Capital One Venture One Points Question

Repairman · ‎08-07-2015

I know there have been many posts before regarding the Venture cards, some of which I participated, but now that I actually have the card, I find myself confused by something...

When putting a value to the points, are there redemption options that are less valuable than others? Specifically what is confusing me, is Capital One says 20,000 points is equal to "$200 in travel." If I don't use the points toward travel purchases, are the points worth less? And how do I have to redeem the points to maximize value? Is Purchase Eraser sufficient? I'm about to take a trip, and want to make sure I get the most out of my points.

Anonymous · ‎08-07-2015

@Repairman wrote:
I know there have been many posts before regarding the Venture cards, some of which I participated, but now that I actually have the card, I find myself confused by something...

When putting a value to the points, are there redemption options that are less valuable than others? Specifically what is confusing me, is Capital One says 20,000 points is equal to "$200 in travel." If I don't use the points toward travel purchases, are the points worth less? And how do I have to redeem the points to maximize value? Is Purchase Eraser sufficient? I'm about to take a trip, and want to make sure I get the most out of my points.

You can use the points other ways and still get maximum value such as redeeming the points towards gift cards. The 'purchase eraser' is just a Capitol One marketing terminology that sometimes is confusing. When you have travel expenses it's easy to use the points to offset some of the charges by using the eraser. That gives you maximum value out of them as well.

Repairman · ‎08-07-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
@Repairman wrote:
I know there have been many posts before regarding the Venture cards, some of which I participated, but now that I actually have the card, I find myself confused by something...

When putting a value to the points, are there redemption options that are less valuable than others? Specifically what is confusing me, is Capital One says 20,000 points is equal to "$200 in travel." If I don't use the points toward travel purchases, are the points worth less? And how do I have to redeem the points to maximize value? Is Purchase Eraser sufficient? I'm about to take a trip, and want to make sure I get the most out of my points.
You can use the points other ways and still get maximum value such as redeeming the points towards gift cards. The 'purchase eraser' is just a Capitol One marketing terminology that sometimes is confusing. When you have travel expenses it's easy to use the points to offset some of the charges by using the eraser. That gives you maximum value out of them as well.

I guess a more specific question I still have is say I have a $200 charge made at K Mart and a $200 charge made at a hotel...If I were to use Purchase Eraser toward the charges, would I get the full value of my points toward both of those charges, or would I only get the full value if I used the Eraser toward the hotel charge?

Anonymous · ‎08-07-2015

If you use it to offset travel or use it for gift cards you should get full value. If you use it as cash back the value drops from .01 cent per point to .005 cents per point basically cutting the value in half.

If you booked and paid for the hotel with the charge card you can use the purchase eraser and apply it to that charge. It won't work the same way against a Kmart charge (or at all, not sure).

This is how I understand it anyway.

Anonymous · ‎08-07-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
If you use it to offset travel or use it for gift cards you should get full value. If you use it as cash back the value drops from .01 cent per point to .005 cents per point basically cutting the value in half.

If you booked and paid for the hotel with the charge card you can use the purchase eraser and apply it to that charge. It won't work the same way against a Kmart charge (or at all, not sure).

This is how I understand it anyway.

Yes, you will only get a full 2% redemption rate when using purchase eraser towards travel expenses (i.e. hotels, airlines, etc). Anything else, you will get a 1% redemption rate.

Repairman · ‎08-07-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
If you use it to offset travel or use it for gift cards you should get full value. If you use it as cash back the value drops from .01 cent per point to .005 cents per point basically cutting the value in half.

If you booked and paid for the hotel with the charge card you can use the purchase eraser and apply it to that charge. It won't work the same way against a Kmart charge (or at all, not sure).

This is how I understand it anyway.
Yes, you will only get a full 2% redemption rate when using purchase eraser towards travel expenses (i.e. hotels, airlines, etc). Anything else, you will get a 1% redemption rate.

Ok, thank you. That's what I wanted to know.

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
If you use it to offset travel or use it for gift cards you should get full value. If you use it as cash back the value drops from .01 cent per point to .005 cents per point basically cutting the value in half.

If you booked and paid for the hotel with the charge card you can use the purchase eraser and apply it to that charge. It won't work the same way against a Kmart charge (or at all, not sure).

This is how I understand it anyway.
Yes, you will only get a full 2% redemption rate when using purchase eraser towards travel expenses (i.e. hotels, airlines, etc). Anything else, you will get a 1% redemption rate.