- A 100K Miles signup bonus after you spend $10,000 within the first 6 months, worth $1,500 based on our current valuation of 1.5 cents per Mile,
- A $395 annual fee, comparable to other high-end cards', which with $300 annual travel credits (requiring bookings through Capital One Travel, valued at $150) and 10K Miles anniversary bonus (valued at $150) effectively becomes $95, the same as the mid-tier Venture Visa Signature Card's,
- An unmatched 10-5-2 earning structure: 10x Miles on hotels & car rentals through Capital One Travel (=15% travel rewards), 5x on airfare through Capital One Travel (=7.5% travel rewards), and 2x everywhere else (=3% travel rewards),
- A long list of high-end perks, including airport lounge access, luxury hotel privileges, rental car elite status, Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit, 24/7 concierge service, exclusive access to culinary, sports, and music events, and
- A high level of travel & consumer protection, including primary rental car insurance, cellphone protection, $1M travel accident insurance, travel delay, travel cancellation insurance, lost baggage, return protection, extended warranty, and purchase protection.
Just a month after hugely improving its Miles program that allows frequent traveler miles/points transfer to 15 partners at 1:1 ratio, Capital One brought us its first ever high-end credit card - Venture X Visa Infinite Card, with the following impressive features:
6 Comments
Capital One has surprised us again with the improvement brought to its Capital One (C1) Miles rewards program. The transfer ratio of the following six airline partners has been improved:
Obviously, with this increased valuation, Venture Card and Spark Miles Business Card, both offering 2x Miles (=3% travel rewards) on everything with a $95 annual fee, are becoming better than ever before. Venture Card now takes the top spot from Citi Premier as the Best Credit Card for Rewards and also jumps from #6 to #3 on our Top 10 Best Credit Cards list. On the other hand, Spark Miles is considered the best business card for spending, alongside with Amex Blue Business Plus. Below is the before/after comparison of our Top 10 list. Another round of amazing signup offers and this time is for four Marriott Bonvoy co-branded credit cards:
Chase has brought several enhancements to its popular Sapphire Preferred (CSP) and Sapphire Reserve (CSR). The annual fees ($95 on CSP and $550 on CSR) are kept the same. We think CSP's enhancements have been long overdue because the non-fee duo Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited have offered some similar bonus categories for a while. With a reasonable annual fee, CSP is now #3 best credit card for rewards. While we think CSR has been competitive even after Chase increased the annual fee from $450 to $550 last year mostly due to the COVID related temporary benefits, we certainly welcome the new benefits which will keep this card one of our top recommendations. With these enhancements, CSR and CSP now take the first and second spots on our Top 10 list. Citi Prestige was taken off the list because it has been discontinued to new applicants. Below are the before and after Top 10. Chase Sapphire Preferred Enhancements (effective August 16, 2021)
Chase Sapphire Reserved Enhancements (Effective August 16, 2021)
There have been quite a few exciting recent offers:
Capital One enhances the frequent traveler miles/points transfer feature for Venture and Spark Miles4/25/2021 Capital One (C1) Miles can always be redeemed for travel, gift cards, charity, etc. at a fixed value of 1 cent per Mile. In late 2018 Capital One introduced the frequent traveler miles/points transfer feature with 12 partners and a transfer ratio of 1000 C1 Miles : 750 frequent traveler miles/points for most partners, and while we welcomed the change we thought the transfer ratio is lower than the mainstream competitive programs such as Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou. Last week, Capital One announced the addition of British Airways, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines, and Choice Privileges to its transfer program and the increase of the transfer ratio to 1000:1000 for 9 partners (AeroMexico, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, Finnair, Qantas, TAP, Wyndham, and Choice). Among the 1:1 transfer partners, Avianca, Cathay Pacific and Etihad probably offer better value, while you may still find some value in Air Canada and Turkish which keep the old 1:0.75 transfer ratio. We have updated our featured review Marriott vs. MR vs. UR vs. TY vs. C1 vs. CR covering the major programs that allow points transfer to frequent traveler miles/points to include C1 Miles in the comparison.
This enhancement substantially increases our value for C1 Miles from previously 1.1 cents to now 1.3 cents a piece. Capital One Venture Card (personal) and Spark Miles Business Card, both with an $95 annual fee and returning 2x Miles on everything, have become very powerful for general spending with 2.6% travel rewards based on our valuation. They compare favorably to other high returning cards for general spending with the transfer feature: Citi Double Cash (no annual fee, 2x points = 3% rewards, requiring a premium ThankYou card to activate the transfer feature), Amex EveryDay Preferred ($95 annual fee, 1.5x points = 2.25% rewards, requiring at least 30 transactions per month to achieve 1.5x), Amex Blue Business Plus (no annual fee, 2x points = 3% rewards up to $50K spent annually), Chase Freedom Unlimited (no annual fee, 1.5x points = 2.25% rewards, requiring a premium Ultimate Rewards card to activate the transfer feature), and Chase Ink Unlimited Business Card (no annual fee, 1.5x points = 2.25% rewards, requiring a premium Ultimate Rewards card to activate the transfer feature). As a result, Capital One is now rated #6 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card and also #4 Best Credit Card for Rewards. Our Top 10 list also saw the climbing of Amex Platinum and Amex Gold due to their increased signup bonuses and for Platinum the addition of cellphone protection coverage earlier this month. This is the before and after comparison of our Top 10 list. Amex and Hilton have brought the best bonuses ever for the cobranded Hilton Amex, Hilton Surpass Amex, and Hilton Business Amex:
Throughout this pandemic when many card issuers have been bringing temporary benefits or bonuses to keep their existing cardmembers, Barclays has been quiet, until now.
In the last couple of days, many Barclays cardmembers received a promotional email titled "Double Bonus Opportunity – Earn up to 60,000 miles!" or "...60,000 points!" or "...$600 Uber Cash!" This appears to be a widely targeted offer to all Barclays cards such as Arrivals cards, AAdvantage Aviator cards, JetBlue cards, Hawaiian Airlines cards, Wyndham cards, Uber card: between 11/10/2020 and 1/31/2021, you will earn up to 60,000 miles/points or $600 cash, depending on which card you have (e.g. 10x additional points on everything, up to 10,000 points earned, and additional 50,000 points when you spend a total of $3,000 within this period). This must be the best bonus ever for existing cardmembers since I started writing about credit cards in 2011; usually you need to open a new account and meet the minimum spending requirement to receive a bonus like this; mostly likely the existing cardmembers did receive a similar bonus when they opened the card, and now it is like receiving a second bonus to keep the card. |
AuthorDr. Credit Card helps you to find the best cards and the best signup deals for you! Archives
May 2023
Categories
All
|