Bank of America vs. Capital One Venture: Which Is the Better Travel Credit Card?

The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card and the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card are two of the most popular general travel credit cards on the market. Unlike cards tied to a particular airline or hotel chain, these cards give you tremendous flexibility. You book travel however you want, then use your credit card rewards to pay for your trip.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offers a big sign-up bonus and a higher standard rewards rate for each dollar you spend, but it comes with an annual fee. The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card has a $0 annual fee, and it offers bonuses for Bank of America® banking customers.

Let's take a closer look at these cards.

Rewards and bonuses

Looking at these cards' basic rewards rates, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card flies 33% higher: It gives you an unlimited 2 miles per $1 spent on most purchases, plus 5 miles per $1 on hotel and rental car bookings through Capital One Travel. The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card gives you an unlimited 1.5 points per $1 spent. Each card's rewards have a value of 1 cent per mile or point when redeemed for travel.

Each card offers a sign-up bonus to get you started off right:

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: 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.

Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card: 25,000 online bonus points after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening - that can be a $250 statement credit toward travel purchases.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card requires more spending to claim the bonus, but you get a much bigger bonus that will take you more places.

The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card does offer additional bonuses, though. You get 3 points for every $1 spent when you book travel through the Bank of America® Travel Center. If you're enrolled in the Bank of America Preferred Rewards® program and have at least $20,000 in combined accounts at Merrill, you can earn bonuses of 25% or more.

See how much you'd earn in rewards based on your own spending and Bank of America® customer status with NerdWallet's rewards calculator. Calculations assume that you earn the sign-up bonus, and they take into account the cards' annual fees:

Redeeming rewards made easy

Both cards offer great flexibility for redeeming your rewards. With both, you generally get the best value by redeeming for travel — either by using your points or miles to book travel through the issuer's online portal, or by turning your miles into statement credit to offset travel purchases. (The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card also lets you redeem points for a statement credit to cover dining purchases.)

The cards offer other options, though typically for less than the full 1-cent-per-point value. The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card lets you redeem points for cash back, gift cards or charitable contributions. If you have an IRA, a 529 plan or a mortgage with Bank of America®, you can redeem rewards for contributions to those accounts or a discount on your mortgage origination fee. The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has options to redeem for cash back or gift cards.

For both cards, the miles or points you earn never expire, as long as your account is in good standing. There are no blackout dates for air travel, and you can redeem your rewards for all kinds of travel-related spending, including purchases with any airline, hotels, limo or car rental, cruises and more.

Fees and APRs you need to know

The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card is a rarity among general travel cards in that its annual fee is $0. The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, on the other hand, has a fee of $95. Frequent travelers never want to pay a foreign transaction fee, and neither of these cards tacks on that fee.

Plus, the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card offers the following introductory APR: 0% Intro APR for 15 billing cycles for purchases, and for any balance transfers made in the first 60 days. After the Intro APR offer ends, a Variable APR that’s currently 18.24% - 28.24% will apply. The Capital One card offers no such introductory APR period.

Making the decision

Which card is right for you depends on how much you plan to put on the card and where you do your banking.

With its bigger sign-up bonus, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card gets a great head start in terms of value. Beyond the first year, when taking into account the annual fee, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card will offer more value than the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card if you spend more than $19,000 a year.