@longtimelurker wrote:But after the sign up bonus and free first year, there is no advantage to paying the AF for another year, unless you have a lot of foreign expenses. The card is basically a 2% card with the best redemption (travel) and you can get cards that give 2% cash back without restriction
yes i think most travel cards are only really beneficial for first year, once af kicks in you need to put major spending in to make the AF worth it. Especially when Double cash is out there. The only time when that may be not the case is when you have points that can transfer to partners like MR, UR, SPG and specific airline cards.
Venture is a good card. Fee of 59 instead of the 89 for arrival+. Generaly if you're scaping for points you won't be able to use the WEMC perks. You get two points for ever dollar spent and you can use them to erase gas purchases for travel, hotel stays and really anything you can convince Cap 1 is a travel purchase.
@degs138 wrote:Venture is a good card. Fee of 59 instead of the 89 for arrival+. Generaly if you're scaping for points you won't be able to use the WEMC perks. You get two points for ever dollar spent and you can use them to erase gas purchases for travel, hotel stays and really anything you can convince Cap 1 is a travel purchase.
I don't have either cards but this is my take on arrival+ vs venture. I think both are apply and drop after 1 year, unless your spending can support the AF. The reasons i would prefer Arrival+ over venture is 2.2% vs 2% value towards travel. The second one may not be as important but i would rather have one single TU pull vs triple pull from each bureau. The last reason which may not be that big of an deal , but arrival+ has an emv chip+pin which no other card has that i know of.
@DeadlyPersona wrote:So, the Venture card would not benefit me at all since I'm not a flyer....correct? I wanted clarification.
On the contrary. If you do travel but not with airlines then the Venture is an excellent card. If you would consider the Venture One without the AF then I would say rather get the Quicksilver which earns 1,5% and you can use the cash back not only for travel purchases but apply to any transaction. If you do not fly then MR, UR or airline specific cards or cards that transfer to partner programs would not be the best fit. But Venture or Arrival+ are nice cards for travel even when not flying. Both are VI or MC with great acceptance and no FTF. The 2% cards like Fidelity Amex or Citi DC will soon eat all the rewards if you travel outside th US due to their FTF.