We recently saw the introduction of the new Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, which is Capital One’s new premium credit card. May travel experts are saying this is the card you should be replacing your American Express Platinum and Sapphire Chase travel cards with as the best card. This card builds on the basics of the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review), which has long been Capital One’s flagship travel credit card.
With many Capital One Venture cardmembers trying to make sense of the Capital One Venture X and compare to see which card is better and if you are you eligible for the Venture X if you have the Venture we are looking to address some of these questions here.
Both cards offer 2x Venture miles per dollar spent with no foreign transaction fees, making these the best cards for everyday spending. They both offer a TSA Precheck or Global Entry fee credit once every four years.
Capital One Venture cards are one of the best overall for travel rewards
The Venture X is such a no-brainer over the Venture. The card’s annual fee is $300 higher ($395 vs. $95), but for that you’re getting
A welcome bonus of 100,000 Venture miles plus a $200 vacation rental credit upon completing minimum spending, rather than a bonus of 60,000 Venture miles A $300 credit valid through Capital One Travel every cardmember year, which you can apply towards flights, hotels, and rental cars 10,000 Venture bonus miles on your account anniversary every year, which you can transfer to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners, or can be redeemed for one cent each towards a travel purchase A Priority Pass membership plus Capital One Lounge access (the DFW lounge is amazing); these benefits apply not only to the primary cardmembers, but also to up to four authorized users, which you can add to your card at no cost Hertz President’s Circle status, which will score you upgrades and more when renting with Hertz A variety of protection benefits on account of this being a Visa Infinite Card, including cell phone protection 10x miles on hotel and rental car purchases through Capital One Travel, and 5x miles on flight purchases through Capital One Travel
The math works out very favorably here. For the Venture X you’re paying an extra $300 per year over the Venture, and the $300 Capital One Travel credit should cover that. Then you’re receiving endless incremental perks, like the anniversary bonus miles, lounge access for you and up to four authorized users, and so much more.
Access the Capital One Lounge DFW with the Venture X How should you acquire the Venture X if you have the Venture? Say you have the Capital One Venture, and you decide that you want to pick up the Capital One Venture X. What’s the best way to go about it? You have two options — you can either apply outright, or you can potentially upgrade your card. Let’s go over the details, as well as the pros and cons, of each of these options.
Apply outright for the Venture X and receive the bonus Even if you have the Capital One Venture, you can still apply for the Capital One Venture X, and be eligible for the welcome bonus. This is no doubt the most lucrative path to getting the card:
You’d be eligible for the welcome bonus of 100,000 Venture miles plus a $200 vacation rental credit You don’t have to pick up the phone, as you can apply for the card directly online The downside to this method is that this would be like any other credit card application, so your credit would be pulled, and you’d have to be approved for the card; that being said, there are lots of reports of instant approvals on the card, and you may even end up with a significantly higher credit line than you have on the Venture
Redeem your Venture miles for Emirates first class Product change & upgrade to the Venture X Most credit card issuers will let you product change between cards in the same “family,” assuming you’ve had a card for at least 12 months (generally product changing isn’t possible within the first year). This will be an option for many, but generally isn’t as lucrative:
You don’t receive the welcome bonus if you product change or upgrade from the Venture to the Venture X Some Venture cardmembers are being targeted for an upgrade offer of 50,000 miles if upgrading from the Venture to the Venture X; however, this is targeted (so check your email or online account), and for that matter that’s still a far cry from the standard welcome bonus of 100,000 miles plus a $200 vacation rental credit The benefit of this option is that there’s generally no credit pull when product changing (though you’ll want to officially verify when you make the request, based on your situation); so this could be useful if you don’t think you’d be approved, or if you’re trying to stay under Chase’s 5/24 limit
You may be able to upgrade to the Venture X The strategy I’d take for acquiring the Venture X If it were me, I’d try to apply outright for the Capital One Venture X, given the exceptional welcome bonus being offered. Unless you have a specific reason that this would be problematic, that seems like the best bet. Personally I value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, so that welcome bonus is worth around $1,900 to me, which is massive.
We recommend you apply outright, even if I had the Venture Card. However, in the event that you get denied or have issues with approval, you can always later try to product change from the Venture to the Venture X. Even if you get rejected for the application, that wouldn’t impact your odds of being able to product change to the card in the future.
Bottom line The new Capital One Venture X is a highly lucrative travel rewards credit card. It’s a no-brainer to get this card over the Capital One Venture. While the annual fee is $300 higher, there are so many incremental perks that should prove worthwhile for anyone who travels with any frequency.
For those who already have the Venture, there are a couple of ways you could acquire the Venture X. You could apply outright, which is what I would do, since you’re eligible for the massive bonus on the card. Alternatively, you may also be able to product change. The catch is that you won’t be eligible for the full bonus — you may be targeted for some sort of an upgrade offer, but it will be at most 50,000 Venture miles.
American Express recently rolled out a new limited time offer on the no annual fee Hilton Honors Card from American Express, which is valid for a limited time. This is Hilton’s starter co-branded credit card, and it’s currently offering a welcome bonus of 75,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $1,000 within the first three months.
The welcome bonus offered 50,000 Honors points in the past upon completing minimum spend, so this bonus is a 50% increase compared to before. Past increased bonuses had a higher spend requirement to earn the bonus. Since you have no annual fee to pay with this card it’s a no-brainer for a free stay at Hilton.
Click Here to Apply for the 75K Bonus on the No Annual Fee Hilton Honors Card From American Express.
This Hilton Honors AMEX Card offers:
7x Honors points for spend directly with Hilton, 5x points for spend at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations, and 3x points for all other eligible purchases
Hilton Honors Silver status for as long as you have the card; Hilton Honors Silver members receive a fifth night free on award redemptions, so you’d receive that by virtue of having this card
Hilton Honors Gold status when you spend at least $20,000 on the card in a calendar year
No foreign transaction fees
Rental Car Protection option
Having this card gives you access to Amex Offers, which can save you money with many retailers. I save hundreds a year on this benefit. They normally offer Hilton Hotel offers such as “stay at the Hampton Inn spend $150 get $35 back.”
99% of merchants in the U.S. who accept credit cards now take American Express. Just a fact here if you are wondering if AMEX is accepted as widely as VISA or Mastercard. The most recent Nilson Report found that 10.6 million U.S. merchant locations accepted American Express at the end of 2025.
Wells Fargo enters the transferable points card market with the new Autograph Journey Card. It offers lucrative bonus categories and a compelling welcome offer, making it immediately interesting for many travelers.
The Highlights
Welcome Bonus: Earn 60,000 points after spending $4,000 within the first three months
Annual Fee: $95, but a $50 annual airfare credit brings the effective cost down to $45
Earning Power: Get 5x points on hotels, 4x on airlines, 3x on travel and dining, and 1x on everything else. No foreign transaction fees!
Points Transfers: Transfer your points to frequent flyer programs including Air France, KLM Flying Blue, Avianca LifeMiles, British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Aer Lingus, AerClub, and Choice Privileges.
Other Perks: Travel protection and exclusive concert access through Autograph Card Exclusives
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey VISA credit card review
Is it Worth It?
With strong earning categories for travelers and the ability to transfer points to valuable airline partners, the Autograph Journey is worth a look. There’s already solid value in this card, but keep these considerations in mind:
Competition: The transferable points market has well-established players. Cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or American Express Gold Card offer richer rewards ecosystems and more partners.
Future potential: Wells Fargo’s points transfer program is brand new. More transfer partners could make this card significantly more valuable.
Transferring Points:
Airline and Hotel transfer partners for the new Wells Fargo Autograph Journey travel credit card.
Autograph Journey: Offers transfers to a select group of airline loyalty programs including Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Avianca LifeMiles, British Airways Executive Club Avios points, Iberia Plus, Aer Lingus AerClub, and Choice Privileges. (Availability to start on April 4th, 2024).
Bilt:Bilt points (known as the “Rent Day card”) have a wider range of transfer partners, including many popular options like United MileagePlus, American AAdvantage, and Emirates Skywards. Bilt also frequently offers transfer bonuses.
Strategy to Downgrade Autograph Card to BILT?
Possible, but not ideal: While downgrading to the Bilt Card after getting the Autograph Journey bonus is technically possible, it might not be the best strategy. Wells Fargo might have restrictions, you’d lose benefits, and miss out on a potentially lucrative system for earning transferable points.
Autograph Card Exclusives
The Autograph Journey Card gives access to the “Autograph Card Exclusives” program. This offers intimate concerts with big-name artists in smaller venues. A past example is a Mumford & Sons performance in Los Angeles for 1,500 people. They are currently offering an exclusive experience with Imagine Dragons. This can be a fantastic perk for music lovers.
New Wells Fargo Travel Card Review Verdict
The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card is a competitive newcomer with notable earning rates on travel and potential within its airline points transfer program. If you frequently fly with its airline partners, or absolutely love the idea of the exclusive concerts, this card could be a good fit.
However, if your travel goals are less focused and you want broad flexibility for earning and transferring points, the Bilt card might be a better long-term play, even without the initial bonus.
Ibotta is an app and site which offers rebates and cash back for in-store purchases and, app purchases, and online shopping.
Sign-up here to get a $10 Bonus from Ibotta! See how to get the bonus below.
In-Store Rebates
My recent run to Walmart got me a free 2 Liter of Cherry Coke, soup, a free energy drink, and the best deal was the totally free 4-pack of IZZE sparkling juice.
The majority of the site is dedicated to in-store rebates which offers cash back when you purchase specific items from a participating store.
After saving a specific deal in the app, proceed to buy the product and get cash back into your Ibotta account. You might get $.75 back on the purchase of Toiletry Wipes, $.25 back on milk, or $3 back on a case of beer, for example. They normally offer cash back on just taking a photo of a receipt or buying a generic (any) brand of milk or cheese.
Just make sure to save or unlock the deal before making the purchase. Go to the Unlocked Deals tab in the app to see which ones you’ve already added. Once added, it doesn’t need to be added again until it expires.
Sometimes you have to answer a poll or question about the brand before being able to save the deal. Which is no hassle at all and is probably how the brands pay iBotta to give you generous discounts.
Chase has the best portfolio of credit cards overall but for everyday spending the Freedom card really stands out. Freedom cards we have talked about on our site since it first came out and they can earn Ultimate Rewards points without the annual fee.
The Freedom cards from Chase are more rewarding than ever before. Both cards are currently offering improved welcome bonuses that are among the best we’ve seen.
Both Freedom Cards are Similar but Chase Freedom Flex is Our Pick
The cards have most things in common. Identical sign-up bonuses & eligibility requirements, Both the Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited offer excellent bonuses for no annual fee cards, which were recently improved. Each card currently offers:
20,000 points or $200 BONUS after spending $500 on purchases within the first three months
Additionally, earn 5% cash back on grocery store purchases including Target (not Walmart purchases) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year
Furthermore, both cards have identical eligibility requirements:
Each card is only available to those who don’t currently have that specific card, and those who haven’t received a new cardmember bonus on that specific card in the past 24 months Both cards are subjected to Chase’s typical eligibility restrictions, including the 5/24 rule Overlapping bonus categories Both the Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited offer the following overlapping bonus categories on spending:
5x points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
3x points on dining, takeout, and eligible delivery services
3x points on drugstores
Flexibility to earn cash back or Ultimate Rewards points
Both the Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited accrue the same types of rewards:
Each point earned on either card can be redeemed for one cent cash back If you have either card in conjunction with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, or Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, then points can also be transferred to the Ultimate Rewards program; Ultimate Rewards points have a value around ~1.7 cents each, so to me that increases the value of these points by 70%
Earn Ultimate Rewards points with Chase Freedom cards
Differences between Chase Freedom cards
There is one primary area where the Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited differ, and that’s one aspect of the bonus categories. Both cards offer:
5x points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
3x points on dining, takeout, and eligible delivery services
3x points on drugstores
But each card has one unique bonus category:
The Freedom Flex offers 5x points in rotating quarterly categories, on up to $1,500 of spending per quarter The Freedom Unlimited offers 1.5x points on everyday spending, making it one of the best cards for non-bonused categories, and beating the Freedom Flex in that regard by 50%
The Freedom Unlimited offers a better return on everyday spending
Which Chase Freedom card is better?
Deciding whether the Chase Freedom Flex or Chase Freedom Unlimited makes more sense comes down to one very simple question — would you rather earn 1.5x points on all purchases (with the Freedom Unlimited), or would you rather earn 5x points in rotating quarterly categories and 1x points on non-bonused purchases?
Everyday spending will work out differently for everyone, but here are a few general considerations:
What card do you otherwise use for non-bonused spending, and how much do you spend in categories that don’t otherwise qualify for bonus categories? If you don’t have a great card and you spend a lot in non-bonused categories, then the Freedom Unlimited is the obvious choice Do you have another great card for non-bonused spending but think you could get value from the 5x points categories on the Freedom Flex? Then the Freedom Flex is the obvious choice The good thing is that you don’t have to choose — you can get both the Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited, and that’s a great way to maximize your rewards, especially since neither card has an annual fee. Personally, that’s my approach, but I also get that lots of people want a simpler credit card strategy than that.
Bottom line Both the Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited are great no annual fee cards that can help you maximize the Ultimate Rewards points that you earn. For savvy consumers they’re an essential complement to a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Which Freedom card makes more sense depends on your circumstances. The Freedom Unlimited is the all-around more rewarding card, given that it offers one of the best returns of any card for non-bonused spending. But some may get more value out of the Freedom Flex’s 5x points categories.
One great thing is that you don’t have to choose, as you can always pick up both cards at the same time or upgrade from another card if you change your mind by calling Chase.
Dosh is a new card linked loyalty app where you link your debit or credit card and you receive credits for making purchases with Dosh partners. The credit can then be donated to charity or transferred to your bank account. They also have a travel section where you can earn credit for booking hotels, renting cars or booking activities.
Go to the Dosh App here and get a $5 Bonus for adding a card.
$1 Per Card You Link You get a $5 bonus for adding your first card but you can also add another dollar per additional card you add. Just make sure to click in and out of the cards section of the settings and you’ll see a banner at the top that says $1 bonus for adding another card. It worked for 2 additional cards for us.
Max this out with $200 in spend. Not sure when this offer will expire.
Dosh has raised over $6 million in investments so we know this app may be around for awhile (at least a year- ha!). According to Dosh they have partnered with over 100,000 brands and merchants to offer their users opportunities to earn credits. Currently, it seems that the card-link offers on Dosh are either for restaurants or some retailers such as Forever 21, Hallmark stores, or Sam’s Club.
Card linked loyalty programs are no-brainers for the most part. You can connect your credit cards and do shopping without worrying about receipts like you do with Ibotta or clicking links like you do with Ebates. Dosh runs on Empyr, along with a number of other loyalty dining programs that run on that platform including MOGL, Living Social, Swagbucks, and Yelp. If you are signed up for Yelp Cash Back for example you cannot use Dosh with the same cards since they use the same backend network.
One great thing about a card linked loyalty programs is merchants cannot restrict what transactions do and don’t earn rewards. You can’t restrict a purchase that uses a coupon for example. Dosh aims to provide value to merchants by using geo-targeted offers which can also benefit the consumer. When there’s an offer in your area you’ll be alerted to that specific deal.
In our area we noticed that the Dosh app offers a few local deals that you do not see on Yelp or Swagbucks:
7% back at Hallmark stores 2% back at Sam’s Club (Wholesale Club) – You can double dip this with a Sam’s Club MasterCard. 10% back at Denny’s restaurants
You only need $15 in credits to redeem your “Dosh.” So the best best would be to try out the app and use it until you hit $15 and cash out and move onto another card-linked app in the network and get that bonus.
Past Promos:
10% cash back on all in-store purchases when you shop at Sam’s Club From Friday April 13, 2018 at 6:00am PT to Sunday April 15, 2018 at 11:59pm PT you can get 10% cash back on all in-store purchases when you shop at Sam’s Club. Doshers will receive 10% cash back automatically for any Sam’s Club in-store purchase at participating locations during the promotion duration when they use a valid Visa, MasterCard, or American Express Credit or Debit card linked to their Dosh account. When using a debit card, cashiers will need to run the transaction as a credit card transaction in order to receive cash back. $25 maximum cash back limit per 24-hour period.
$25 Hotel Booking Offer Dosh is now offering $25 cash back on your first hotel booking made through the Dosh App, and that’s on top of the cash back you will earn for the hotel booking itself. Once you log in to the app, visit the “Travel” section, where the $25 bonus offer will display upon your first visit. There is no registration needed, so you just book a hotel to get your $25 bonus. You can book a huge selection of hotels around the world with the Dosh App and earn cash back for every stay that you complete, so take advantage of this $25 hotel cash back promotion if you are planning to book a hotel stay.
