Capital One Venture X

I've shared previously that the Venture X card is one of my top three beginners cards to hold. Before I jump into this post and why I recommend holding a VentureX and it's benefits, we need to talk about Capital One requirements

Capital One recently announced a change to qualification for sign up bonuses of the Venture-Series cards (Venture One, Venture, and Venture X). In order to qualify for a sign up bonus, you must open the cards "in order" of lowest tier to highest tier to be eligible for sign up bonuses. 

Often the Venture One card is skipped (due to lower sign up bonus/benefits not worth taking on up spot of you 5/24). In essence, it's recommended to open a Venture card BEFORE opening a Venture X card. If you open a VentureX card, you will not be eligible for a Venture card sign up bonus until 48 months have passed since earning the Venture X sign up bonus. 

In theory, you want to open a Venture card first, earn it's sign up bonus, and then 6 months+ later, you can open the VentureX card and earn it's sign up bonus (potentially both in the same year).

Now that I've shared that critical detail, let talk about....

Capital One VentureX

Current (elevated) sign up bonus: Earn 100,000 points by spending $10,000* within 6 months of opening the card

Annual Fee: $395

Benefits (to Offset the Annual Fee):

• $300 annual travel credit, to be used in Capital One Travel Portal (this is posted to your account annually, open card anniversary (not calendar year). <We use this credit for rental cars, but you could use on hotel and/or flights also!
• 10,000 anniversary points, awarded annually per card anniversary to your account. These points can be used to book travel or if you wanted to cash in at 1pt per 1 cent, are worth a minimum of $100 cash.

These two benefits alone are worth $400 ($300+$100); which is greater than the $395 annual fee itself!

On top of these, you also benefit from:

• Earn 2x points on all purchases
• Earn 10x points for hotels and car rentals booked in the Capital One Travel portal (great when using your $300 travel credit!)
• No foreign transaction fees (combined with the 2X's points earn, this is a GREAT no-brainer international travel card!)
• Hertz Presidential Status: highest Hertz status, which can be priced match with other car rental companies
• Credit for TSA PreCheck/Global Entry/Clear: simply charge your application fee to this card and you'll receive a statement credit.
• Capital One and Priority Pass Lounge Access
• Currently cardholders can bring up to two guests for free into these lounges
• As of February 1, 2026, only the primary cardholder will get in for free. To bring guests in you can:
• Pay $195/yr for an authorized user to receive lounge access
• Pay guest fee per visit. For Capital One lounges this fee will be $45/adult and $25/child (ages 3-17; under 3 is free)

Summary

While the minimum spend for this elevated sign up bonus is high, $10K compared to the usual $4K, the minimum spend period is doubled to six months, from standard three months. With all of this considered, I think this is a great offer! If you have a lower monthly spend, this could be a great card for you at needing to spend $1,700/mo to hit the $10K spend in 6 months.

Or, if you are a higher monthly spend household, like myself, you could sign up for this card AND another card's sign up bonus at the same time!

Don't forget - if you don't have a Venture Card yet, I recommend opening a Venture Card (learn more here!) and earning that sign up bonus first, then moving on to VentureX.

Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!