Get $1000 toward your next vacation from Capital One

(expires May 1)

Capital One has a solid rewards card called Venture. For a limited time, they are giving away 100,000 points for signing up for Venture, a bonus that is worth $1,000 in travel spending (if you book through their rewards site) or gift cards. In addition, you get two points per dollar of spending and incur no foreign exchange fees. The two requirements for the bonus are:

1. Spend $1,000 within 90 days
2. Submit a year-end summary from your existing travel rewards card

The card comes with a $49 annual fee (waived for the first year).  I think the rewards program is pretty good, especially for those who recently lost their Charles Schwab card that rebated a straight 2% back monthly.  But most point hoarders will find the reward program less valuable than ones that give you miles that usually give you more bang for the buck.  Personally I prefer cash back or cash toward travel so you don't have to deal with award blackouts, but I find the Citi and Chase bonuses toward travel more rewarding than this card.  Nevertheless, it's a whopping bonus that is tough to pass up.

Capital One offering 100,000 miles

I am not sure how these companies plan to make money, but now Capital One is offering 110,000 "miles" for signing up and spending $1,000 on a "Venture" credit card in the first 3 months.  I say "miles" because Capital One is not aligned with any airline.  Instead, you basically get $1,100 to spend on travel.  There's a regular 10,000 "mile" bonus for spending $1,000 plus--for a limited time--an additional 100,000 "mile" bonus.  This second bonus is a little complicated to get.  According to View from the Wing, you need to already have an airline rewards card and be ready to show Capital One your airline rewards statement showing more than 100,000 miles.

You should know that this offer is capped at 1 billion bonus miles for all participants (i.e. the first 10,000 people who sign up), and the annual fee of $59 is waived for the first year.  The card earns two miles per dollar spent, so it could be a keeper if you don't already have one of the 2% cashback cards, which are a dying breed.  I am not a Capital One customer, but I have always envied that their cards don't add any sneaky foreign exchange fees when racking up charges abroad.

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