar). And you can do even better with better cards and programs with more favorable award charts.
Yes, this is even more true if you do a lot of spend on airlines to start. You can get a UA Visa for instance and get 3X miles on UA purchases which can be like getting 6-8% back easily if you book a premium cabin ticket.
I was just put on hold to get the card. I won't explain the details, but it wasn't for lack of income or credit rating. In fact, I think it's because I'm at home without my own income. Here's an article from Business Week on the unintended consequences of recent rule changes. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_10/b4218030561940.htm Has anyone else had a problem?
This is great to know since I am living overseas and need a backup cedit card. Having no foreign transaction fees are going to save me a lot of money!
There is a new promotion that looks good: "Get up to 100,000 miles with Venture"(http://www.capitaloneventure.com/#/Match_My_Miles) The folks at Capital One® are so confident their miles are better, they'll match up to 100,000 of your hard-to-use airline credit card miles with easy-to-use Venture miles. (That's up to $1,000 of travel value, math fans.) Here's how to get the miles Apply for the Venture card. After you're approved, register online and submit proof of your airline credit card miles. Spend $1,000 with your new Venture card within 90 days and the miles are yours. But act fast, there's only one billion miles to give away - get your share before they're gone.
aka60... Did you apply? How did it turn out? *Edit* I was just approved for myself and my spouse... hopefully it will play out for the best. Still fuzzy on the mile match... very vague. A possible $2200 to use towards travel is worth the risk imo.
I just opened accts. yesterday but in theory the next step is waiting for an email that has not come.
I applied today and they said that my email will come "within 8 days." I hope there are still miles to be had at that point!
