For those just out of college or starting fresh, a break in the form of traveling to another state or country is usually near the top of wish lists. Finding ways to fund traveling however, can be a significant barrier to actually realizing this. If you’re good with credit cards, though, a new promotion from Capitol One may be able to help you with your travel ticket.

Traveling in reach?

Capital One has rolled out a new Venture Rewards credit card promotion with a “Match My Miles” promotion that will match the number of miles you have accumulated on another airline credit card up to 100,000 miles.

You earn the additional 100,000 miles–the equivalent of $1,000–if you put at least $1,000 on the card in the first three months.

The offer is good for new Venture and Venture for Business primary account holders. Current Capital One cardholders who want to upgrade to the Venture Rewards card or swap their existing Capital One card will get the mile match if they get approved, said Sukhi Sahni, a senior communications manager with Capital One.

The company will continue the offer this until they’ve given away a billion miles or until May 13, 2011, whichever comes first–it’s a first-come, first-served proposition.

Miles on top of miles: How does it work?

If you have airline miles on one of 13 airline credit cards currently on the market, Capital One will match those miles for free if you sign up for their new card and use it. What’s more, you get another 10,000 bonus miles just for signing up.

Here are some other appealing features of the Venture Rewards credit card:

• There is no annual fee the first year, and $59 a year after that.
• You earn two miles for every $1 you spend on all purchases
• There is no limit to the number of miles you can acquire and the miles never expire.
• There is no foreign currency fee. That means you can use the card to make purchases abroad or online in another currency without having to fork over the 3 percent charge many card companies add on.

“But what’s neat about this card is how we’ve made the redemption process so much easier than other cards,” Sahni said. “You just book your flight, buy your ticket and call us and say, ‘Hey, swap this out.’ It’s hassle-free.”

What you can buy with your matched miles

The best way to calculate how much your miles are worth with this card is to drop the last two zeros on your miles–that’s the monetary value. For instance, if you’ve accumulated 53,000 miles, you’ve earned a $530 flight.

In addition to airfare, miles can be redeemed for gift cards, merchandise and charitable donations, as well as for any travel-related expense, such as hotels, rental cars and cruises. You can redeem your miles for vacation packages, too, and you can book a flight with any airline. There are no blackout dates and no requirement for advanced booking. You simply redeem your miles online or by phone and you get reimbursed for the money you spent. Cardholders can redeem within 90 days of the purchase posting to their account.

While you’re on the road, you’ll earn $250,000 in travel accident insurance for death of dismemberment if you pay for your tickets with your card. You can also get 24-hour help with passports, visas and immunizations when you’re planning your trip, and if your card gets lost or stolen, you can get an emergency replacement. You can even get medical assistance and legal referrals.

What’s the interest rate?

Your interest rate with the Venture Rewards credit card will depend on your credit score, but the rate will range from 11.9 percent for those with excellent credit scores to 19.9 percent. Of course you only pay interest if you’re carrying a balance on the card.

Although the Venture Rewards card doesn’t offer zero percent APR on balance transfers, it also has no balance transfer fee. So if the Capital One card is giving you a better interest rate than your other cards, that no balance transfer fee feature might look appealing. It’s not the best of the balance transfer offers out there but it might be worth taking a look at if you like the rest of its features.

Another advantage of the card is its free extended warranty and its free purchase protection. If you purchase something that comes with a warranty of three years or less, this feature will double the original warranty up to 12 months. The purchase protection feature, meanwhile, will pay you up to $500 each time an item purchased with the card is stolen or accidentally damaged within the first 90 days of the day you bought it.

The card will even reimburse you up to $3,000 for lost luggage when you pay the full costs of your travel with your card. You’re also covered against accidental damage or theft if you rent a vehicle for less than 15 consecutive days in the U.S. or less than 31 days outside the country–except in a few countries such as Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The fine print

Despite the annual fee and despite the interest rate charges on balances, critics have praised the fast 2-for-$1 mileage return offered. They also like that you can use this card to get special seating at special events, such as games, concerts, films and the like.

Capital One acknowledges that in some cases it’s difficult to separate miles earned by credit card purchases from miles earned from flying; in those cases, Capital One will accept general airline rewards statements for those programs that accrue the card miles into the airline’s general rewards account, Sahni said.

So when is your trip scheduled? With a Venture Rewards credit card, it may be sooner than you think.

Jim Sloan is a freelance writer in Reno, Nev.

Photo: Capital One Financial Corporation

Source URL: Looking to travel? Capital One’s Venture Rewards card might be your ticket

Copyright Protected © 2011 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Unlike Citibank’s well known and popular Citi Thank You purchase incentive feature, which tends to focus on more tangible gift card and cash based rewards that you can accrue through daily card purchases, the Citi PrivatePass program is devoted almost exclusively to entertainment and experience based offers – providing its participants special access to free and cheap tickets to unique concerts, dining experiences, and popular sporting events. The Citi Private Pass program is not a separate card, but rather a rewards program already available to existing Citi Card customers.

Citi Private Pass Offers Free and Cheap Tickets For Special Live Events and Experiences

After reviewing the Citi Private Pass website and examining some of the promotional material, it’s clear the motivation behind the Citi Private Pass program is to help Citibank capture a greater segment of the entertainment generation, an emerging and outgoing demographic that’s willing to go out and spend money but still harbor the savvy mindset to locate the best online deals for discounts, limited time offers, and freebies. Presumably hoping to re-brand itself into some sort of entertainment conduit or facilitator for card carrying customers who are also experience seekers, the Citi Private Pass program offers Citi customers the opportunity to enjoy special VIP access to sought after events at deep discount prices that are much lower than that typically sold to the general public.

According to the folks at CitiCard, the Private Pass program offers card members a way to get access to limited pre sale tickets, obtain preferred seating reservations ahead of time, arrange meetings with their favorite musical artists, or even attend special limited opportunity movie screenings and cultural events. Reviewing the Private Pass terms and conditions and examining the entire selection of offers available to customers, I can see why the program has appeal on a diverse scale. Members can select from a very wide variety of trips and event categories – including golf, restaurants, nightclubs, shopping, sporting events, theater, and other popular activities.

The Citi Private Pass program breaks the program down into several broad experience categories, each with its own individual selections. Currently, Private Pass is touting several popular summer programs, and such seasonal programs are constantly being rolled out.

• Tickets To Music Concerts: Citibank and Live Nation are promoting discounted lawn concert tours for just $5 per ticket through the Summer of Savings event for the months of July and August 2009. Discounted concert tickets are available for a wide array of well known artists and bands such as Lil Wayne, Aerosmith, Creed, Kid Rock Depeche Mode, Nickleback, Blink-182, and even the Jonas Brothers (gag). Just go to www.citiprivatepass.com to get the special access code that allows you to take advantage of this offer.
• Tickets To Popular Sporting Events: Special exclusive discount savings for sporting experiences are available – everything from ordinary events like basketball and baseball games, to the more out of the norm – including fly fishing, river sailing, and rodeos.
• Access To Special Movie Viewings and Special Art Galleries: Many of the featured offers in this category are not available to the general public and are only available to CitiCard customers. A few of the more exclusive offers are only available to Citi Visa Signature cardholders.

If you are one who loves going out and spending money on experiences and memories rather than on mere materialistic objects that inevitably depreciate, then I think the Citi Private Pass offerings and special ticket discounts are something your lifestyle may demand. At the very least, the Citi Private Pass program is a rather interesting way to get to know what live events are happening out there if you’ve been wanting to participate in one. Simply visit the Citi Private Pass website directly and access the free and discounted selections from the entertainment category of your choice.

Remember, to participate in the free Citi Private Pass rewards program, you’ll need to be a current Citibank credit card or debit card customer. If you’re not yet a Citi cardmember and would like more information about becoming one, check out some of these popular Citi Card offers:

• Citi Platinum Select Master Card – 0 % APR on balance transfers and purchases for 6 months.
• Citi Forward Card – 5% purchase reward back for restaurants, books, movies, music, and 1% for everything else.
• Citi Premier Pass Elite Card – 2% reward points for all everyday purchases at gas stations, supermarkets, transportation lots, and parking facilities.
• Citi Forward Card for Students – 5% purchase reward back for student purchases like eating out, books, movies, and music.
• Citi mtvU Platinum Select Visa Card for Students – 5% rebate reward back for dining out, music, movies, and books, including purchases made at Amazon.com.

Source URL: Review of Citi Private Pass Rewards by Citi Card

Copyright Protected © 2009 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.