I have had a Quicksilver (my only card) for about two and a half years and am eligible for an upgrade to the SavorOne. On a whim I checked my eligibility for the VentureX and am pre-approved. I have been happy with Capital One and the ease of use of the Quicksilver. I like the simplicity of basic cashback. I'm not someone who is looking to have a ton of cards or any of these cards where it's a part-time job to keep track of the benefits. I travel 1-2x a year and I'm used to booking cheap flights and non-fancy stays, but I think I would probably spend the $300 credit you get with the VentureX. The lounges and pre-check credit would be nice. My day-to-day purchases are mostly coded under grocery, dining, and merchandise.
Would this be a relatively simple set-up to manage and get good benefits out of? Particularly the VentureX seems like it can be somewhat complicated with transfer partners etc. and the travel portal being annoying – is it still worth it for someone looking for a good card that doesn't require a lot of time investment to get good benefits? Would I be better off with a regular 2% cashback card?
SavorOne and VentureX — good set-up for someone who wants a simple, easy to manage set-up?
byu/ktj19 inCreditCards
Posted by ktj19
4 Comments
VentureX is actually pretty straightforward if you just use it like a 2% cashback card and ignore all the transfer partner stuff. The $300 travel credit basically covers the annual fee and you get lounge access which is nice for those 1-2 trips per year
SavorOne would be good complement since you spend lot on groceries and dining anyway. You could just use VentureX for everything else and travel, SavorOne for the bonus categories. Not complicated at all really – just two cards to think about instead of one
The travel portal isn’t that bad if you’re already booking budget stuff anyway, but you can always just book directly and use points like cashback at 1 cent each
You’d probably be better off with a full cash back setup tbh. Sure, the Venture X ‘pays for itself’ with its $300 annual travel portal credit and annual 10,000 points bonus. And sure, points can be redeemed for 1 cent per point against your statement via the travel eraser. But the underlying assumptions here are that the hassle of routing your travel plans through a credit card travel portal (even with price matching) are worth the benefits the card has, and that you will have enough travel expenses to redeem your points balance against. If you’re not getting much out of the transfer partners, lounge access, travel protections, rental car benefits, etc. then something like the US Bank Altitude Connect becomes more appealing for 4x travel, 4 free Priority Pass lounge visits per year, and a $100 Global Entry/TSA pre-check credit all for a $0 AF. Essentially, the fewer of the VX’s benefits you’re using, the more it really just becomes a $400 Capital One Travel gift card purchase.
The C1 Duo is an incredibly simple and straightforward setup, which is why many recommend it. Use the Savor for all your grocery/dining/entertainment purchases and the VX for everything else. Book travel through the portal to get 5/10% back and then use the travel eraser to effectively redeem flights at 1.05cpp and hotels at 1.1cpp. Throw in the price match guarantee, $400 credits, and it’s probably the least complicated setup out there aside from using Robinhood Gold and getting 3% on everything. I’ve personally found their travel portal to be easy to use and comparable to booking directly or through other third party sites (i.e. Expedia) so don’t let that scare you off. Transfer partners only come into play if you’re trying to max your redemption rate.
Don’t do the SavorOne if you can avoid it. It’s (almost) the same as the regular Savor, but the SavorOne has a $39 annual fee and the Savor is free.