Capital One Venture X Business: Review
The Capital One Venture X Business is an attractive option thanks to its excellent perks and generous travel benefits, but let’s look into it a bit more before deciding whether it’s the best credit card for you.
Is Capital One Venture X Business worth it?
Yes, the Capital One Venture X Business Card is well worth it for the right business owner. With a simple earning structure and attractive benefits, the Capital One Venture X Business Card offers generous rewards to business owners who spend a lot each month.
Whether this Capital One business card is right for you will depend largely on your travel habits and how much your business expenses impact your lifestyle. For example, Venture X Business offers nearly unmatched returns and bonuses to cardholders who have significant monthly business expenses and travel regularly.
Ultimately, you need to look at your expenses to see if your business spending is at a level that makes the card a good choice to optimize your purchasing power, even taking into account the card’s high fees and strict balance repayment requirements.
Capital One VentureX Business: Highlights
- Annual fee: The annual fee is $395.
- Payout Rate: You’ll earn 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel, and 2x miles on all other purchases.
- Welcome Offer: Earn 150,000 bonus miles after you spend $30,000 in the first three months of owning the card.
- Key benefits: Great rewards on travel purchases, 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary, and no foreign transaction fees.
- Disadvantage: The welcome offer is generous, but the credit limits are high, and you’ll need to pay off the card’s balance in full each month.
Who is Capital One Venture X Business Best For?
The Capital One Venture X Business is a great choice for frequent travelers who can take advantage of travel rewards and points redemption rates, and it’s a great choice for cardholders who already have larger monthly expenses, making it easy to qualify for the welcome offer and pay off your card balance comfortably each month.
Capital One VentureX Business: Rewards
There’s no doubt that the card’s strength is its elite rewards offering. Whether you can reach the bar to unlock its full rewards potential will depend on your personal situation, but it’s worth knowing what’s possible.
Earn rewards
This is where the Capital One Venture X Business card truly shines.
Cardholders are offered the following benefits:
- Earn unlimited 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
- Earn unlimited 5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel.
- You’ll receive unlimited 2x miles on all other purchases.
Redeeming rewards
The most valuable redemption option with this rewards card is transferring miles to one of Capital One’s many hotel and airline partners.
Let’s look at airline partners and connecting ratios.
- Aeromexico Awards: 1:1
- Air Canada Aeroplan: 1:1
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue: 1:1
- Accor Live Limitless: 2:1
- Avianca LifeMiles: 1:1
- British Airways Executive Club: 1:1
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: 1:1
- Choice Rewards (US customers only): 1:1
- Emirates Skywards: 1:1
- Etihad Airways Guest: 1:1
- EVA Air Infinity Mileage Land: 4:3
- Finnair Plus: 1:1
- Qantas Frequent Flyer: 1:1
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer: 1:1
- TAP Portugal Miles&Go: 1:1
- Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles: 1:1
- Virgin Red: 1:1
- Wyndham Rewards: 1:1
Hotel Partners:
- Wyndham Rewards 1:1
- Accord Live Limitless 2:1
- Selection privilege 1:1
In addition to booking travel, Capital One Venture X Business also allows you to use your miles in the following ways:
- Travel purchases: Miles can be used towards travel purchases within 90 days of purchase at a redemption value of 1 cent per mile.
- Statement credit: When redeemed as a statement credit, one mile is worth 1 cent.
- Cashback: When redeemed for cash back, each mile is worth 0.5 cents.
- gift card: Each mile is worth between 0.8 and 1 cent when redeemed for gift cards from over 90 participating vendors, and account holders must have a minimum balance of 2,500 miles to select gift cards.
- shopping: Miles can be used for purchases through Amazon at a rate of 125 miles per dollar. If you purchase through PayPal, the exchange rate is 0.8 cents per mile.
- Entertainment and Benefits: Eligible cardholders can redeem their miles for VIP experiences and special offers at more than 500,000 events at a redemption rate of 0.8 cents per mile.
▶︎ learn more: Capital One Rewards Program Guide
Welcome Offer
The Capital One Venture X Business offers new cardholders 150,000 bonus miles after they spend $30,000 in the first three months of owning the card. This welcome bonus is perhaps the card’s most valuable perk, and it’s worth about $1,500 in travel.
Capital One Venture X Business: Benefits
Whether you’re planning a travel experience or simply want to streamline how your business pays, the Capital One Venture Business card offers a wide range of benefits.
Travel Rewards
- $300 annual credit. Every year, you’ll earn a $300 travel credit to use when booking through Capital One Travel.
- 10,000 Anniversary Miles Bonus. Cardmembers will receive 10,000 anniversary bonus miles each year starting on the first anniversary.
- Up to $100 credit. Cardholders can receive up to $100 toward their Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fees every 4 to 4.5 years.
- Free Priority Pass access. Priority Pass gives cardholders and their guests access to over 1,300 VIP lounges in over 148 countries.
- Price Guarantee. Take advantage of flights, hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel if you find a lower price for the same trip within 24 hours.
- Price decline protection. This will give you a travel credit of up to $50 if Capital One’s price prediction tool recommends booking a flight because prices are likely to rise.
- You’ll have access to Capital One’s premier collection. You’ll have access to hotels that offer boutique experiences, including free Wi-Fi, daily breakfast, room upgrades, early check-in services, and bonus miles on paid bookings.
Business Benefits
- Automatic payments. Set up recurring payments to vendors.
- Dedicated support. Get the help you need from a Capital One business professional.
- Free employee cards. Track the spending of approved users while seeing all earnings and rewards accumulate.
- Customized spending limits. Apply spending limits to employee cards.
- Assign an account manager. Assign a manager to make purchases, manage payments, review transactions, and resolve any issues that arise with the card.
- Consolidate your purchase records. Seamlessly integrate with accounts payable by enabling fast and secure download of accounts payable into Quicken®, QuickBooks® and Excel®.
- Year-end itemized summary. Itemized summaries are useful for budgeting and tax calculations.
- Select the monthly payment due date. Cardholders choose their own monthly payment due date to control when their balance is paid.
Shopping Benefits
- There is zero liability protection. If your card is lost or stolen, we protect you with emergency replacement and cash advances.
- Virtual card number. Pay online without revealing your phone number to the merchant.
- Card lock. If you suspect your credit card has been lost or stolen, freeze it immediately through the Capital One Mobile app.
- Scam alert. If any suspicious activity is detected, a fraud alert will be sent to your mobile number and email address.
Capital One Venture X Business: The Fine Print
It’s impossible to talk about the Capital One Venture X Business card without mentioning the upfront costs of becoming a cardholder, so let’s take a look at some of the fees you should look out for.
Fee
- Annual fee: $395
- Foreign transaction fees: None
- Late fee: 2.99% of the balance
- Balance transfer fee: $0
- Cash advance fee: 5%
Interest level
- Regular APR: Variable 19.99%-29.99%
- Initial interest rate on purchase: 0% for 15 months
- Introductory APR on balance transfer: 4%
Credit Limit
Capital One Venture X Business does not have a preset spending limit. Instead, each cardholder is given a limit calculated based on their credit profile. Active card usage, such as making multiple payments within a billing cycle, may result in an increase in the credit limit.
Capital One Venture X Business: Cons
The Capital One Venture X Business card has some great features, but it’s important to consider its drawbacks to make sure this card is the best fit for you.
High spending threshold required to qualify for welcome bonus
As mentioned above, Venture X Business’ welcome offer is one of the most attractive perks. However, to get the 150,000 miles bonus, you need to spend $30,000. This may be achievable for companies that already spend this amount on average, but other companies may have a hard time reaching this threshold.
High annual fee
The Capital One Venture X Business card has an annual fee of $395. Given this annual cost, you should consider whether the rewards and perks on the card can offset this cost. If not, you may be better off opting for a card with no annual fee.
Full payment requirements require full payment each month
While there’s no preset spending limit, it’s important to pay off your card’s balance in full each month to avoid incurring late fees. Keep in mind that this fee equals 2.99% of your balance, which can add up quickly.
Capital One Venture X Business Comparison
This business travel card holds its own in many ways, with generous travel rewards and great redemption options backed by features that streamline business operations. However, when you consider the annual fee and welcome bonus requirements, it’s important to compare it with other popular cards.
Comparison of Capital One Venture X Business and Capital One Spark Miles for Business
Capital One Spark Miles for Business offers a welcome bonus of 50,000 miles after you spend $4,500 in purchases within the first three months, which is much more achievable than Venture X’s 150,000 miles that you get for spending $30,000 in the same period.
However, in terms of earnings, Venture X trumps Spark Miles: Venture X gives you 10x miles on car rentals and hotels, 5x miles on flights, 2x miles on all other purchases, and 10,000 anniversary miles, while Spark Miles gives you 5x miles on car rentals and 2x miles on all other purchases.
There’s also the issue of annual fees: Capital One Spark Miles for Business is just $95 per year compared to $395 for the Venture X. It also offers a $0 first-year sign-up fee, something the Venture X Business card doesn’t offer.
▶︎ read more: Capital One Spark Miles for Business Review
Comparing Capital One Venture X Business and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Cards
The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express card has an annual fee of $650, nearly double the annual fee of the Venture X (see rates and fees ). This card is a win-win for frequent Delta flyers, but other cardholders may not be happy with the 1x miles they receive on other purchases.
Frequent travelers can enjoy access to Centurion® lounges and Delta Sky Club® with the Delta card, as well as complimentary Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® credits that match compatible benefits with Venture X. The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business card also offers other unique benefits, including up to $240 in dining credits with Resy.
On the business side, Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business mirrors many of the benefits of Venture X by offering features such as an assigned dedicated account manager, syncing with QuickBooks®, account alerts and end-of-year fee summaries.
▶︎ read more: Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business Review
Should you buy Capital One Venture X Business?
The Capital One Venture X Business is a great choice for business owners who travel frequently and want to earn rewards for significant business spending. With unmatched perks and an easy-to-understand rewards structure, this business card is unmatched in many areas.
Ultimately, the $395 annual fee will be the deciding factor in whether or not you get this card, and your monthly spending will need to match the rewards amount to offset the annual fee and qualify for the big welcome bonus.