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3 Lucrative Cards to Simplify Your Rewards

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When it comes to rewards, sometimes “simple” is better. The three credit cards featured below are three cards that I rarely talk about but that are actually extremely popular with people interested in credit card rewards. If you value simplicity with your credit cards, then these could be some of the best options for you.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

CAPITAL ONE VENTURE benefits

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a super popular card largely due to the marketing done by Capital One. I like this card a lot because it earns 2X on all purchases and has such a great early spend offer at $500 after spending $3,000 in the first three months. This $500 can be used to cover virtually any type of travel purchase.

You simply make your purchase and then select to be reimbursed for that purchase when you are ready. Cards like this allow you to fill in the gaps so that you can travel for free easier since you could get reimbursed for things like award travel fees.

I’ve used the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card in the past to get reimbursed for hundreds of dollars of award travel fees so it definitely deserves a spot in the wallet of many travelers. While it does have a $95 annual fee, that is waived the first year.

It’s worth pointing out that now you can transfer points earned with the Venture to some very solid travel partners. (When transferring points, the ratio will be 2:1.5 for most of the partners.)

Here are all of the airline transfer partners:

  • Aeromexico
  • Aeroplan
  • Alitalia
  • Avianca
  • Cathay Pacific
  • Emirates (2 to 1)
  • Etihad
  • EVA
  • Finnair
  • Flying Blue
  • Hainan Airlines
  • JetBlue
  • Qantas
  • Qatar
  • Singapore Airlines (2 to 1)

I wish the transfer ratios were mostly 1 to 1 but there are some solid partners in there like Aeroplan.

Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card is basically the Capital One version of the Chase Freedom Unlimited. It is a no annual fee card that earns 1.5% cashback on all purchases on an unlimited basis. This can be a great card for every day non-bonused spend.

It has a 0% APR intro period of 15 months which is perfect if you have a balance to deal with or even a balance transfer you want to do. And the card also has no foreign transaction fees which helps distinguish it as a better card for travelers. Currently, you can get a $150 bonus after spending $500 in the first three months.

Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card earns unlimited 4% cash back on dining and entertainment and 2% back on groceries. You can also earn 8% cash back on tickets at Vivid Seats through May 2020.

This card will also start you off with a decent bonus of $300 after you spend $3,000 in the first three months. The annual fee is waived the first year and then it’s $95 after that so this is one of those cards that you can pick up and then test out for a year to see if the rewards outweigh your annual fee. For a high spender in dining and entertainment, this is one of the very best cashback cards you’ll find. 

Final word

I think Capital One has a lot to offer for people interested in credit card rewards who value simplicity. With the addition of travel partners to the Venture card there is also potential to get outsized value for your points but for the casual person just looking to put money back into their pocket, they can’t go wrong with cards like these.