Whether it’s peanut butter and jelly or airplanes and lie-flat seats, some things are just better together. When two things perfectly complement each other, they become a dynamic duo. That is exactly what Capital One has created with its recent changes to some of its most popular credit cards.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a premium travel rewards card that also earns miles on everyday spending. Comparatively, the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card offers unlimited cash back on dining, groceries and more.
Capital One now allows cardholders to transfer rewards from cash-back cards to travel rewards cards (or vice versa) at a rate of 1 cent to 1 mile. Simply put, transferring cash back makes rewards more valuable, as TPG’s October 2024 valuations peg Capital One miles at 1.85 cents each, rather than 1 cent alone.
Being able to earn cash back and redeem those earnings as miles is a promising proposition and why the combination of the Capital One Venture X and the Savor Cash is especially appealing.
Here’s how they work better together.
Spending together
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards earns 3% back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and grocery stores (excluding Walmart® and Target®). If you want to book tickets to see your favorite artist or team, you also get 8% back on purchases through Capital One Entertainment and 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked with Capital One Travel.
For travel, the Venture X earns 10 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars while earning 5 miles per dollar spent on flights and vacation rentals purchased through Capital One Travel. Despite being a travel credit card, the Venture X really excels at maximizing day-to-day spending since it earns an unlimited 2 miles per dollar spent on all other purchases.
After converting the cash back to miles (and possibly increasing the value of the rewards), this card duo earns an unlimited 2 to 10 miles per dollar spent in the following bonus categories:
- 10 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 5 miles per dollar spent on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
- 3 miles per dollar spent on dining
- 3 miles per dollar spent on entertainment
- 3 miles per dollar spent on popular streaming services
- 3 miles per dollar spent at grocery stores
- 2 miles per dollar spent on everything else
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Related: Best Capital One credit cards
Redeeming together
The ability to transfer cash back to miles opens up a whirlwind of redemption options. With the Venture X’s 15-plus transfer partners, you can use your miles to get to the far corners of the world and then stay there on rewards.
For example, I previously booked a $1,500 vacation rental for 45,000 Capital One miles instead of receiving $450 in cash-back rewards. This is the perk that truly allows this dynamic duo to be so powerful.
Suppose you do not want to transfer miles to one of Capital One’s numerous partners, including Air Canada Aeroplan (to book flights on Star Alliance partners like United Airlines), Wyndham Rewards (to book hotels) and Air France-KLM Flying Blue (for SkyTeam flights).
In that case, you can redeem travel charges for a statement credit at a rate of 1 cent per mile. Effectively, this would be the same as converting the miles on the Venture X to cash back on the Savor and cashing out via a statement credit, check, gift card or charitable contribution.
Related: Should you transfer Capital One miles to partners or redeem directly for travel?
Other benefits together
These two cards complement each other in terms of the benefits offered. In addition to earning and redeeming rewards, the Savor Cash is a World Elite Mastercard, while the Venture X is a Visa Infinite product, which doubles the potential benefits.
For example, World Elite Mastercards get free ShopRunner memberships and access to Mastercard’s Luxury Hotel & Resorts Portfolio, which includes benefits such as amenity credits, complimentary room upgrades and free breakfast, among others at over 3,000 properties.
Visa Infinite cards receive access to the Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection, which functions similarly to Mastercard’s portfolio. Cardholders also receive Priority Pass lounge membership, which includes access for the cardholder and up to two guests at more than 1,300 lounges worldwide, and primary rental car insurance in addition to trip cancellation, interruption and delay insurance, lost luggage reimbursement and extended warranty protection.
Additionally, the Venture X offers Hertz President’s Circle status*, which is a great perk to use anytime you are renting a car. The card also includes cellphone protection of up to $800 if your device is damaged or stolen; all you have to do it qualify is pay your phone bill with the card.
*Upon enrollment, accessible through the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at that status level through the duration of the offer. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.
In addition to Priority Pass, the card gives you access to Capital One’s growing lounge network, including an amazing lounge in Dallas, and an up-to-$120 statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.
Finally, with the Venture X, you get an annual $300 credit through Capital One Travel and 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary. These perks work together between the cards to ensure the most enjoyable travel experience while decreasing risk with insurance benefits.
Related: 6 things to do when you get the Capital One Venture X
Fees and sign-up bonuses
The Venture X offers 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening an account. The Savor offers a $250 cash bonus (which can be converted to 25,000 miles) after spending $500 on purchases within three months of account opening.
After completing the minimum spending requirements and earning the two sign-up bonuses, you can easily accrue over 100,000 miles, enough to cover an international round-trip flight in business class, a handful of round-trip domestic flights or even countless hotel nights.
The Capital One Venture X’s annual fee is $395, while the Savor Cash does not charge an annual fee.
Neither card charges foreign transaction fees or charges to add an authorized user, a nice benefit compared to other premium travel cards with additional costs.
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.
Bottom line
Credit card issuers have built their products to work better together. With more reasonable annual fees than their Chase and American Express counterparts, the Venture X and the Savor Cash — Capital One’s dynamic cards duo — earn great rewards in the most common categories.
Add in the protections, yearly benefits and welcome offer bonus miles, and these two cards are perfect for individuals who want to keep a simple, two-card set-up to maximize their daily spending for travel. Not to mention that the travel will be enhanced by perks such as lounge access and TSA PreCheck.
Learn more: Capital One Savor Cash Rewards
Learn more: Capital One Venture X
