Capital One Venture Rewards

Features

Annual fee: $59, waived first year

Miles per dollar: 2 miles per dollar on every purchase, every day

Intro bonus: 25,000 bonus miles when you spend $1,000 in your first 3 months for new account holders

Miles can be used on: Fly free on any airline, any time with no blackout dates

Foreign Transaction Fee: No foreign transaction fees

Our review: Simple, generous rewards, no foreign fees

Capital One’s points program is simple — 100 miles are worth about $1. With the double miles on every purchase on the Venture Rewards card, every $100 in purchases is worth $2 in travel rewards, or a 2% return. That compares to a 1% return for typical travel rebate credit cards. You can use your points for travel purchases with any airline, hotel, or car rental agency.

While we generally find more powerful redemption value when you use native airline miles or hotel points rather than a generic points program, the Venture Rewards program’s double miles offer helps offset some of the gap and offers the value of simplicity. There are no restrictions on the flights or hotels you book — simply book it, then ask for your points to be applied as credit agaist the travel charge. It’s that easy, with every point worth $0.01 toward eligible travel purchases, gift cards, and more.

If you travel overseas, the Venture Card doesn’t charge a fee on foreign purchaes – which is often 3% with other companies.

Other features

• 2 miles per dollar on every purchase
• One-time bonus of 25,000 miles once you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months
• Get up to 15 more miles per dollar when you shop our Perk Central^SM retail network
• Earn unlimited miles that don’t expire
• Redeem miles for flights, hotel rooms, car rentals, gift cards and more