Cap One Venture vs Amex Blue Business Plus-Given New Cap One Partners

[Anonymous]

With Cap1 now going with a full on travel rewards program with travel partners, which card is better to have for non bonus spend given I’m mostly invested in MR ecosystem?  Looking for total return/overall value comparison, including signup bonus (75k vs 10k referral). Already have the BBP, and VentureOne. Have QuicksilverOne too so how will having those impact my ability to potentially get the straight Venture card?  Could prod switch to Venture but would lose signup bonus. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

If you are fully invested in MRs I would stick with the business plus. That paired with the Gold will give you the most MRs. However, if you are looking to diversify then using the Venture for non cat spend isn’t a bad idea. I have actually moved all of my non-cat spend to the Venture now given their miles are more flexible now. I’ll still probably using the purchase eraser feature but it’s good to know my miles can be transferred if I chose too.

I don’t like investing all my spend in one system since points can get devalued fast. I use the Venture as my Non cat card while using the Gold for Restaurants/supermarkets and flights then using the Premier for gas and travel that I don’t plan on purchasing outright.

[ChargedUp]

It mostly depends on which partners with the airlines and hotel chains you prefer. What ratio to Cap One miles transfer at vs. what MR's transfer at where you plan to use them is something to consider as well. The 75K SUB is likely worth getting the Venture for in itself as long as the miles will work where you want them to work.

(PS. If you have the spend to pull it off, the Spark Business miles has 50K bonus and 150K bonus on top of that for $50K of spending in 6 months. I mention this as you have the BBP.)

[wasCB14]

What's your annual off-category spend?

Are you interested in constant bonus chasing to maximize your rewards, or do you just want to focus on using a small number of cards?

[Anonymous]

I’d say I’m just starting to get into building my card portfolio. Just now have score to pull it off. Don’t want to bonus chase forever but don’t mind doing it some while getting cards. Preference would be one card that would have bonus for most of my spend but that isn’t realistic and doesn’t exist. So, need to diversify. At the end of the day would like a small handful of cards (4-8) that hit all the bonus categories with decent spend that I can get while not spreading myself too thin in different ecosystems. If Amex had a card/cards that would give me 3-5x for cable/internet and cell, and some yearly hotel free night type things I’d be exclusively Amex. Alas that isn’t out there so asking this question about hotel cards. I would like to travel a bit more (prob domestically) and use points/miles to cover a good portion of the additional air/hotel.  Right now have Amex gold, Amex BBP, Cap1 Quicksilver1 and Cap1 Venture1. Any feedback or areas would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Basically here it is for my spend:

$1000-$1200/month restaurant/groceries-Amex gold

$180/mo cable/internet-BPP (thinking about getting a Chase Ink for this)

$250/mo cell phone-BBP (also potentially a Chase Ink)

$300/mo entertainment-BPP

$3000-$6000/yr airfare-Amex gold

$2000-$3000/yr hotel-VentureOne

$1000 misc non bonus type of spend-BBP (includes online purchases for clothes and electronics...maybe going for amazon prime card)