5 Things to Know Before You Start Earning Capital One Miles

Capital One has done its best to make its reward program — Capital One Miles — competitive with other card issuers. Along with launching new cards, Capital One has added new transfer partners and revamped its transfer ratios over the last few years. If Capital One Miles have caught your eye and you’re considering investing in its ecosystem, there are a few things you’ll want to consider.

Here are five things to know before you start earning any of those snazzy Capital One Miles.

» Learn more: The best travel credit cards right now

What to know before you start earning Capital One Miles

1. Multiple credit cards earn Capital One Miles

Capital One has a handful of different credit cards that earn its miles. These range from top-tier cards — such as the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card — down to the no-fee option, like the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card.

Here are the different credit cards that earn Capital One Miles.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

• Rewards rate: 10 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel; 2 miles per dollar spent everywhere else.

• Bonus offer: Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

• Annual fee: $395.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

• Rewards rate: 5 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 2 miles per dollar spent elsewhere.

• Bonus offer: Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

• Annual fee: $95.

Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card

• Rewards rate: 5 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 1.25 miles per dollar spent elsewhere.

• Bonus offer: Earn a bonus of 20,000 miles once you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $200 in travel.

• Annual fee: $0.

Capital One Spark Miles for Business

• Rewards rate: 5 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 2 miles per dollar spent anywhere else.

• Bonus offer: Earn a one-time bonus of 50,000 miles – equal to $500 in travel – once you spend $4,500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.

• Annual fee: $0 intro for the first year, then $95.

Capital One® Spark® Miles Select for Business

• Rewards rate: 5 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 1.5 miles per dollar spent elsewhere.

• Bonus offer: Earn a one-time bonus of 20,000 miles - equal to $200 in travel - once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.

• Annual fee: $0.

» Learn more: Reasons to get the Capital One Venture Rewards credit card

2. Capital One Miles are transferable

NerdWallet values Capital One Miles at a rate of 1.4 cents each. There are a number of reasons for this, but one reason is the ability to transfer Capital One Miles to different partners.

Transferable point currencies, as they’re called, offer much greater flexibility than other types of points because they can be converted to a variety of hotel and airline partners. Capital One Miles are no exception.

3. Capital One has 18 transfer partners

As a transferable point currency, Capital One has done its best to build a variety of strong partnerships. To date, you can transfer your Capital One Miles to 18 different partners. Most of these are at a 1:1 ratio, which means that one Capital One Mile becomes one hotel or airline point. Transfer partners include:

» Learn more: The best Capital One transfer partners — and ones to avoid

4. You’ll earn the most through Capital One Travel

If you took a look at the earning rates for Capital One’s cards, you probably noticed a pretty similar pattern. No matter the card, you’ll always earn the most miles for booking travel through the Capital One Travel portal.

This can be a double-edged sword. While it’s great to earn 10 miles per dollar spent on your travel, like you would when booking a hotel with your Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, you may be losing out on other benefits.

Capital One Travel is considered a third-party booking. Most hotel chains won’t allow you to earn points or redeem elite status benefits when booking through a third party. This means that you’ll be earning a great deal of Capital One Miles, but you could be missing out on hotel points, elite night credits and the perks of elite status.

» Learn more: How to redeem Capital One Miles for travel

5. You can redeem Capital One Miles in a variety of ways

Yes, it’s possible to redeem Capital One Miles by transferring them out to one of the program’s partners. However, that’s not the only way that these miles can be redeemed.

Another valuable way to use Capital One Miles is by redeeming them for travel. This can be done within the Capital One Travel portal while booking or for a statement credit on travel purchases you’ve already made. You’ll be able to redeem your miles at a rate of one cent each for travel purchases you’ve made within the last 90 days.

Otherwise, you can redeem your miles for gift cards, cash or for events within Capital One Entertainment.

More Capital One resources

Earning and redeeming Capital One Miles can be overwhelming, especially when you’re just starting out. Here at NerdWallet, we’ve broken down the process to help get you on track.

• Capital One Miles: How the program works.

• Things to do when you start collecting Capital One Miles.

• What’s the value of Capital One Miles?

• The quick start guide to points and miles.

If you want to start earning Capital One Miles

Capital One Miles can be a very valuable credit card currency for customers. This has become more true as Capital One has done its best to revamp its reward program. Now, with a variety of transfer partners and the ability to redeem your miles for travel purchases, earning Capital One Miles is more lucrative than ever.