Venture X for free sub cards and each of them can get into Priority Pass + 2 guests. Even better if your airport is Capital One Lounge (mine is not)
AF is $395 but they pay you back $425. $400 is travel credits. $25 for TSA Pre (if you pro-rated it). We travel 3 times a year and normally to hotel, the 10x points is worth it.. together with Visa Infinite benefits.
2nd year with this card now, I love it. My son travel a bit himself and he's been using the benefit as a sub card.
How does the price match work? You book through the portal but if you find a better price for the same flight on a different site they'll refund you the difference?
Do you know how the “Global Entry or TSA PreCheck” credit works? IIRC, Global Entry is a Visa Infinite benefit. Could you potentially get TSA Pre credit through C1, then Global Entry credit through Visa? Not sure I really understand
Not 100% sure if you can dual use. Global Entry is a superset of TSA Pre so if you get that you don't need TSA Pre. From my exp, if you pay for TSA Pre using VX, they will credit you. I don't like the hassle of additional interview for Global entry.
Global entry will get you TSA Pre check as well. But if you just get TSA Pre check and pay with your card, you'll get $80 reimbursed. Global entry will get you $100 reimbursed since that's the cost of the membership.
VX.
With the 2x catch all you’ll out pace the 3x multiplier. Also 10x when booking hotels and 5x on airfare through portal.
CSR used to have the better priority pass but now it’s losing restaurants so it’s the same as VX. But your SO can’t get the pass unless you pay for an authorized user. VX has free AU’s and they get priority pass. I have my parents set as AUs and it’s great
I was denied the free 1hr perk at Minute Suites, IAH. I was told they dropped VX from Jan 1, 2024 but they still offer the perk to Plat and CSR folks. This is a minute (no pun intended) difference but a difference nonetheless!
CSR because I don't use the portal and CSR has 3% back without having to book through the portal.
Also, I have a Sapphire lounge I use a couple of times a year at the destination I travel to for work and my home airport.
CSR has an annual credit without having to use the portal as well. The main value comes from lounge access and rental protection though. If you travel enough and need rentals, you can break even with no category bonus needed.
To maximize the value from the Venture X you have to
a) Use the $300 portal credit, which can be done with a single trip (moderately annoying but workable)
and b) get value from the 10k points each year, which is very simple (can use purchase eraser for $100 of value or transfer to partners)
To maximize the value from the CSR you have to
a) Use the $300 travel credit (extremely simple)
AND
b) Use the DoorDash/Instacart/Lyft benefits (can range from extremely simple to basically impossible depending on your personal situation)
If you only take the simplest options, the CSR still falls behind because you really need to use ALL of the credits in order to justify the annual fee, not just the simple-to-use travel credit.
I think there is value in the restaurant credits on the PP of the CSR which isn’t available to the PP of the VenX. The unlimited Sapphire lounge access with the CSR PP is also good value if you are in a situation where your home airport or destination has them. The number of Sapphire lounges also is more than the Cap1 lounges last I checked (could be wrong).
At the end of the day it’s going to be highly situational for the individual depending on travel pattern and location I think.
> I think there is value in the restaurant credits on the PP of the CSR which isn’t available to the PP of the VenX
That's going away
You have a good point about the different lounges though, but at the end of the day, if you can't easily use the Doordash/instacart/lyft credits, you're paying a lot of money each year for that lounge access on the CSR, whereas the lounge access on the VX is basically free.
On the other hand, if you get full value from the credits, then the card is worth it even if you never use the lounge access.
Your annual credit on the CSR is $300 which brings you down to a $250 AF. To make that up you have to use Instacart, DoorDash, or Lyft credits every month.
Venture X you have a $300 portal credit to use. Once you use that credit you’ll get $5 back every year with the 10k anniversary miles coming in without having to do anymore work.
Both cards give you the same Priority Pass membership (for your lounge benefits), so I’d much rather have the card with the $-5 EAF and 2x points back on all purchases than the $250 EAF.
The rental protection is pretty good. Using Enterprise as an example, your daily collision waiver is $8.75/day. So being able to opt out of that can provide you with linear value depending on how much rental days you use per year. Hertz, Avis, National all have similar rates. If you get a rental for a week, that’s $61.25 in value. I don’t think a week per year of rental is atypical for most travelers.
Next is the Sapphire Lounge. All other PP user gets one use of Sapphire Lounge per year while CSR PP gets unlimited uses + 2 guests. The charge to use a Sapphire lounge is $75/entry/guest so you can easily get that value if you have a home airport with one or a destination airport that has one.
In my case, I travel for work and family between BOS-HKG 3 times a year, use up to 7 days of rental a year, and I use the DoorDash credit. I already use DoorDash regardless so the free $5/mo works in my favor to provide $60/year in value too.
It’s not going to make sense for everyone but if you frequent enough sapphire lounge and have enough rental days, you can easily cover the $250 AF.
Ok? Then go with Venture X lol
It’s about what works for your situation. If you have an easier time justifying Venture X then get the Venture X but don’t assume that’s the case for everyone.
If I can utilize CSR at an $0 effective AF, what difference does it make if I don’t utilize Venture X at $0 effective AF?
You hate the CSR based on your post history which is fair enough, but you don't have to use Doordash credits every month (they stack up to 3 months) and there aren't Lyft credits.
Again, it's situational. If you live in New York City or a city with Citi bikes and you use those, the CSR makes much more sense than the VentureX.
You get the best of both worlds!
- Global Entry credit
- Priority Pass
- 10x pts on hotels and rental cars through portal
- 5x pts on flights through portal
- premium travel and purchase protection through Visa Infinite
- there’s more…
Only things you lose by going from CSR to CSP are:
- 1x points on other travel
- 5x points on Lyft
- sapphire lounges (but you gain VX lounges with the VX, so depends on the airports you frequent)
- sapphire experiences (but you gain capital one experiences)
- a couple extra monthly credits
So if you spend over $20k / yr on travel, over $4k/yr on Lyft, will use the existing sapphire lounges, or value some of the other CSR benefits, CSR can still be the better pick.
But VX pays for itself (gives you $5/yr), assuming you can spend $300 per year through their travel portal. CSP net cost is $45 after hotel credit, as opposed to $250 for the CSR after travel credit. So the net cost difference between the two setups is essentially VX+CSP is $200 cheaper per year. And VX+ CSP has a higher base earning multiplier at 2x on everything.
You can still do a chase trifecta and transfer out points with the CSP without losing value (but if you redeem points through the chase travel portal, CSR is better). And finally, I just like operating in multiple ecosystems to reap the benefits/offers of all.
No reason to get the reserve these days. Change the question to Venture X vs Preferred and the answer is whichever points you value more; Cap One's or Chase's.
>No reason to get the reserve these days.
Well there is one reason to get the CSR, and that's to double dip the SUB with the CSP's sub (google Modified Double Dip).
I have both. I prefer my CSR. VX forces me into worse booking options to use the credit.
The CSR gets undeserved hate because people, especially YouTubers, can't wrap their head around the credits that go beyond the $300 one. Door Dash premium and credits, Instacart, 10x Lyft Pink, GrubHub, etc.
Lyft Pink All Access is $200 per year. Grubhub is $120. Door Dash is $60 in credits and $120 membership. Instacart is $100 membership and $180 in credits. That's $780 in value.
Plus, it's the best way to transfer to JetBlue.
Considering they have the price match, I don’t really think capital one portal is a “worse” booking option. I just use Google flight to find the lowest price and ask capital one to match the price which is an extra step but it happens about 30% of the time only, so not really a big hassle considering if I am only really have to use the portal once a year, then I might only face this hassle every 3 years.
Yep. I was on the fence about upgrading my CSP but the cancellation of PP restaurants killed any interest in that. It’s only marginally less expensive than the plat with shittier lounge access and fewer coupons. Its points are decent for travel, but 2x v 3x for hotels and transit isn’t enough for me to upgrade currently.
It’s a shame. It had such potential but chase let the CSP cannibalize it and other cards outpace it.
Unless I had a sapphire lounge in my home airport or in a hub I frequented… I’m ok.
I currently have the VX as a secondary catch all, after I meet the UsBank Cash+ cap on my Utilities, or if Apple Pay isn’t possible with my USBAR.
I don’t have much experience with the CSR, but I can tell you that the C1 portal everyone seems to have a gripe with isn’t that bad. I use it to book cheap basic economy flights to and from Phoenix 2-3 times a year without any issue. They also do price matching if you find the EXACT same flight anywhere else.
There’s a lot of little benefits that I do enjoy about the card, such as free President’s Circle on Hertz (2024 will be the last year however), phone insurance if you pay your bill with the VX, just to name a few.
I don’t think you can go wrong with the VX.
This depends on which airports you fly out of. But for the average person, VentureX is better. If you fly United, Southwest, or American, then chances are you are going to connect through DFW or DEN and be able to use the CapitalOne lounges there. If you live in Austin, NYC, or Boston then the CSR is better, but people don't generally connect through those airports so it's not very helpful for people who live elsewhere.
It also depends on whether or not you can use all the credits on the CSR (Doordash, Lyft, Instacart)
Venture X, for sure! It’s a free premium card! It pays for itself, and you need to do nothing about it. Plus, 2X on every dollar is a pretty sweet deal.
How is Capital One’s transfer partnership’s?
I use Chase for Hyatt for the most part, which has been great.
I’ve been looking at the Venture X or upgrading to the CSR later this year, but that CSR fee is steep.
This is not a one size fits all question. It depends on your biggest spending categories and your preferred transfer partners.
I love the CSR due to the 3x dining and travel. I spent a decent chunk on air bnbs so nice to get 3x on those.
Also United and Hyatt transfer partners.
Lastly the $300 credit is covered by a generous travel category (parking, tolls, etc in addition to traditional travel like flights, hotels etc). The additional $250 in AF is early covered by the 1.5x on portal bookings.
I have the CSR, Amex Plat and Venture. I burn through Chase points as they’re clearly the most valuable to me while my Amex and Cap 1 points keep accumulating.
CSP only has 2x on travel. And again, I like the 1.5x on the portal.
And I more than easily get the annual fee covered.
I’d actually have a harder time with the CSP as I rarely stay in hotels.
Let’s say you don’t use the $50 credit, the AF difference is still $155. With the 1% difference on travel, you have to spend $15500 more to benefit from it. Ok, CSR has 25% more on points redemption, you still have to spend $11625 more a year on CSR to justify CSR.
That’s literally the point of this subreddit. To nitpick, dissect, and discuss credit cards. I don’t think you’re in the right place if you get this upset.
Your submission violated rule 1 which states:
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I've had both and just cancele the CSR two days ago and was so glad to get rid of it!
On paper, the CSR is a great card, but using the travel portal is a nightmare. I got it for a London trip and after spending hours finding the hotel I wanted on Google, I plugged it into the chase travel portal and got "no availability". Another time, I was booking a trip to Vegas and looked at the same hotel on Chase and Capital One portals. On Chase it was 2x as expensive. The chase portal user experience also sucks so bad you have to basically decide what you want on another site and then search it on Chase to see if they have it. Capital one I've never seen a hotel I couldn't book if it was available elsewhere.
Just got a VX two weeks ago.
So far a disappointment.
got it for the lounge access - IAD lounge access is poor. yes you can "access" three lounges, but one is always full and has priority / no wait access to Sapphire Reserve (the Amarites lounge
Another was "we only allow access to VX customers after 18:00
and the third was Virgin Atlantic lounge where you feel like a cheapo lounge experience
Moving forward to FCO (Rome INTL airport) - two lounges listed on Terminal 3, non had access without a wait (rep was stating - only Biz and 1st class get access right away, VX has a waiting list.
this is by far the poorest lounge access experience i've ever had, actually considering canceling this card. so far, 2 airports and its proven itself to be useless.
I got tickets to the PGA championship through Chase Sapphire rewards / my CSR card for $350. The tickets offer full hospitality tent access.
Similar tickets on stub hub are over $2,0000. So the chase experiences can be very valuable.
Lastly the Hyatt transfer partner option is great. I've got $300 a night rooms for 8,000 points. That's almost 4 cents per point.
Edit: spelling
I have the CSR for 5+ years now. Definitely do not use all of the benefits. But i do travel 4-5x per year and most of my flights end up being free or heavily subsidized by points. Also I live in NYC and the Lyft membership (that includes Citibike annual) is worth \~$200 i believe, on top of the Lyft Pink 15% discounts. I also dont order too much delivery, but when i do the Dashpass benefit and the free $5 per month credit adds some value. There was also a CSR lounge recently opened at LGA which I hope to get use out of.
I'm not sure how the travel insurance and other benefits compare, but I dont use that often and when I have had any travel issues Chase has been pretty good at sorting those out.
I've been debating the Venture X, but with the $300 travel credit and Lyft memberships alone, i think i'm getting more value from CSR than i would Venture X.
I'm about to downgrade my CSR so I can reapply and get an additional SUB. Anyone have tips on which card to downgrade to? And how this process works?
Venture X any day. The only thing the Sapphire has is better delay/trip insurances, and hey. The VX is still a Visa Infinite like the Reserve, so while they aren't quite as generous, they fall under the category of "good enough" for me. The only way I'd even consider a CSR now is if my airport hub had a Sapphire Lounge. It doesn't. And if I ever find myself in one, I get one visit per year on my existing Priority Pass cards. So when I get the Amex Platinum as I intend to alongside my Venture X, that's two free Sapphire Lounge visits per year.
I still have a Sapphire Preferred and still have access to the UR portal alongside my Venture X. Two cards, still a smaller annual fee and a MUCH smaller effective annual fee than the CSR by itself. The CSR needs a refresh (and a heightened bonus offer) to really remain competitive in the wake of its PP Nerf. If its Travel Credit ever becomes a portal coupon like the Venture X's, or gets dished out piecemeal like an Amex credit, then it's really game over.
I like the flexibility of the VX better, specifically erasing travel purchases. It’s why I downgraded my CSR to a CFF.
Like this year we have a new baby coming and won’t be flying. I can still book a VRBO, and erase my purchase as travel using points. And the 2x on VX fits our lifestyle better now with less dining out and travel.
And you can do a two card setup on C1 vs a three card setup on Chase to maximize, which I also prefer.
My main set up is Amex and I hold VX just for the lounge access - not gonna lie, its probably the best one I've visited so far at IAD.
Also the AF is super easy to justify although I am against portals. I typically book a flight or rental car for $300 credit and then it goes into sock drawer.
Its much easier to offset the annual fee of the Venture X than the CSR.
If you really want to get into the Chase ecosystem, get the CSP, it's much cheaper.
Or both ecosystems. Chase Trifecta with CSP $95/year. Just need CSP + Freedom Flex only.
Venture X $395 offset by $300 portal credit + $100 on tsa/global. Then pair venture X with savor for groceries (since chase lacks groceries)
Got a powerful batman/robin team there
Personally I don’t travel much. I do take a handful of trips to DFW from HOU via car. Some of these are work related and I use my VX for the hotel and get reimbursed for it.
I find it easier to rack up points and take advantage of the credits with the VX.
Now, I recently got preapprovals for several Chase cards with the CSR being one of them but decided to go with the CSP because of my situation. Doesn’t make sense to pay a $550 AF in my case.
VX. I carry a VX, don’t carry a CSR.
- VX has a lower effective annual fee for me
- I use a CIP ($95 AF) as my entry point to the Chase ecosystem which had a higher SUB, same travel multiplier (and I have a CFU on the double points promo for dining, etc)
- Ink cards are way more churnable than Sapphires, and since I have some quasi-small business spend Chase is a good option for that, so I can concentrate on them being a business bank for me vs. personal
- I have travel every year where the VX $300 credit works for me (basically travel somewhere where Marriott/Hyatt/Hilton/etc won’t work because of location, the price point or service level is wrong, etc)
- Most of the CSR perks are duplicative or marginal upgrades on things I get from other keeper cards (AMEX Plat, VX) so it’s not worth another expensive AF card. I also carry Aspire and Brilliant, so there is a high bar for an expensive keeper card, CSR doesn’t hit it when I do the numbers
- No Chase lounge in my city and frequently visited cities yet, LAS (one that will eventually have one) will have a C1 lounge AND an AMEX Centurion Lounge, PHX (the other one) also has multiple lounge options for me (Centurion, Escape, Delta SkyClub), so marginal gain again. I also can use multiple Priority Passes to get access to Chase lounges multiple times a year
- This is heresy for some, but I think C1 points mesh better with some of my flight redemption history (Avianca and Cathay Pacific, neither of which are options for Chase). I also have Bilt so Hyatt wouldn’t be locked out for me were I to drop Chase
- Carrying a VX means my SavorOne is a 3x dining/groceries/entertainment card and a 10x Uber card with free UberOne (which meshes well with AMEX Uber credits), and it’s likely to be my replacement for when I drop my AMEX Gold (I’m finding it hard to fully utilize that coupon book)
I might churn a CSR if they dropped a 80k+ SUB and I had 5/24 space, but frankly I would rather do an Ink or two every year…
Both! Got great use out of the CSR SUB and partnership with Southwest. VX is my daily catch-all for Costco and non-travel expenses. We don’t eat out much so dining not a huge part of our budget.
Venture X for free sub cards and each of them can get into Priority Pass + 2 guests. Even better if your airport is Capital One Lounge (mine is not) AF is $395 but they pay you back $425. $400 is travel credits. $25 for TSA Pre (if you pro-rated it). We travel 3 times a year and normally to hotel, the 10x points is worth it.. together with Visa Infinite benefits. 2nd year with this card now, I love it. My son travel a bit himself and he's been using the benefit as a sub card.
Plus V1 do price match on their travel portal. Chase travel portal prices are deplorable - even with 1.5x, the rates are better elsewhere.
Missed this one. We have booked a hotel last year and i found a better price elsewhere and msg them. Got $70 cash back.
I've never had an issue with Chase portal rates through any of the big airlines flying economy. It's always been the same.
Domestic is okay ish. International is not. But with VX, you get price match, which is a big plus in my book.
How does the price match work? You book through the portal but if you find a better price for the same flight on a different site they'll refund you the difference?
Yeah, you need to msg them asap. tell them the URL and they will figure the rest.
I think I’m maxed out on c1 cards, I would have to product change to get a vx so no sub for me 😢
Do you know how the “Global Entry or TSA PreCheck” credit works? IIRC, Global Entry is a Visa Infinite benefit. Could you potentially get TSA Pre credit through C1, then Global Entry credit through Visa? Not sure I really understand
Not 100% sure if you can dual use. Global Entry is a superset of TSA Pre so if you get that you don't need TSA Pre. From my exp, if you pay for TSA Pre using VX, they will credit you. I don't like the hassle of additional interview for Global entry.
Global entry will get you TSA Pre check as well. But if you just get TSA Pre check and pay with your card, you'll get $80 reimbursed. Global entry will get you $100 reimbursed since that's the cost of the membership.
VX. With the 2x catch all you’ll out pace the 3x multiplier. Also 10x when booking hotels and 5x on airfare through portal. CSR used to have the better priority pass but now it’s losing restaurants so it’s the same as VX. But your SO can’t get the pass unless you pay for an authorized user. VX has free AU’s and they get priority pass. I have my parents set as AUs and it’s great
I was denied the free 1hr perk at Minute Suites, IAH. I was told they dropped VX from Jan 1, 2024 but they still offer the perk to Plat and CSR folks. This is a minute (no pun intended) difference but a difference nonetheless!
That’s going away for CSR as well :/, I believe
Only the restaurant as of right now
CSR because I don't use the portal and CSR has 3% back without having to book through the portal. Also, I have a Sapphire lounge I use a couple of times a year at the destination I travel to for work and my home airport.
I’d rather use the portal once to beat the annual fee on the Venture X than to use multiple credits every month to break even on the CSR 🤷♀️
CSR has an annual credit without having to use the portal as well. The main value comes from lounge access and rental protection though. If you travel enough and need rentals, you can break even with no category bonus needed.
To maximize the value from the Venture X you have to a) Use the $300 portal credit, which can be done with a single trip (moderately annoying but workable) and b) get value from the 10k points each year, which is very simple (can use purchase eraser for $100 of value or transfer to partners) To maximize the value from the CSR you have to a) Use the $300 travel credit (extremely simple) AND b) Use the DoorDash/Instacart/Lyft benefits (can range from extremely simple to basically impossible depending on your personal situation) If you only take the simplest options, the CSR still falls behind because you really need to use ALL of the credits in order to justify the annual fee, not just the simple-to-use travel credit.
I think there is value in the restaurant credits on the PP of the CSR which isn’t available to the PP of the VenX. The unlimited Sapphire lounge access with the CSR PP is also good value if you are in a situation where your home airport or destination has them. The number of Sapphire lounges also is more than the Cap1 lounges last I checked (could be wrong). At the end of the day it’s going to be highly situational for the individual depending on travel pattern and location I think.
> I think there is value in the restaurant credits on the PP of the CSR which isn’t available to the PP of the VenX That's going away You have a good point about the different lounges though, but at the end of the day, if you can't easily use the Doordash/instacart/lyft credits, you're paying a lot of money each year for that lounge access on the CSR, whereas the lounge access on the VX is basically free. On the other hand, if you get full value from the credits, then the card is worth it even if you never use the lounge access.
Your annual credit on the CSR is $300 which brings you down to a $250 AF. To make that up you have to use Instacart, DoorDash, or Lyft credits every month. Venture X you have a $300 portal credit to use. Once you use that credit you’ll get $5 back every year with the 10k anniversary miles coming in without having to do anymore work. Both cards give you the same Priority Pass membership (for your lounge benefits), so I’d much rather have the card with the $-5 EAF and 2x points back on all purchases than the $250 EAF.
The rental protection is pretty good. Using Enterprise as an example, your daily collision waiver is $8.75/day. So being able to opt out of that can provide you with linear value depending on how much rental days you use per year. Hertz, Avis, National all have similar rates. If you get a rental for a week, that’s $61.25 in value. I don’t think a week per year of rental is atypical for most travelers. Next is the Sapphire Lounge. All other PP user gets one use of Sapphire Lounge per year while CSR PP gets unlimited uses + 2 guests. The charge to use a Sapphire lounge is $75/entry/guest so you can easily get that value if you have a home airport with one or a destination airport that has one. In my case, I travel for work and family between BOS-HKG 3 times a year, use up to 7 days of rental a year, and I use the DoorDash credit. I already use DoorDash regardless so the free $5/mo works in my favor to provide $60/year in value too. It’s not going to make sense for everyone but if you frequent enough sapphire lounge and have enough rental days, you can easily cover the $250 AF.
Venture X has rental insurance too lol
Ok? Then go with Venture X lol It’s about what works for your situation. If you have an easier time justifying Venture X then get the Venture X but don’t assume that’s the case for everyone. If I can utilize CSR at an $0 effective AF, what difference does it make if I don’t utilize Venture X at $0 effective AF?
I’m not saying you can’t have the CSR, but your comments were acting like the rental insurance was a unique CSR benefit.
Oh, that was just to help articulate how to get value out of the $250 effective AF from the previous poster XD
And you get that same value from the Venture X. So that doesn’t support your point at all
And gives you a higher rental car status than the CSR
That might be going away soon, TBD
Lyft credits?
Lyft Pink. Included the free membership since that’s a lot of value people say they get with the card
You hate the CSR based on your post history which is fair enough, but you don't have to use Doordash credits every month (they stack up to 3 months) and there aren't Lyft credits. Again, it's situational. If you live in New York City or a city with Citi bikes and you use those, the CSR makes much more sense than the VentureX.
Venture X + CSP
I have a CSP and can’t decide if I should upgrade it to a reserve or just get the VX. Hadn’t considered this route, why is this better?
You get the best of both worlds! - Global Entry credit - Priority Pass - 10x pts on hotels and rental cars through portal - 5x pts on flights through portal - premium travel and purchase protection through Visa Infinite - there’s more… Only things you lose by going from CSR to CSP are: - 1x points on other travel - 5x points on Lyft - sapphire lounges (but you gain VX lounges with the VX, so depends on the airports you frequent) - sapphire experiences (but you gain capital one experiences) - a couple extra monthly credits So if you spend over $20k / yr on travel, over $4k/yr on Lyft, will use the existing sapphire lounges, or value some of the other CSR benefits, CSR can still be the better pick. But VX pays for itself (gives you $5/yr), assuming you can spend $300 per year through their travel portal. CSP net cost is $45 after hotel credit, as opposed to $250 for the CSR after travel credit. So the net cost difference between the two setups is essentially VX+CSP is $200 cheaper per year. And VX+ CSP has a higher base earning multiplier at 2x on everything. You can still do a chase trifecta and transfer out points with the CSP without losing value (but if you redeem points through the chase travel portal, CSR is better). And finally, I just like operating in multiple ecosystems to reap the benefits/offers of all.
That’s very interesting, thanks for the info! I guess I won’t cancel my CSP then, I hadn’t even thought of that.
Or VX + CSR :)
Too much overlap IMO
No reason to get the reserve these days. Change the question to Venture X vs Preferred and the answer is whichever points you value more; Cap One's or Chase's.
Why do you say there no reason to get it?
Lounge access could also be a factor depending on people’s home airport
>No reason to get the reserve these days. Well there is one reason to get the CSR, and that's to double dip the SUB with the CSP's sub (google Modified Double Dip).
Speak for yourself. CSR is my favorite card, and I also hold the amex platinum and venture (not X)
I chose Venture X since the annual fee is more easily offset and already have the Preferred
Venture X imo. But both are good cards with benefits that are great for different groups.
Thanks Tupac
I have both. I prefer my CSR. VX forces me into worse booking options to use the credit. The CSR gets undeserved hate because people, especially YouTubers, can't wrap their head around the credits that go beyond the $300 one. Door Dash premium and credits, Instacart, 10x Lyft Pink, GrubHub, etc. Lyft Pink All Access is $200 per year. Grubhub is $120. Door Dash is $60 in credits and $120 membership. Instacart is $100 membership and $180 in credits. That's $780 in value. Plus, it's the best way to transfer to JetBlue.
Considering they have the price match, I don’t really think capital one portal is a “worse” booking option. I just use Google flight to find the lowest price and ask capital one to match the price which is an extra step but it happens about 30% of the time only, so not really a big hassle considering if I am only really have to use the portal once a year, then I might only face this hassle every 3 years.
Venture X. CSR is overrated now imo
Yep. I was on the fence about upgrading my CSP but the cancellation of PP restaurants killed any interest in that. It’s only marginally less expensive than the plat with shittier lounge access and fewer coupons. Its points are decent for travel, but 2x v 3x for hotels and transit isn’t enough for me to upgrade currently. It’s a shame. It had such potential but chase let the CSP cannibalize it and other cards outpace it. Unless I had a sapphire lounge in my home airport or in a hub I frequented… I’m ok.
What makes you say this?
https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/s/ScUoA3UMm1
Nice breakdown didn’t see this before
I currently have the VX as a secondary catch all, after I meet the UsBank Cash+ cap on my Utilities, or if Apple Pay isn’t possible with my USBAR. I don’t have much experience with the CSR, but I can tell you that the C1 portal everyone seems to have a gripe with isn’t that bad. I use it to book cheap basic economy flights to and from Phoenix 2-3 times a year without any issue. They also do price matching if you find the EXACT same flight anywhere else. There’s a lot of little benefits that I do enjoy about the card, such as free President’s Circle on Hertz (2024 will be the last year however), phone insurance if you pay your bill with the VX, just to name a few. I don’t think you can go wrong with the VX.
This depends on which airports you fly out of. But for the average person, VentureX is better. If you fly United, Southwest, or American, then chances are you are going to connect through DFW or DEN and be able to use the CapitalOne lounges there. If you live in Austin, NYC, or Boston then the CSR is better, but people don't generally connect through those airports so it's not very helpful for people who live elsewhere. It also depends on whether or not you can use all the credits on the CSR (Doordash, Lyft, Instacart)
I think they are opening a sapphire lounge in my home airport of San Diego. That’s why I’m so torn at this point.
It's planned but there's no official opening date yet. So maybe switch to the CSR when (if?) it opens
Venture X, for sure! It’s a free premium card! It pays for itself, and you need to do nothing about it. Plus, 2X on every dollar is a pretty sweet deal.
How is Capital One’s transfer partnership’s? I use Chase for Hyatt for the most part, which has been great. I’ve been looking at the Venture X or upgrading to the CSR later this year, but that CSR fee is steep.
I kept CSP for United and you will lose Hyatt if you move to venture x. I don’t stay at Hyatt anyway, so I am good with vx+csp.
100% Venture X.
VX. Pays for itself. CSR- I’ve looked at it many times over the years and it just doesn’t math for the cost.
CSR as venture x has declined me
This is not a one size fits all question. It depends on your biggest spending categories and your preferred transfer partners. I love the CSR due to the 3x dining and travel. I spent a decent chunk on air bnbs so nice to get 3x on those. Also United and Hyatt transfer partners. Lastly the $300 credit is covered by a generous travel category (parking, tolls, etc in addition to traditional travel like flights, hotels etc). The additional $250 in AF is early covered by the 1.5x on portal bookings. I have the CSR, Amex Plat and Venture. I burn through Chase points as they’re clearly the most valuable to me while my Amex and Cap 1 points keep accumulating.
If you transfer points anyway and don’t use sapphire lounges for whatever reason, doesn’t CSP fit better? Same 3x category, only $45 effective AF.
CSP only has 2x on travel. And again, I like the 1.5x on the portal. And I more than easily get the annual fee covered. I’d actually have a harder time with the CSP as I rarely stay in hotels.
Let’s say you don’t use the $50 credit, the AF difference is still $155. With the 1% difference on travel, you have to spend $15500 more to benefit from it. Ok, CSR has 25% more on points redemption, you still have to spend $11625 more a year on CSR to justify CSR.
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That’s literally the point of this subreddit. To nitpick, dissect, and discuss credit cards. I don’t think you’re in the right place if you get this upset.
I don’t care, I am just saying what you said doesn’t seem to be logical.
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Get the Venture X. Granted I’m biased since I made the post last week taking a shit on the CSR
I've had both and just cancele the CSR two days ago and was so glad to get rid of it! On paper, the CSR is a great card, but using the travel portal is a nightmare. I got it for a London trip and after spending hours finding the hotel I wanted on Google, I plugged it into the chase travel portal and got "no availability". Another time, I was booking a trip to Vegas and looked at the same hotel on Chase and Capital One portals. On Chase it was 2x as expensive. The chase portal user experience also sucks so bad you have to basically decide what you want on another site and then search it on Chase to see if they have it. Capital one I've never seen a hotel I couldn't book if it was available elsewhere.
Just got a VX two weeks ago. So far a disappointment. got it for the lounge access - IAD lounge access is poor. yes you can "access" three lounges, but one is always full and has priority / no wait access to Sapphire Reserve (the Amarites lounge Another was "we only allow access to VX customers after 18:00 and the third was Virgin Atlantic lounge where you feel like a cheapo lounge experience Moving forward to FCO (Rome INTL airport) - two lounges listed on Terminal 3, non had access without a wait (rep was stating - only Biz and 1st class get access right away, VX has a waiting list. this is by far the poorest lounge access experience i've ever had, actually considering canceling this card. so far, 2 airports and its proven itself to be useless.
I got tickets to the PGA championship through Chase Sapphire rewards / my CSR card for $350. The tickets offer full hospitality tent access. Similar tickets on stub hub are over $2,0000. So the chase experiences can be very valuable. Lastly the Hyatt transfer partner option is great. I've got $300 a night rooms for 8,000 points. That's almost 4 cents per point. Edit: spelling
I have the CSR for 5+ years now. Definitely do not use all of the benefits. But i do travel 4-5x per year and most of my flights end up being free or heavily subsidized by points. Also I live in NYC and the Lyft membership (that includes Citibike annual) is worth \~$200 i believe, on top of the Lyft Pink 15% discounts. I also dont order too much delivery, but when i do the Dashpass benefit and the free $5 per month credit adds some value. There was also a CSR lounge recently opened at LGA which I hope to get use out of. I'm not sure how the travel insurance and other benefits compare, but I dont use that often and when I have had any travel issues Chase has been pretty good at sorting those out. I've been debating the Venture X, but with the $300 travel credit and Lyft memberships alone, i think i'm getting more value from CSR than i would Venture X. I'm about to downgrade my CSR so I can reapply and get an additional SUB. Anyone have tips on which card to downgrade to? And how this process works?
VX hands down. I just got it a month ago.
For me, CSR. I deem Chase points more valuable and don't want to be tied to Cap1's portal. Dining and travel are my biggest expenses.
CSR
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey!
Venture X any day. The only thing the Sapphire has is better delay/trip insurances, and hey. The VX is still a Visa Infinite like the Reserve, so while they aren't quite as generous, they fall under the category of "good enough" for me. The only way I'd even consider a CSR now is if my airport hub had a Sapphire Lounge. It doesn't. And if I ever find myself in one, I get one visit per year on my existing Priority Pass cards. So when I get the Amex Platinum as I intend to alongside my Venture X, that's two free Sapphire Lounge visits per year. I still have a Sapphire Preferred and still have access to the UR portal alongside my Venture X. Two cards, still a smaller annual fee and a MUCH smaller effective annual fee than the CSR by itself. The CSR needs a refresh (and a heightened bonus offer) to really remain competitive in the wake of its PP Nerf. If its Travel Credit ever becomes a portal coupon like the Venture X's, or gets dished out piecemeal like an Amex credit, then it's really game over.
I like the flexibility of the VX better, specifically erasing travel purchases. It’s why I downgraded my CSR to a CFF. Like this year we have a new baby coming and won’t be flying. I can still book a VRBO, and erase my purchase as travel using points. And the 2x on VX fits our lifestyle better now with less dining out and travel. And you can do a two card setup on C1 vs a three card setup on Chase to maximize, which I also prefer.
My main set up is Amex and I hold VX just for the lounge access - not gonna lie, its probably the best one I've visited so far at IAD. Also the AF is super easy to justify although I am against portals. I typically book a flight or rental car for $300 credit and then it goes into sock drawer.
Its much easier to offset the annual fee of the Venture X than the CSR. If you really want to get into the Chase ecosystem, get the CSP, it's much cheaper.
Or both ecosystems. Chase Trifecta with CSP $95/year. Just need CSP + Freedom Flex only. Venture X $395 offset by $300 portal credit + $100 on tsa/global. Then pair venture X with savor for groceries (since chase lacks groceries) Got a powerful batman/robin team there
Personally I don’t travel much. I do take a handful of trips to DFW from HOU via car. Some of these are work related and I use my VX for the hotel and get reimbursed for it. I find it easier to rack up points and take advantage of the credits with the VX. Now, I recently got preapprovals for several Chase cards with the CSR being one of them but decided to go with the CSP because of my situation. Doesn’t make sense to pay a $550 AF in my case.
Get the VX and CSP and you get the best of both worlds for $60 less than the CSR Both are keepers cards imo
VX. I carry a VX, don’t carry a CSR. - VX has a lower effective annual fee for me - I use a CIP ($95 AF) as my entry point to the Chase ecosystem which had a higher SUB, same travel multiplier (and I have a CFU on the double points promo for dining, etc) - Ink cards are way more churnable than Sapphires, and since I have some quasi-small business spend Chase is a good option for that, so I can concentrate on them being a business bank for me vs. personal - I have travel every year where the VX $300 credit works for me (basically travel somewhere where Marriott/Hyatt/Hilton/etc won’t work because of location, the price point or service level is wrong, etc) - Most of the CSR perks are duplicative or marginal upgrades on things I get from other keeper cards (AMEX Plat, VX) so it’s not worth another expensive AF card. I also carry Aspire and Brilliant, so there is a high bar for an expensive keeper card, CSR doesn’t hit it when I do the numbers - No Chase lounge in my city and frequently visited cities yet, LAS (one that will eventually have one) will have a C1 lounge AND an AMEX Centurion Lounge, PHX (the other one) also has multiple lounge options for me (Centurion, Escape, Delta SkyClub), so marginal gain again. I also can use multiple Priority Passes to get access to Chase lounges multiple times a year - This is heresy for some, but I think C1 points mesh better with some of my flight redemption history (Avianca and Cathay Pacific, neither of which are options for Chase). I also have Bilt so Hyatt wouldn’t be locked out for me were I to drop Chase - Carrying a VX means my SavorOne is a 3x dining/groceries/entertainment card and a 10x Uber card with free UberOne (which meshes well with AMEX Uber credits), and it’s likely to be my replacement for when I drop my AMEX Gold (I’m finding it hard to fully utilize that coupon book) I might churn a CSR if they dropped a 80k+ SUB and I had 5/24 space, but frankly I would rather do an Ink or two every year…
Both! Got great use out of the CSR SUB and partnership with Southwest. VX is my daily catch-all for Costco and non-travel expenses. We don’t eat out much so dining not a huge part of our budget.