How to Redeem Capital One Venture Miles

Of all the different types of travel rewards credit cards we've seen, Capital One Venture Miles has always been among the simplest and most straightforward. While most credit card rewards programs take some time to understand, there's not much of a learning curve with Capital One Venture Rewards.

There are still a few things you'll need to know to get the most out of your rewards. Whether you already have a Capital One card or you're planning to get one, this guide will cover both the basics and the finer details of Capital One Venture Miles.

Capital One Venture Miles are the travel rewards offered by some of Capital One's credit cards. You can redeem these miles for travel, cash back, or gift cards, but travel redemptions get you the most value per mile, so it's best to stick with them.

Despite their name, Capital One Venture Miles aren't part of a frequent flyer program. They're the rewards points you can use in the Capital One Venture Rewards program, and the word "miles" is just the branding that Capital One uses.

Capital One Venture Miles are worth $0.01 per mile when you redeem them directly towards travel purchases.

If you transfer your miles to one of Capital One's travel partners, then their value will depend on how you use them after the transfer. You could end up getting more than $0.015 or even more than $0.02 per mile. On the other hand, a low-value redemption could get you well under $0.01 per mile.

You can also redeem miles for cash back, gift cards, or purchases with Amazon. With these options, your rewards are worth between $0.005 and $0.01 per mile.

To redeem Capital One Venture Miles, log in to your Capital One account and click "Rewards Miles." The link is located underneath your miles balance, in the same section as your current balance and available credit. Click "View Rewards." On the next page, you'll have the following redemption options:

• Book a trip
• Cover your travel purchases
• Transfer your rewards
• Shop with rewards
• Get gift cards
• Redeem for cash
• Share your rewards

Here's more on how each of these options works:

Book a trip

This takes you to Capital One Travel, where you can book a flight, hotel, or rental car and pay using your miles. You get a rate of $0.01 per mile, so a $200 flight would cost you 20,000 miles.

Cover your travel purchases

You can apply your miles as a credit to travel purchases made within the previous 90 days at a rate of $0.01 per mile.

There are two advantages to using this method instead of booking a trip through Capital One Travel:

• You can redeem miles for a much greater variety of purchases because Capital One has a broad category of what it considers travel. For example, you could use your miles to pay for a vacation rental, a ride with Uber, or a cruise. With Capital One Travel you're limited to flights, hotels, and car rentals.
• You may get a better deal by booking with another travel service. Sometimes Capital One Travel doesn't have the lowest prices. And if you're part of a rewards program with a different travel booking site, you can book through that site, earn points in its program, and later use your miles to cover the purchase.

Transfer your rewards

With this option, you can transfer miles to one of Capital One's travel partners. Transfer time ranges from just seconds to a few days. With most partners, transfers process either right away or within 48 hours. Here are the partners, the transfer ratios for each, and the number of miles you'd get in each partner's loyalty program by transferring 1,000 Capital One Venture Miles:

Shop with rewards

This option takes you to Amazon, where you can link your Capital One credit card and redeem miles towards purchases. Since you only get $0.008 per mile, shopping with rewards isn't recommended.

Get gift cards

You can buy gift cards using Capital One miles from many different retailers. The minimum gift card amount and the value you get per mile varies by retailer. You'll typically get a value of between $0.008 and $0.01 per mile.

Redeem for cash

You can request cash back as either a statement credit towards previous credit card purchases or as a check. Capital One Venture Miles are only worth $0.005 per mile when redeemed as cash back, making this a poor use of rewards. Cash back credit cards are a much better choice if you're interested in this type of redemption.

Share your rewards

Capital One lets you transfer your miles at a 1:1 ratio, either to another one of your own accounts or somebody else's account. If you have multiple Capital One cards, such as a personal card and a business card, this feature lets you combine all your miles onto one account.

There are two keys to maximizing the value of Capital One Venture Miles:

• Always redeem miles for travel, either by booking with Capital One Travel, applying miles as a credit to previous travel purchases, or transferring miles to a partner program.
• Find the travel you want to book first, and then check how much it would cost both by transferring miles and by using your points as cash.

Here's an example of how you can check which option gets you the most value for your points. Let's say you're interested in a ticket with Avianca that costs $800 or 30,000 miles in Avianca's LifeMiles program. That gives you two options:

• Use 80,000 miles to book it through Capital One Travel or purchase the ticket using your Capital One card, and then apply your miles as a statement credit.
• Transfer 40,000 miles from your Capital One account to the Avianca LifeMiles program and book an award ticket. It would cost you 40,000 miles because of that 2:1.5 transfer ratio.

In that case, a transfer would be a much better deal. On the other hand, if the cash price of the ticket was only $300, you could redeem your points as cash and book the airfare for 30,000 miles.

With the option to either transfer your rewards or redeem them for cash travel purchases, you can book just about any type of travel you want with Capital One Venture Miles. It doesn't take long to get used to the rewards page in your online account, and once you do, you'll be able to cash in your miles and get plenty of value in the process.

Still have questions?

Here are some other questions we've answered:

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