Last week, Capital One released the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and everyone is going crazy over it. 

I believe the reason people like it so much is because many of us really want to enjoy luxury benefits such as lounge access, TSA Precheck, primary rental insurance etc., but we don’t want to pay the price. We like to get away cheap.

But the Venture X card has a lower annual fee than other cards of the same caliber so it makes it competitive. The Venture X annual fee is $395, compared to the $550 annual fee for the Sapphire Reserve and the $695 annual fee for the Amex Platinum card.

In addition, you could get the Venture X annual fee erased flat out with the $300 travel credit that could be used when booking any travel on Capital One Travel (Capital One Travel is probably the best place to book airfare, hotels, etc, as we’ll explain in a moment), plus you get 10,000 points every anniversary year which is worth a minimum of  $100 on Capital One Travel. Those 2 credits alone can pay off the $395 annual fee in full.

Anyone spending at least $400 on travel, which includes airfare, hotels, car rentals, etc, which encompasses a lot of us, can ultimately get the full annual fee erased with just those 2 aforementioned credits ($300 on Capital One Travel and 10,000 anniversary points).

On top of that, you’ll still be getting lounge access, Hertz President’s Circle status, and all other benefits that come along with the Venture X that’ll be discussed below.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve also comes with a $300 travel credit, and the Amex Platinum has various credits, but we can’t call those effectively erasing the annual fee. The Amex Platinum credits are very specific and not so practical to all. Not everyone uses $15 a month on Uber and not everyone uses $200 to cover some overweight baggage (etc). The same is with the Sapphire Reserve. The $300 travel credit is less than half of it’s annual fee. So there’s more involved in getting the credits with the Amex Platinum and Sapphire Reserve, it’s definitely not straightforward and applicable as the Venture X travel credit is.

Another breakthrough with the Venture X is that the authorized users get their own lounge access and Hertz President’s status, so you can split the annual fee between your authorized user friends since they’re all going to be getting those benefits (and authorized users are free).

Let’s compare in detail the Venture X card against the Amex Platinum and Sapphire Reserve.

Approvals are coming in nicely

We’re seeing very good approval statistics through our credit card database. Close to 80% of applicants were approved for the card. Many people got credit limits of $20,000 / $30,000! You can check out all approvals for the Venture X card here.

We had previously mentioned the Capital One rule that if someone has 2 or more Capital One cards, they can’t get another Capital One card. This rule does not seem to apply to the Venture X card since we’ve seen many consumers getting approved for the card while having 2 or more existing Capital One credit cards.

Mega welcome bonus

The Venture X has an exciting welcome bonus of 100,000 points after you spend $10,000 within the first 6 months. Plus, for a limited time, you will get up to a $200 statement credit for vacation rentals like Airbnb, VRBO, etc. 

The rewards

The Venture X card has a great rewards earning structure:

• 10 points on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel 
• 5 points on flights booked through Capital One Travel
• Unlimited 2 points on all purchases 

Capital One has recently made great improvement to their points program and now has 17 airline and hotel transfer partners. This gives Capital One points a great value, especially while you earn unlimited 2 points on all purchases!

Airline partners

Hotel partners

$300 Capital One Travel credit

As we mentioned above, cardholders receive a  $300 travel credit when booking any travel, including flight, hotel, and car, using the new and improved Capital One Travel portal.  

Capital One recently partnered with Hopper and created a brand new experience to their travel portal. The travel portal offers competitive pricing and a whole lot of great perks not found anywhere else, including;

• Predictive booking feature: It lets you know when it’s the best time to book
• Price drop protection: If you use the predictive booking feature but later find that the price is cheaper on a different day then Capital One will match the price
• Price freeze: This allows you to freeze a price and book up to 14 days later
• Price match guarantee: Capital One will match any price you find anywhere else within 24 hours of booking 

All these benefits make it a no-brainer to book with the Capital One Travel portal. Plus, with the Venture X card, you will receive a $300 travel credit and up to 10 points for each dollar spent! 

Airport lounge access

The Venture X card includes access to two airport lounge programs: 

• Priority Pass (with 2 free guests)
• The new Capital One lounges (coming shorty to Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, and Washington Dulles airports)

The best part! Authorized users are free and include their own Priority Pass and Capital One Lounge access. 

$120 TSA Precheck / Global Entry Credit

Enroll in TSA Precheck / Global Entry and receive a statement credit towards the fee paid.

Complimentary Hertz President's Circle Status

This is an awesome perk that comes along with the card. You and all your authorized users (which can be added for free) will be complimentary upgraded to Hertz President’s Circle. With Hertz President’s Circle, you can choose any car within the Presidents Circle line. This basically guarantees you super upgrades by Hertz and enables you to book a mid-size car and walk out with a luxury SUV! 

Plus, almost all car rentals will gladly match your Hertz status to their own top-tier status. So with the Venture X card, you can lock-in top tier status at practically all national car rental companies. 

10,000 anniversary bonus points

On every card anniversary, you will receive 10,000 bonus points (worth a minimum of $100 towards travel).

As mentioned above, for someone who spends at least $400 in travel per year, between the $300 travel credit and the 10,000-anniversary points, they’ll get a total of $400 value towards travel, which effectively erases the full $395 annual fee!

Plus much more

The card comes along with many more competitive benefits and protections while traveling and shopping. Below, you can check out all the details plus compare them side by side with the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve. 

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Card Details

Welcome Bonus

Capital One Venture X Select card

Earn 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months.

Amex Platinum Select card

Earn 175,000 points after spending $8,000 within the first 6 months (terms apply).

Chase Sapphire Reserve Select card

Earn 60,000 points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months.

Annual Fee

Capital One Venture X Select card

$395

Amex Platinum Select card

$695

Chase Sapphire Reserve Select card

$550

Rewards

Capital One Venture X Select card

– 10x miles on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel
– 5x miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
– Unlimited 2x miles on all purchases

Amex Platinum Select card

– 5 points on flights booked directly with airlines and Amex Travel on the first $500,000 you spend within a calendar year
– 5 points on prepaid hotels booked directly with Amex Travel
– 1 point on other eligible purchases

Chase Sapphire Reserve Select card

– 10 points on Chase dining, hotels and car rentals booked through Chase Travel(SM)
– 10 points on Lyft rides
– 5 points on flights booked through Chase Travel(SM)
– 3 points on all other dining and travel
– 1 point on all other purchases

Benefits

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