Venture X vs Fidelity Rewards Visa

[Varsity_Lu]

@longtimelurker 

Possibly, but I've never met anyone who travels like that guy.

Does anyone have any personal data on what value they are getting specifically from their Capital One points?

[Patient957]

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@Varsity_Lu wrote:

Person 2 uses a VX card and runs $2k per month through it. At the end of the year he has 48,000 points. 

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Most people will pair the VX with the no AF Savor card and get 3 points on some categories, averaging perhaps 2.5 points on spend, making the return on spend up to 60,000.

Using the Points Guy valuation of 1.85 CPP for Cap One points, that's a value of over $1100.

As always in the points game, some will get more, some less, but 1.85 is an average and is very achievable for many people.

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@Varsity_Lu wrote:

If YouTube is to be believed, the 48,000 points are roughly worth $480. 

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In this case, YouTube is not to be believed. 1 CPP is generally cited as a minimum value, not an average one.

[Patient957]

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@Varsity_Lu wrote:

The 1 CPP value is straight from Cap One. I have zero experience so I am just going off of what they say.

I watched the video and, to be honest, the whole thing just seems so unreasonable. I'm sure he actually did travel like he said and I am glad for him, but there are a lot of unanswered questions. Like where did he get his 1 million points from? I mean, come on, the average person can't earn that many points in a normal lifetime. What is he running half a milion dollars through a card each year? Not very relatable. On top of that, all his travel seemed very laissez-faire. He pretty much just winged it. Who has three months to lolligag around the world looking for obscure high redemption value flights? Your average joe is looking for specific flights on specific days. Many of the deals he got were because he didn't have deadlines and he had a bazillion points. Most of us don't have those things.

I'm not knocking him. Really, I'm not. I'm glad he got to do this trip, but it doesn't seem to be a very good real world example of a person working a real job with a real family with real time and cash constraints. I highly doubt travel points are as valuable for us normal people.

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Clearly cash back is best for you, and that's fine.  That's why they make all kinds of cards.

As to how to get a million points, some people churn SUBs.  It gets discussed here quite a bit.  It's not for everyone, but it's an art form for some.

Most people don't brag about their redemptions on this board.  It's probably not really on topic.  There are other places where people post about their high CPP redemptions.

Edit:  If your initial point is that VX sucks as a pure CB card compared to others, then I think almost everyone would just agree with you.  VX is not great as a pure CB card.   It's not meant to be used for CB.

[Varsity_Lu]

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@Patient957 wrote:

Edit:  If your initial point is that VX sucks as a pure CB card compared to others, then I think almost everyone would just agree with you.  VX is not great as a pure CB card.   It's not meant to be used for CB.

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Not at all, in fact it's the opposite. I started this thread because I am trying to decide what my next card will be. I want a good return value. I absolutely love Capital One's cash back and banking products and think their app is the gold standard for usability. I am also looking for a good 2% everything card to swap out for my Quicksilver. When Fidelity added their TSA PreCheck benefit, I got to thinking about my options. These two cards seemed to me to be similar in terms of value returned. I had no idea this world of points existed and literally took the Cap One website at it's word regarding 1 CPP.

Question: does Cap One convert cash back earned into travel points? Maybe that's where their 1 CPP is coming from. If so, can I convert my Savor cash back to Cap One points even if I don't have a Venture card? Maybe I should do that to see what their travel portal is like.

[Patient957]

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@Varsity_Lu wrote:

Question: does Cap One convert cash back earned into travel points? Maybe that's where their 1 CPP is coming from. If so, can I convert my Savor cash back to Cap One points even if I don't have a Venture card? Maybe I should do that to see what their travel portal is like.

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You need one of the Venture cards to convert cssh back to miles.  Venture One is no AF and Venture is $95.  Either one pairs well with Savor.  Venture One is only 1.25%, however.

As to 2% cash back cards, there's always the Citi Double Cash with no AF and nice little SUB of $200.

[FicoMike0]

Wells active cash is 2% with $200 sub on $500 spend. You could make the spend on one trip to best buy.

[Patient957]

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@Varsity_Lu wrote:

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@Patient957 wrote:

Edit:  If your initial point is that VX sucks as a pure CB card compared to others, then I think almost everyone would just agree with you.  VX is not great as a pure CB card.   It's not meant to be used for CB.

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Not at all, in fact it's the opposite. 

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Well the VX really is a terrible cash back card.  If you want to redeem miles as a statement credit, you will get 0.5 CPP, making your 2% effectively only 1%.

Using VX for cashback is like using a hammer in a screwdriver's role.  I hope this is all becoming clearer to you now.  VX is a terrible CB card but a great Travel card. 

You're looking for a 2% CB card, so VX should not be in your mix of considerations.

[longtimelurker]

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@FicoMike0 wrote:

Wells active cash is 2% with $200 sub on $500 spend. You could make the spend on one trip to best buy.

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Since TSA/GE is still rare on non-AF cards, I guess the comparison with SUBs hasn't been discussed much.   While I am not one (in general) who believes in "keeper" cards, if you do, then a card that pays $120+ (or whatever it is/will be) for GE will do that every four years, whereas a SUB is just once.  So, in the long term, with the critical provisos that the government program continues to exist AND the card keeps giving a credit, these cards can beat a SUB.

[Varsity_Lu]

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@Patient957 wrote:

Well the VX really is a terrible cash back card.  If you want to redeem miles as a statement credit, you will get 0.5 CPP, making your 2% effectively only 1%.

Using VX for cashback is like using a hammer in a screwdriver's role.  I hope this is all becoming clearer to you now.  VX is a terrible CB card but a great Travel card. 

You're looking for a 2% CB card, so VX should not be in your mix of considerations.

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I never even considered converting travel points to cash. Not sure where you got that impression. I just want a better general spend card than Quicksilver. It doesn't necessarily need to be a cash back card. VX 2% in points, if the value is high, is great for me. That's what I'm trying to figure out. 

[Varsity_Lu]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@FicoMike0 wrote:

Wells active cash is 2% with $200 sub on $500 spend. You could make the spend on one trip to best buy.

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Since TSA/GE is still rare on non-AF cards, I guess the comparison with SUBs hasn't been discussed much.   While I am not one (in general) who believes in "keeper" cards, if you do, then a card that pays $120+ (or whatever it is/will be) for GE will do that every four years, whereas a SUB is just once.  So, in the long term, with the critical provisos that the government program continues to exist AND the card keeps giving a credit, these cards can beat a SUB.

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This is why I made the OP. I feel like TSA on the Fidelity card makes it unique enough to at least consider it as an alternative to a true travel card. I think the value drops when you factor in the 5 year TSA cycle. The benefit drops to like 20 bucks a year. (Fidelity will reimburse up to $100 every 5 years)