Capital One Miles

Compared to veterans of the transferable points world, like American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, Capital One Miles is a relatively new player in the scene. Nonetheless, they are one of the strongest points currency that we have available in the world of points and miles. 

Before we get started with our deep dive into Capital One Miles, it is important to note that we are referring to Capital One US credit cards and points, not their Canadian counterpart! This means that you will need to have an ITIN and some US credit cards (i.e., American Express US cards) before starting your journey with Capital One. 

Consider checking out our guide on getting started with US credit cards and our ITIN service to get started with Capital One credit cards.

Getting a Capital One Credit Card

We can’t talk about Capital One Miles without first diving into the game that is getting a Capital One credit card. While there are no specific rules and guidelines on how to get approved, Capital One is notoriously stingy with approving new credit card applications. 

The general rule of thumb is that, regardless of whether you have a social security number (SSN) or individual tax identification number (ITIN), you want at least 12 months of US credit history before trying for a Capital One credit card. If you want one of the higher-end travel credit cards, such as the Venture, Venture One, or Venture X cards, you want at least 18 months of US credit history. 

The other challenging obstacle that Capital One puts up is that they tend to deny applicants who already have a lot of credit cards. Thus, it is advantageous to get Capital One credit cards earlier in your US points and miles journey. This means that after your first few US credit cards, you should start trying for Capital One credit cards sooner rather than later.

To make this process easier, Capital One has convenient pre-approval tools to check your odds of being approved for a travel credit card.

If you are interested in the Capital One Venture X, use its dedicated pre-approval tool and check out our article on everything you need to know about the Capital One Venture X Rewards card! 

The general rule to remember here is that whenever you are considering a Capital One card, use the pre-approval tools to avoid getting a hard credit check and still be denied.

Acquiring Capital One Miles

Capital One has a host of credit cards that directly earn Capital One Miles from welcome bonuses, spending, and referring friends to credit cards. You can find a comprehensive list of all of Capital One’s credit cards and their earning structures here.

	Credit Card	Welcome Bonus	Net Value
	Capital One Venture Rewards	75,000 Capital One Miles	$1,293	Apply
	Capital One Venture X Rewards	75,000 Capital One Miles	$993	Apply
	Capital One Spark Miles	50,000 Capital One Miles	$925	Apply
	Capital One Spark Cash Select	500 cash back	$500	Apply
	Capital One Spark Miles Select	20,000 Capital One Miles	$370	Apply
	Capital One VentureOne Rewards	20,000 Capital One Miles	$370	Apply
	Capital One Spark Cash Plus	500 cash back	$350	Apply
	Capital One Savor Rewards	300 cash back	$205	Apply
	Capital One Quicksilver Rewards	200 cash back	$200	Apply
	Capital One SavorOne Rewards	200 cash back	$200	Apply
	Capital One QuicksilverOne Rewards	0 cash back	$-39	Apply

You’ll notice that Capital One markets some credit cards as earning Capital One Miles, while other credit cards earn cashback. Similar to Chase Ultimate Rewards, cashback earned from credit cards, such as the popular Capital One SavorOne card, can be converted to Capital One miles (1 cent cash back = 1 Capital One Mile).

Credit Card Welcome Bonuses

As always, the easiest and fastest way to build up your points and miles is through credit card welcome bonuses. However, unlike some other issuers, Capital One rarely offers increased welcome bonuses on their cards – what you see is pretty much what you will always get. 

For example, barring the initial launch of the card, the Capital One Venture X Rewards card has had a welcome offer of 75,000 Capital One Miles for a while now. This has not changed for any promotion or targeted offers.

Of course, there is an exception to this rule – the Capital One Venture X Business Card has had some increased welcome offers recently, upwards of 300,000 Capital One Miles! It came with a hefty ($100,000 USD in 6 months) spending requirement though, so I still won’t get too excited for future elevated offers on this card.

Spending on Capital One Credit Cards

Each Capital One credit card has its own unique earning structure to earn points with your spending. Like other bank programs, you can combine points earned from different credit cards into one pool of Capital One Miles. This means that the ultimate strategy for amassing the most amount of Capital One Miles through spending is a multi-card setup.

If you wish to move your Capital One Miles from one credit card account to another, you will find the “Move Rewards” option after clicking the number of points you have on that credit card.

A unique aspect of Capital One Miles is the ability to transfer your miles to any Capital One card holder. There are no restrictions or fees associated with these transfers, which is unheard of in the world of points and miles.

Thus, you and your significant other or family member can both spend on your own Capital One cards to earn miles, which you will then combine into one large pool to make amazing redemptions! To transfer your miles to other people, you simply have to call Capital One and have both account numbers on hand.

The Capital One Duo

In the world of Chase and American Express Trifectas, the Capital One Duo is a worthy player when it comes to multi-card setups to maximize points earned from spending. The Capital One Duo consists of the Capital One Venture X Rewards card and the Capital One SavorOne credit card. Here is a breakdown of both cards before we dive into why they deserve a place in your wallet:

	Capital One Venture X Rewards	Capital One SavorOne Rewards
Annual Fee	$395 USD	$0 USD
Earning Structure	10x on hotels and car rentals via Capital One Travel 5x on flights via Capital One Travel 2x on all other purchases	5x on hotels and car rentals via Capital One Travel 3x on groceries, dining, streaming services (e.g., Netflix) and entertainment (e.g., concerts) 1x on all other purchases

Remember, while the SavorOne technically earns cashback, this can be easily converted to Capital One Miles when transferred to the Capital One Venture X Rewards card. 

The power of this duo is its broad coverage of spending categories for little-to-no net annual fee (see our overview of the Capital One Venture X for a breakdown of the annual fee). The Savor One covers popular category spending on groceries and streaming services, earning 3x miles per dollar spent.

On all other purchases, the Venture X will yield 2x per dollar spent, which is among the strongest earning rates for non-category spending in the market. Taken as a whole, you have most, if not all, of your daily spending covered and earning you more than 1 point per dollar! 

Another extremely strong aspect of the Capital One Duo is that both cards have no foreign transaction fees! This is unheard of in the US and Canadian markets for a card with no annual fee! Thus, this gives the Capital One Duo a strong argument to be used on daily purchases even in Canada.

Capital One Travel Portal

While it is an offshoot of spending on your Capital One credit cards, the Capital One Travel Portal can be an excellent tool to accrue points as cardholders can yield a lot of points if using this tool optimally.

The Capital One Travel Portal is available for Capital One credit card holders. The benefit of using the Capital One Travel Portal for paid stays at hotels or paid airfare is the elevated earning rate when using the portal. For example, using the Capital One Venture X Rewards card, you will earn 10x Capital One Miles per dollar spent on hotel stays, which is one of the highest yields available on the market. 

If you have a Capital One credit card, we highly recommend you check out the Capital One Travel Portal whenever you are able to make a paid travel booking for hotel or airfares. For example, if you were visiting the Greek Islands, where point redemptions for hotels are next to none, the Capital One Travel Portal would allow you to earn a massive amount of Capital One Miles on an otherwise not-very-rewarding stay.

Refer a Friend to a Capital One Credit Card

Capital One cardholders generate a unique link via your Capital One account homepage to refer friends and family to apply for a Capital One credit card.

If approved, you will receive Capital One Miles for your effort! Keep an eye out for increased referral offers as they are known to come by once in a while!

Transferring Capital One Miles to Frequent Flyer & Hotel Loyalty Programs

The strength of Capital One Miles lies in the ability to transfer your hard-earned miles to 18 airline and hotel loyalty programs. This is, hands-down, the best way to use your Capital One Miles to maximize their value of 2 cents per point (and often even higher).

Let’s take a look at which programs are transfer partners with Capital One and which are the most powerful!

Airline Transfer Partners	Hotel Transfer Partners
Aeromexico Club Premier (1:1)	Choice Privileges (1:1)
Air Canada Aeroplan (1:1)	Wyndham Rewards (1:1)
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (1:1)	Accor Live Limitless (1:0.5)
Avianca LifeMiles (1:1)
British Airways Avios (1:1)
Emirates Skywards (1:1)
Etihad Guest (1:1)
Finnair Avios (1:1)
Air France KLM Flying Blue (1:1)
Qantas (1:1)
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (1:1)
TAP Miles&Go (1:1)
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles (1:1)
Virgin Red (1:1)
EVA Air (1:0.75)

These are excellent transfer partners and open up some partners that we do not have in Canada. Of note, Avianca LifeMiles, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, and Virgin Red are all very strong airline loyalty programs unavailable to us through credit cards in Canada. If you are loyal to Air Canada, Aeroplan will always be a strong transfer partner for your Capital One Miles. 

Some partners also transfer at a better ratio than our Canadian options. The most enticing one would be Air France KLM Flying Blue, which transfers at 1:1. This makes booking a Flying Blue Promo Reward that much more amazing! 

In addition, we also get access to 3 new hotel partners that we can consider to transfer our Capital One Miles out to. I think the best one would be Wyndham Rewards for Las Vegas hotels or Vacasa Vacation Rentals.

If you want to see if there are any bonus promotion opportunities when transferring Capital One Miles, check out our Miles & Points Transfer Tool.

Other Capital One Miles Redemptions

Statement Credit

You can “erase” purchases made with a Capital One credit card by using your Capital One Miles for a statement credit. 

However, this is the worst way to use your hard-earned miles because Capital One values miles at 0.5 cents per point when used this way. This is substantially less than the 2 cents per point that we value Capital One Miles.

Alternatively, you can request that Capital One mail you a check for your points balance at a rate of 0.5 cents per point.

If you are making a purchase through Amazon or PayPal, you get a slight boost for your points – they will be worth 0.8 cents per point when “erasing” these purchases. We still do not recommend using your miles this way.

Travel Purchases

Similar to the statement credit previously described, you can use Capital One Miles to “erase” travel-related purchases, including any bookings made through the Capital One Premier Collection. When used this way, Capital One will value your miles at 1 cent per point. This is still a very low-value use for our Capital One Miles.

The one case I could justify using this method to redeem miles is if you are booking a hotel through the Capital One Travel Portal because you earn 10x miles per dollar spent on that purchase when using your Venture X Rewards card.

You would then “erase” the hotel booking as a statement credit at 1 cent per point, but because you earned 10x points on the purchase, it would increase the value of each mile used for the redemption.

Gift Cards

You can redeem Capital One Miles for gift cards at over 100 different retailers at a rate of 1 cent per point. Some popular merchants include Nike, Amazon, Starbucks, Sephora, etc. However, 1 cent per point is still a low value for our miles, so we can’t recommend that you redeem this way.

A note if you decide to go for a gift card redemption: these are US gift cards, and while we share many of the same retailers as our Southern neighbors, only some of these are valid for use in Canada.

For example, I know that Sephora gift cards can be used in both Canada and the US, however, Amazon US gift cards are only valid in the US. Make sure you do a quick search on whether you can use them in Canada if that is your intention.

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