Is the Capital One Venture X Worth It? Why This Card Saves My Family Thousands on Travel

My family has traveled using points and miles for over 2 years now, and there are cards that you find along the way that are so helpful in a variety of ways that they are always keepers in your wallet. The Capital One Venture X is that card!

Is Capital One Venture X Worth the $395 Annual Fee?

Full transparency, what scares most people away from this card is the $395 annual fee, which I know sounds so much at first! You are thinking $400!! FORGET IT! I am telling you all this upfront so that as I talk through the different ways it saves you money, you might view that fee differently.

When I reach the one-year mark of opening a certain card, I always go back to the benefits of the card and weigh whether the card is worth keeping. If the fee is X amount of dollars, then I get at least that value or more out of the card, and if I don’t, then it usually gets cancelled once I hit the one-year mark. So, by me telling you that I would keep this card year after year, I definitely find more than $400 worth of value on this card.

How We Use Venture X to Save Thousands on Family Travel

1. Annual $300 Travel Credit

Every card anniversary, you get a $300 travel credit. That is great, right? But the next question is…How hard is it to use? SUPER EASY! The $300 has to be used in the Capital One travel portal, which you can find easily in your Capital One app. You can use this $300 on hotels, rental cars, flights, or anything in the travel portal. You don’t have to use it all at once. It will keep track for you in the travel portal and show you how much of the $300 travel credit you have used, which is pretty great. For me, I use it mostly for rental cards and when I am staying somewhere that doesn’t have a hotel nearby that I can use points on for a stay. This isn’t a one-time travel credit either. This renews on your card anniversary.

2. 10,000 miles every card Anniversary

Another perk you get every year is the 10,000 miles starting at your one-year anniversary. These are added to your Capital One miles when your card anniversary hits. If you just cashed out those points, it would give $100. You can stretch that even further when using those points for hotels and flights by transferring them to one of their travel partners. So 10,000 miles every anniversary gives you at least $100 worth of value if not more.

3. Lounge Access

There are a lot of credit cards that come with lounge access, and they all have higher annual fees, like $500,+ and this card has a lot of lounge access for not a lot of cost. You get access to Capital One lounges and Priority Pass Lounges. There are over 1,300 in this network! These lounges offer a more relaxing atmosphere, free food, drinks, showers, great internet, and more! Even when my husband and I share a meal in the airport, it’s still $30-$40! This card will make your travel day more enjoyable and also save you money on food on your travel day.

4. Earn 10x in Capital One Travel Portal

I know whether it is a car rental or a hotel stay in a small town, I am going to earn a lot of points. Every time I book something in the portal, I earn 10x points! This is the highest I have seen from other banks. Most offer like 5x in their travel portal when using their card.

5. Erase costs on my credit card statement

One of the superpowers of this card is the ability to erase costs on your credit card statement using points. Now, there are some things you need to know to make sure you can do this. One of the expenses has to be coded as travel. Every time you make a purchase, it codes as travel, food, gas, entertainment, etc. Anything that codes as “travel” can be erased with your Capital One Venture X miles. I have used this a lot when purchasing theme park tickets from Walt Disney World, Disneyland California, and SeaWorld. To do that, you simply need to buy your tickets through a third-party website like UndercoverTourist or GetawayToday. I have used both of these personally and have had great experiences. When the purchase shows up on your statement, you can go in through your Capital One app and erase those costs using points with just a few clicks! You can also use this method if you are booking an Airbnb, too.

6. Point Transfer Partner List

Every bank has a list of different travel partners. You can then transfer your points to these partners and book flights or hotels. Capital One Venture X has 18 different partners to choose from! They have 16 airlines, some of my favorites being Flying Blue, Virgin Red, Air Canada, just to name a few. They have two hotel partners, which are Choice Privileges and Wyndham Rewards. I lean more towards Wyndham rewards because they also partner with VACASA, which is a type of Airbnb. You can use your Wyndham points to book VACASA rentals too! So if I need a bigger space and want to do a house instead of a hotel, I have that option!

7. 2x on EVERYTHING

This card is simple and straightforward. You earn 2x on all purchases. So instead of using a card that would earn you just 1x on a purchase, I use this one instead. I have my favorite cards for eating out, shopping at office supply stores, or ordering my online groceries, but if my purchase doesn’t fall into one of those areas, I use this one to guarantee I get more points than just 1 point per dollar. I am able to rack up points at a faster rate, too, because I earn 2x on everything.

I am the mom who loves a good deal and loves saving money. I don’t want to waste the money that we make every month because it is valuable but yet this card has saved us so much money every year on purchases that I will pay the annual fee every year because I can get more than $400 out of this card. I didn’t even include the welcome bonus points and the $120 Global Entry Credit!

If the annual fee still scares you, I totally get it! When I started earning points and miles, I was not going to apply for this one for a bit because I wanted to make sure I could use it well and commit to the extra cost of the annual fee. When I was confident I could handle this card and get the value out of it, I grabbed it, and I am so glad I did.

If you decide to grab this card anytime in your future travels, would you please use my link? This is a huge way that you can say “Thank You” for putting together all this content to help you guys learn how to save money and travel more! I would greatly appreciate the support!

Don’t forget, after you apply for the card and get approved, add it to your Travel Freely app. This free app will remind you when the annual fee is coming so you can prepare for the extra cost. If you don’t find value in it after the first year, when you get that email to remind you it’s coming, simply close the card or downgrade to the lower annual fee version of this card, which is the Venture Card. It basically has fewer perks but earns the same great points!