r/Venturex • u/Subject-Dealer2532 • 6d ago
Renew or cancel
So I’m due to renew my Venture X card by the end of the month, and I’m not sure I want to. With the Capital One credits and annual bonus, the card is essentially free, so I don’t see why not. However, the base perks of this card, compared to others, are probably about the worst you can get. Capital One Travel is almost guaranteed to be more expensive than booking directly or through a third party. They reduced the lounge access to only the main cardholders; before, it came with a guest.
Other cards without a fee are arguably better. You can almost get a standard 3% back on everything, while Capital One is only at 2%. The travel coverage is nice, but it’s only truly covered through Capital One bookings, and like I said it’s gonna cost more.
I guess I’m looking for reasons to renew. What’s your guys thoughts on the card and would you renew?
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u/northtexan 6d ago
I just renewed. I think the travel portal is pretty spot on, at least for me. I mainly fly american. The travel credit is also useful as well and brings the cost of the card to $100. I have used a few of the shopping portal benefits to get some big points back. Got $144 for doordash back and that paid for the remainder of the card. I've been trying to maximize the points I earn to get free flights to japan for the family. The HSN bonuses have helped a lot. But a lot of the things there are over priced, picked up a camera lens since the resale on those is pretty good (resale+points earned>cost). I like the card.
I wish i called to get a retention discount like ive seen some get here.
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u/No_Pumpkin_5338 6d ago
Don't forget 100 dollars worth of anniversary bonus
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u/northtexan 6d ago
Thats true! Just noticed that on my account. So the card defenitly pays for itself.
The lounge access has been great the two times ive used it. Was able to get a few snacks for my family, even though they were not able to go in.
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u/mikefellowinv 4d ago
What ? You left your family at Burger King and enjoyed the lounge ? Can you pay for their admission?
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u/mrfloopyshoopy 6d ago
Capital one travel will price match if you the same hotel or flight for cheaper. And it’s 2x, not 2%, so if you’re getting at least 1.5cpp it’s equal or better than 3%.
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u/I_reddit_like_this 6d ago
For flights the travel portal is generally good but I've noticed that for hotels and rental cars the portal price is often significantly higher than booking direct and with hotels they won't price match unless the room description and cancelation policy exactly match (it never does)
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u/Ok-Competition-5898 6d ago
That’s not true that it never matches. I did several price matches but I did the research before I booked and found rooms with the same descriptions as the ones within the portal.
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u/DSMRob 6d ago
Where are you getting 3% on everything with a major travel card player?
So I’m sitting in Dallas right now on a ticket I purchased through the portal and it was 1 dollar more. I also got to use my 300 credit so I will be net $1.00 for the year. I’ve also gotten 1000 points from an ebay purchase so I guess I’m net -9 bucks.
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u/HakaiVegeta 6d ago edited 6d ago
Getting a price match for bookings made through the portal is actually pretty simple.
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u/rowebenj 6d ago
The portal is so competitive, i haven’t even been able to do a price match in 2 years.
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u/TonightOk8791 6d ago edited 5d ago
You’re the only person that can answer this question is the card a bet positive or negative for YOU
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u/revveduplikeaduece86 6d ago
My combo:
- VX for daily spending, bill pay, etc.
- Savor for groceries, entertainment, everything that gets 3x
- Amex Platinum for lifestyle
The platinum is only a 1x card. But it's got the hotel credit, the resy credit, a bunch of other stuff. On the $895 annual fee, I think I easily get $2500 a year in value from the card, so even though almost no spending goes through it, I basically get to stack the benefits:
Take miles from the VX card, buy a flight \ Use the Amex hotel credit to help with the hotel \ Go out to eat on the resy credit
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u/ApprehensiveTruth409 5d ago
This is what we do 100% with both those cards. Though I am not familiar with Savor? I was contemplating getting an Amex gold for the 3 or 4 times points on restaurant spends. Have just been too lazy to look into...
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u/revveduplikeaduece86 5d ago
The thing about having the VX + Savor is you can transfer the cash back on the Savor to the VX as a 1:1 for miles. So my effective miles on my VX is something higher than 2x.
You can then take those miles and transfer them to airline partners.
If you split your primary card (VX) and your, let's call it, "grocery card" (Amex Gold) I suppose you can technically transfer them to an airline partner (Airline A receives points in from both C1 & Amex) so that probably could work for you!
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u/mikefellowinv 4d ago
How are you getting 2.5k after spending $895 on the annual fee ?
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u/revveduplikeaduece86 3d ago edited 3d ago
Main credits: \ Annual hotel credit: $600 (add in $100 hotel credit per stay makes this worth $800) \ Resy: $400 \ Disney/Hulu: $300 \ Lululemon: $300 \ Clear+: $219 \ Airline Credit: $200 \ Saks: $200 (they now just give us a $50 credit every quarter) \ Oura Ring: $200 \ Uber Cash: $200 \ Uber One: $120 \ Walmart+: $155 \ Peacock through W+ $90 \ Free Burger King Whopper every quarter through W+ (🤷🏽♂️ hey, why not?! lol): $40
That's $3,224
And I have maxed every one of these out. Solid return on the investment, IMHO.
Credits I have not used: \ Equinox: $300 \ TSA Precheck/Global Entry (just not time for me to renew): $120
Non-cash rewards: \ Gold status with Hilton and Marriott (I use this) \ Elite status with basically every car rental company (I use this) \ Rental car coverage (I use this) \ Phone coverage (basically identical to the VX, but I use C1 here, not Amex) \ Amex and Delta Lounges (I use these) \ Priority Pass (I use this but I also get it with VX)
ETA: \ I think it's important to note here, let's say I pay my phone bill with Amex ... It's a 1:1 card so on a $100 bill I'll get 100 points. If I post that same phone bill on my VX, I'll get 200 miles. So while the Amex has way better perks, it accumulates points more slowly. It's a trade off: fast miles and low perks vs slow points and great perks. The trick is to use the miles card for the miles and the perks card for the perks. Transferring the miles or points to an airline partner just puts an even better multiplier on the situation:
Spend: $100 phone bill x 12 months, transfer to airline partner with 30% bonus:
Amex: 1,560 miles with that airline.
Venture X: 3,120 miles with the same airline.
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u/mikefellowinv 2d ago edited 2d ago
You are on top of the coupon system. Good. I got sick of amex gold and cancelled. I am not a lulu saks doordash hotel type customer. All will be annoying to me.
I just finished using some resy it was a real pain. I am a panda express bk kind of guy. This card is not for me. If you already have the lifestyle then it might make sense. I also hate flying
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u/revveduplikeaduece86 2d ago
lol was that shade?
Listen, I don't understand the people who think all these cards are about is the Priority Pass. That's crazy to me.
I already had Clear+, I was already paying for Disney/Hulu, and I'm going to go out to eat AT LEAST 4x a year. Those three, alone, are $919 in credits (not coupons). I could pay for those out of pocket, but ... why would I? (Grrrr, I know I'm going to take my wife out on dates this year but I'd rather pay out of pocket than it be a card perk, awesome). I swipe my card, the credit appears instantly.
So from day 1, I'm already positive.
Now from there, if the card is giving me $600 to spend on hotels ... why not? For one of the stays this year, I booked a staycation for my wife and I at a Thompson in the city we live in. It was cool, we had a fun date night, spent the night at the hotel to have a break from the normal, it was great, and it was literally free to me.
That, along with all the other perks, is up to you as the cardholder to take advantage of--or not. If you choose to fall back on "staying at a really nice hotel is annoying to me," lol, that's one way to live life, sure.
But we travel, we date, we do a lot, all the time. It's nice to have something like this card offsetting those expenses.
And the Lululemon and Saks credits, I've never personally used. Those are just gifts to my wife and she loves them, and again, it costs me nothing.
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u/mikefellowinv 2d ago
What is the shade reference 🤔. What even is aura ring. I had amex gold and delta platinum. Still have $30 dunkin credit left. I dont eat anything there all junk. For the resy credit i went to a restaurant in princeton nj. It was good. But a lot planning went into picking a restaurant from those blessed by amex. Theres a clock to use those tick tick.I use walmart+ peacock Venture x seems much simpler.
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u/me047 2d ago
If all of that is true, why did you get the card? I’m curious
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u/mikefellowinv 2d ago
points. It makes sense initially. Afterwards I cant lulu says resy with a gun to my head. 😀
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u/MainStreetMiles 6d ago edited 6d ago
IMO, the Venture X is probably one of the easier cards to recover the annual fee, making it, as you point out, free. In fact I get a lot more value than breaking even.
- I log my achieved value on my points and I have realized about 3 cents per point on my Cap1 points transfers. That makes the 10k anniversary points worth about $300.
- I compare the Cap1 Travel site’s cost with other booking options and it’s usually maybe $50 higher on a $300 booking. Discounting my credit by that premium, my net value is $250. That alone puts me in the black on that card. This does not even include the 10x points on Cap1 Travel hotel spend, a multiple far higher than direct booking. That adds a few more dollars.
- I don’t have another Visa that earns 2x points so this is our Costco card. I have a Freedom Unlimited card with no annual fee that has 1.5x points. So I credit the value of 0.5x points on any Costco spend toward the the annual fee. With a family of five, that’s worth about 4k points per year or another $120 in value.
That allows this card to exceed the annual fee in value by about 70%.
If you are able to do two of those three, keeping the card seems to make a lot of sense to me. You could still add another premium card to your portfolio and make it work. In addition to my Cap1 Venture X, I have the Amex Platinum and more than cover it’s much higher annual with value from that card as well.
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u/rowebenj 6d ago edited 6d ago
Don’t forget they price match all travel through the portal for 24 hours.
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u/MainStreetMiles 6d ago
Actually, I did not know that, but I appreciate you mentioning it! I pretty much only use these credit card portals when I am trying to get the credits. But next time I am using my Cap1 Venture X credit I will certainly look into a price match.
I know I would not want to use them for most hotel bookings because you can miss out on hotel loyalty points and status perks (though Hilton still gave me points the last two times I used a credit card portal). However, there seems to be no major downside to booking airfare through them to get higher spend multiples. But the two times I used a portal this year on airfare, they were already priced the same as the airline.
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u/rowebenj 6d ago
Another trick is paying 100% cash through the portal, net the 5x-10x points, price matching (if you can), and the redeem your points later as a “travel redemption”. This makes sure you get the full 5-10x on your travel purchase without losing a percentage redeeming your miles.
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u/MainStreetMiles 6d ago
Now, that is one thing I never do, using miles for anything but transfers to travel partners. I always pay the full portal price. But that is a good tip to maximize value for those who may want to redeem points in the card company's portal.
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u/rowebenj 6d ago
It’s especially good for people that don’t travel internationally. Unfortunately, I haven’t found the use case for transferring points to partners, so i just redeem them for domestic flights.
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u/MainStreetMiles 6d ago
That's what I do is save the points for international tickets. That's the only way we can go as often as we do. And since I do not do crazy things to generate points, rewards are a very good way to reduce the cost of an international vacation to that of a paid domestic one.
Now, for Delta SkyMiles, their award pricing for international flights has gotten so outrageous that I have taken to using those for domestic tickets. I had to go to the Bay Area a few weeks ago, so I found a decent first-class award for ATL-SFO and splurged. But I generally try to avoid domestic award tickets because I am fine paying for those out of pocket as rarely as I fly for personal travel.
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u/pandaru_express 6d ago
I gave up on hotel points because I was never getting enough to be worthwhile but the 10% back from work travel was immediate. I did read that if you apply for the points at the hotel you won't get the cap1 credit for it, did you notice if that was true?
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u/espicd2112 4d ago
You know cap one will price match if terms are the same and give you back the difference as a travel credit
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u/MainStreetMiles 3d ago
I didn’t know that but someone mentioned it the other day. I will keep that in mind the next time I need to use an annual credit.
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u/Side_Zealousideal 4d ago
How have you realized ~3 cents per point? Ive heard similar things before, just haven’t really utilized transfer partners myself. I’m curious which one(s) you’ve used, and your experience doing so I guess.
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u/MainStreetMiles 4d ago
I keep a spreadsheet of what the redemptions would cost in cash and calculate my value per point. I only transfer credit card points to airlines - several times with transfer bonuses - and then use them almost exclusive for transatlantic flights in business class with an occasional use for domestic transcontinental first class. In ten years of actively chasing points, I have never transferred credit card points to hotels.
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u/Side_Zealousideal 3d ago
Nice, are there any specific airlines you tend to target?
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u/MainStreetMiles 3d ago
Most of my redemptions since COVID have been on Air France/KLM. I even scored one of their 60k business class award for ATL-CDG back in August. I’ve also done one each during that time with United and AA, but I didn’t need to transfer points for them as I already had a stash of each of their miles.
Before COVID, I was able to get numerous DL awards at decent fares, but since COVID, DL has been utterly outrageous, usually 300k+ SkyMiles one way. Other than the 60k award, AF/KLM have usually been in the 100k-200k range. Easy choice.
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u/paulboody 6d ago
I'm all set with managing quarterly Uber credits from Amex Platinum that don't actually enhance my life in any way.
This is straightforward, and I saved about 4k off my wedding/honeymoon recently with the venture x (and Savor combo).
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u/Mysterious_Diver_118 6d ago
If you're like me, it's a no-brainer card to keep. The only thing I really care about in a credit card is basic travel perks, namely lounge access and global entry.
What I don't want is a credit card that is nearly $1k that requires a part time job juggling all the perks just to feel like you might break even on the fee. With VX, as long as I make a single travel purchase worth $300, I'm good. And I spend thousands in travel per year, so I can shop around and cherry pick a travel purchase on the portal that is low risk and fair value.
If you want a card with all the bells and whistles and don't mind spending a bunch of time to book the specific extras to get it to pay for itself, you can definitely find a more useful travel card. Or if you barely travel and don't care about lounges, then VX might not be enticing enough relative to a lower maintenance no annual fee card. Just depends what you need.
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u/dacandyman0 6d ago
in the same boat as you, not sure that I want to renew when it comes up. while I've managed to use the $300 + 10k every year - despite people insisting that it's not the case - the prices through the portal for both lodging and (to a slightly lesser extent) flights are higher.
and I don't care to go through the hassle of price matching. and their cancellation policy is unforgiving.
OP are you thinking about switching to a different travel card? would you consider another travel card with large annual fees that "zero out" or no?
this being my only experience with credit card travel portal, I'm a little sour on switching to a different travel card and getting credits which are supposed to be balancing out annual fee stuck in a DIFFERENT annoying ecosystem 😭
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u/Subject-Dealer2532 6d ago
Was looking at the Wells Fargo autograph since most of it is 3% and will probably keep this card for rest of of the stuff and main travel
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u/Attilathefun1 6d ago
It’s 3% back on very specific categories, not “everything” like you originally said. A free 3% back on everything card doesn’t exist. VX is essentially free and you’re still complaining that the (free) lounge access got slightly worse.
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u/motosurfz 6d ago
Curious what cards are better you are comparing it to ? And what benefits? ( I was considering the venture x only reason I ask )
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u/mrfloopyshoopy 6d ago
Bilt palladium would be the most 1:1 comparison for multipliers. Sapphire reserve or Amex platinum would be the lounge access and travel perks comparisons.
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u/LostOnEarth76 6d ago
CSR, unlike AMEX PLAT and VX give you 2 guests for free still. That to me is a plus
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u/Upbeat-Cup-2588 6d ago
I never use C1 portal for booking flights and never will.
Rather, it’s fairly easy for me to use the $300 travel credit via portal for a 1-2 night hotel stay (I always compare prices from direct sites) and always transfer my miles out to airline partners.
I travel both domestic and overseas, so the visa infinite status comes in handy along with primary cdw on rentals. I don’t live on the C1 portal, but between most of my cards, I find the best promo of point earnings with specific purchases for all my non-category spend to be easy to utilize with my VX.
You said it’s already free for you, so just get another card that either allows point multipliers for direct flight bookings or cater the added card to your current lifestyle of travel depending on your airlines/hotel stays.
Don’t overthink it. Unless you find cash-back better suited for you, just complement the card with something else or just use it enough for the credits (if done naturally). The moment the credits are a burden to redeem or starts to cost you, retire it.
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u/enduseruseruser 6d ago
2x points on everything else my other cards don’t. 10x on hotels booked in their portal. Prices are usually higher there but they price match, which I’m ok with.
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u/No-Idea-6181 6d ago
I keep it as a catch all even though I have other travel cards, I dont mind the portal
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u/Chipped_Ruby_11214 6d ago
I find the hotels are crazy expensive on the site and rental cars are higher. Flights are about the same. Lounges have been a game changer.
The other perk I use a lot is the included primary rental car coverage. You don’t have to use the portal, just use the card to pay for and secure the rental. That piece of mind is great. We even had to use it once and Capitol One reimbursed us for a scuffed rim on a rental in Italy.
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u/I_reddit_like_this 6d ago edited 6d ago
I’m in the same boat
I’m feel like it can sometimes be a struggle to get value from it. The travel portal hotels are always significantly more expensive than booking direct, and price matching gets denied because either the room description or cancellation policies never match exactly.
For flights, using the portal means I lose free checked bags that I’d get booking direct with my United or Alaska cards.
I did get value from it recently when I had a two day trip delay and they covered all my expenses
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u/TheAILegend 5d ago
I cancelled that bullshit lol. Removing majority of the perks was it. Cancel that BS and downgrade to the Venture One card. Cheers
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u/abushaban 6d ago
it’s basically free with the travel perks. So you get free priority pass, free global entry and 2x points on all purchases. The portal will price match and if you book through it you get crazy points.
The sapphire reserve and freedom unlimited combo maybe can get you more since they have the Hyatt point transfer but even then it still may be fine to keep this card cause it’s effectively free with the travel perks.
I was thinking to have my wife apply for the preferred plus freedom unlimited combo and then have that be our main one. In that case I would keep the VX and reimburse one trip a year.
I’d get priority pass through VX and the rest of the family gets it through Chase. Chase is like $800 a year but if you point max you get 1k plus
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u/Life-Inspector5101 6d ago
If you visit a CapitalOne Lounge (including Landing) or Priority Pass lounges frequently, I’d say it’s worth it.
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u/NewbieReddit2 6d ago
I was in the same camp as you. Nerfing the guest lounge was tough.. and never was a fan of their travel portal ( although better than Chase) - always around 15% more expensive.. but then I value capital 1 points at 2cpp… so basically that convinced me to renew.. that 10000 anniversary points makes up for that travel credit devaluation
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u/finallygrownup 6d ago
I get value from transfer partners and the pairing it with savor. If you need to convince yourself dont renew.
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u/ticonderoga85 6d ago
They price match on C1 travel, you just have to call. I do that every time, even if I only get a couple dollars back
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u/LostOnEarth76 6d ago
I am struggling with this currently as well. Yes the card is net 5 bucks but the transfer partners are not great. Cap 1 shopping offers through the card os more of a pain and there are too many “tricks” to deal with to get those bonus points. I was nerfed out of 35k points this year on a single transaction and was pretty pissed over it.
I just got the CSR and MAY keep the VX for a year to see if I like the value CSR provides. I am a hyatt fan so the 1:1 transfer on CSR is a bid deal for me since they changed the CSP to 4:3…
I am using my freedom unlimited more despite to 1.5x to 2x on venture. However, to me chase UR is way more valuable than Cap 1 points since, again, the transfer partners aren’t great and it will never be my primary spend card.
AMEX BBP gives you 2x with no AF and I use rakuten to stack Amex points which to me also have more value than Cap 1.
Everyone’s mileage will vary.
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u/SettingIntentions 5d ago
Depends on your personal situation. Some people will really value the card, others not so much. If it isn't for you, no shame in walking away from it. It doesn't sound like you're making much use of the benefits. I also don't think that walking away is a permanent decision either, there's a good chance you can find your way back if you really wanted to.
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u/ContactDesperate 5d ago
I just don’t see a need to cancel a free card. But everyone’s mileage may vary. It’s my everyday card
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u/Swimming_Bug_3545 5d ago
Which cards are giving around 3% on every purchase?
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u/timtam_z28 5d ago
You're not taking advantage of the benefits of the card. The best benefit is the price match.
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u/PrestigiousTry7747 6d ago
I downgraded to the VentureOne today. Got the X in November 2021. It’s been a fun 5 years ✌️.
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u/ilikemoviesandf1 6d ago
I am thinking of doing this tomorrow. Did you cancel after the anniversary points hit the account? Also, if you downgrade to venture one, do the points get transferred automatically or do we need to do something? We still get access to transfer partners right?
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u/Equivalent_Wheel_15 6d ago
Based on my recent experience, I was told that a downgrade will only result in an annual fee refund if done before the anniversary date that the fee posts on. After that, cap one’s rules are wishy-washy and it all depends if you will get the annual fee or not. Their customer service is the worst and will just repeat the terms and conditions and keep referring to system rules.
If the fee has posted then the only guaranteed way, based on research, has been to cancel the card within 37 days. Downgrading has very few successful DP’s of a full fee refund.
PS: I downgraded my card within 30 days of annual fee posting and I was denied a refund without a proper reason. A CFPB complaint also didn’t help at all. Cap One just mentioned that my account is not eligible for a refund. Case closed
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u/Fluid-Village-ahaha 6d ago
I’m with you. Also not flying from airports / terminals with priority pass lounges and the only time I tried c1 (had to go to a different terminal) it was 30+ min wait.
I may keep it for another year (year 3), book rewards, and figure out what to do with miles and then churn. If I figure out better value for miles I may keep it.
I already have venture 1 from years ago so can’t downgrade
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u/nmeraepxeaee 6d ago edited 6d ago
Don’t renew if you need other people to convince you to renew.