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You don’t want a ton of cards in your wallet…then I have a solution. Hands down, The Most Underrated 2 card combo in the marketplace is the Capital One Venture X ( my choice for best super premium card ) & Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card . Why?
How does earning an unlimited 2x on all purchases alongside earning 3x on dining, streaming, entertainment, and grocery stores ( excluding Target and Walmart ) sound? And…if you spend more than $400 a year on travel, you’ll net $5.
Pretty great right?
Well this two card combo accomplishes just that, AND they both come with great welcome offers. Let’s take a deeper look.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
If you’re looking to add a super premium card to your wallet without having to calculate whether you’re recouping the annual fee every year… the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card may very well be the best fit for you. 2x miles everywhere, lounge perks, and great travel partners make this a killer card
Welcome Offer
75k Capital One Miles after $4k in 3 months
Annual Fee
$395
Points Earned
Transferrable Capital One Miles
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card offers 2x miles on every single purchase you make, a $300 annual credit when booking in Capital One Travel, 10k Miles every year you keep the card ( worth a minimum of $100 in portal ), Priority Pass, Cap1 Lounge Access + when booking via the Capital One Travel Portal you’ll earn 10x miles on hotels and car rentals + 5x miles on flights.
The travel credit and 10k anniversary bonus miles alone recoup the $395 annual fee and they have a great list of transfer partners.
It’s an absolutely killer offer from Capital One.
- 2x miles on every single purchase without limit
- 10x miles hotels and rentals cars in Capital One Travel Portal
- 5x miles flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
- $300 Annual Credit within the Capital One Travel Portal
- 10k bonus miles after each anniversary
- Lounge access
- Capital One Lounge Access
- 1 location currently and 2 more scheduled for 2022
- 2 guests allowed and $45 for every guest after that
- Authorized Users get access as well
- Add 4 Authorized Users free of charge
- Priority Pass Select access
- Unlimited complimentary access for you and two guests to 1,300+ lounges, including Plaza Premium lounges
- Capital One Lounge Access
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Credit valid every 4 years
- Complimentary Cell Phone Insurance
- Hertz President’s Circle Status
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- No fee for up to 4 authorized users
- $395 Annual
The best ever offer was 100k after $10k spend in 6 months when the card first debuted, but 75k has been the offer ever since.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is an incredible team mate to the Capital One Venture Rewards or Capital One Venture X since it earns 3% back or 3x on grocery ( excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target® ), dining, popular streaming, and entertainment. See more in the quick breakdown.
Welcome Offer
For a limited time, earn a $250 cash bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$0
Points Earned
Cashback or combine into one of the Transferrable Capital One Miles earning cards
The biggest reason I would add this card to my wallet is to create a Capital One Dynamic Duo.
It’s not well known, but you can combine the cashback you earn on the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards with the Capital One Venture Rewards or Capital One Venture X and they become transferrable Capital One Miles.
That means if you have either of those Venture cards mentioned above you’d earn unlimited 2x on every single purchase.
If you added the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards to your wallet you’d also earn 3x on dining, grocery ( excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target® ), popular streaming, and entertainment.
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards has no annual fee but could add a lot of value to your wallet on its own via cashback, but even better if you pair with either the Capital One Venture Rewards or Capital One Venture X
- For a limited time, earn a $250 cash bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
- Earn unlimited 3% cash back at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®), on dining, entertainment and popular streaming services, plus 1% on all other purchases
- Earn 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases
- Earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you’ll get Capital One’s best prices on thousands of trip options. Terms apply
- No rotating categories or sign-ups needed to earn cash rewards; plus cash back won’t expire for the life of the account and there’s no limit to how much you can earn
- No foreign transaction fee
- No annual fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
What is the annual fee of each card?
| Capital One Venture X | Capital One Savor Cash Rewards |
$395 Annual
|
No annual fee |
Where would I use each card? Super simple
The goal with these two cards is that you would earn multiple points on every purchase you make and structure it like this:
You would use the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards to earn
- Unlimited 3% cash back on
- dining
- grocery (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®)
- entertainment,
- popular streaming services
- Unlimited 8% back on Capital One Entertainment
You would use the Capital One Venture X for everything else
- Unlimited 2x miles on every single purchase
- Purchases in the Capital One Travel Portal earn
- 10x miles hotels and rentals cars in Capital One Travel Portal
- 5x miles flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
How do I net $5 every year if I spend $400 on travel?
The Capital One Venture X has a $395 annual fee. It also comes with a $300 Capital One Travel Portal Credit + 10k Anniversary Bonus miles for each year you keep the card starting in the 2nd year. Those 10k Bonus miles are worth $100 in the Capital One travel portal
Here is a list of each card’s benefits and earn rates
| Capital One Venture X | Capital One Savor Cash Rewards |
|
|
Zach, are travel portal prices the same as direct booking rates?
It totally depends, but I’ve found that the prices in any travel portal vary and are usually pretty close to the Best Available Rate you’ll see at a hotel. So if you’re booking on a member rate, or a AARP/AAA rate, etc you will often pay more upfront for the booking ( But you may also earn a higher rate of points/miles through the portal than you would direct so they could offest in value ). One thing to keep in mind though….
- Airlines will give you elite miles/status perks
- Hotels and Rental Car companies will not honor any of your elite perks, nor will you earn elite night/rentals.
For this reason, I will often use these credits on airline and car rentals OR hotels that I can’t earn elite status with like luxury hotels or small boutique hotels.
You can combine your miles with other Capital One accounts. This is incredible.
Yes, you can combine your points into one account. This applies to accounts under your name, and also to ANYONE else that has an account that earns Capital One Miles. This is Pretty awesome and means that the cashback you earn from the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card can be combined with the Rewards in the Capital One Venture X.
Why would I want to combine them?
Capital One Miles can be transferred to over 15 transfer parnters and this is where you can get outsized value for your miles.
Here’s a pretty chart referencing Capital One transfer partners. I’m really impressed with how far Capital One has come in just a few years regarding their push to establish themselves in the travel rewards ecosystem. This is an impressive list of 15+ partners and all but two are 1:1
- The following partners are now 1:1
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Avianca LifeMiles
- Air France Flying Blue
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Choice Privileges
- Etihad Guest
- Emirates
- Finnair Plus
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines
- TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles
- Virgin Red
- Wyndham Rewards
- Accor transfer 2:1
- EVA transfers 2:1.5
Overall
These two cards yield a super simple approach to your wallet that would yield a minimum of 2x everywhere you spend + 3x at some of the most popular categories with lounge status, and more perks.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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