Why the Capital One Venture X and Savor Cash make a dynamic duo

Whether it’s peanut butter and jelly or airplanes and lie-flat seats, some things are just better together. When two things perfectly complement each other, they become a dynamic duo. That is exactly what Capital One has created with its recent changes to some of its most popular credit cards.

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a premium travel rewards card that is also good for earning miles on everyday spending. Comparatively, the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is great for unlimited cash back on dining, groceries and more. 

Capital One now allows cardholders to transfer rewards from cash-back cards to travel rewards cards (or vice versa) at a rate of 1 cent to 1 mile. Simply put, transferring cash back makes rewards more valuable, as TPG values Capital One miles at 1.85 cents each, rather than 1 cent alone. 

Being able to earn cash back and redeem as miles is a promising proposition and why the combination of the Capital One Venture X and Savor Cash is especially appealing.

Here’s how they work better together.

Spending together

THOMAS BARWICK/GETTY IMAGES

The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards earns 10% cash back on Uber rides and Uber Eats purchases along with 4% back on dining and entertainment. If you want to book tickets to see your favorite artist or team, you also get 8% back on purchases through Capital One Entertainment.

The information for the Capital One Savor Cash card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Additionally, when you are not in the mood for going out, Savor Cash earns 4% cash back on streaming services and 3% back at grocery stores. Staying in for a movie along with a home-cooked meal won’t prevent you from missing out on any rewards. 

For travel, the Venture X earns 10 miles per dollar for hotels and rental cars while earning 5 miles per dollar on flights purchased through Capital One Travel. Despite being a travel credit card, the Venture X really excels at maximizing day-to-day spending since it earns an unlimited 2 miles per dollar on all other purchases. 

After converting the cash back to miles (and possibly increasing the value of the rewards), this card duo earns an unlimited 2 to 10 miles per dollar in the following bonus categories:

10 miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel.
10 miles on Uber rides and Uber Eats.
5 miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
4 miles on dining.
4 miles on entertainment.
4 miles on popular streaming services.
3 miles at grocery stores.
2 miles on everything else.

Related: Best Capital One credit cards

Redeeming together

Vacasa cabin in Big Sky, Montana. WYNDHAM

The ability to transfer cash back to miles opens up a whirlwind of redemption options. With Venture X’s transfer partners, you can use your miles to get to the far corners of the world and then stay there on rewards as well. 

For example, I recently booked a $1,500 vacation rental for 45,000 Capital One miles instead of receiving $450 in cash back rewards. This is the perk that truly allows this dynamic duo to be so powerful.

If you do not want to transfer miles to one of Capital One’s numerous partners, including Air Canada Aeroplan (to book flights on Star Alliance partners including United), Wyndham (to book hotels) and Air France-KLM Flying Blue (for SkyTeam flights), you can redeem travel charges for a statement credit at a rate of 1 cent per mile. Effectively, this would be the same as converting the miles on Venture X to cash back on Savor and cashing out via statement credit, a check, gift card or charitable contribution.

Related: Redeeming Wyndham points with Vacasa is a great deal — with a catch

Other benefits together

A Priority Pass membership gets you into Fiji Airways’ flagship lounge. FIJI AIRWAYS

Aside from earning and redeeming rewards, these two cards complement each other in terms of the benefits offered. The Savor Cash is a World Elite Mastercard while the Venture X is Visa Infinite, which doubles the potential benefits. 

For example, World Elite Mastercards get free ShopRunner memberships and access to Mastercard’s Luxury Hotel & Resorts Portfolio, which includes benefits such as amenity credits, complimentary room upgrades and free breakfast among other benefits at over 3,000 properties. 

Visa Infinite cards receive access to the Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection, which functions similarly to Mastercard’s portfolio. Cardholders also receive Priority Pass lounge membership, which includes access for the cardholder and up to two guests at 1,300 lounges worldwide, and also primary rental car insurance in addition to trip cancellation, interruption and delay insurance as well as lost luggage reimbursement, extended warranty protection and more. 

Additionally, the Venture X offers Hertz President’s Circle status, which is a great perk anytime you are renting a car. The card also includes cellphone protection of up to $800 if your device is damaged or stolen just for paying your phone bill on the card.

You also get access to Capital One Travel, which includes free price drop protection where Capital One will partially refund you if the price drops after booking a flight it recommends. If you find a better price, Capital One will match it, among other benefits. 

In addition to Priority Pass, you also get access to Capital One’s growing lounge network including an amazing lounge in Dallas, and you also get an up-to-$100 statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck with the card. 

Finally, with Venture X, you get an annual $300 travel credit through Capital One Travel and 10,000 anniversary bonus miles. These perks work together between the cards to ensure the most enjoyable travel experience while decreasing risk with insurance benefits.

Related: 6 things to do when you get the Capital One Venture X

Fees and sign-up bonuses

The Venture X offers 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening an account. The Savor Rewards offers a $300 cash bonus (which can be converted to 30,000 miles) after spending $3,000 on purchases within three months of account opening. 

After completing the minimum spending requirements and earning the two sign-up bonuses, you can easily accrue over 105,000 miles, good for international round-trip business class, a handful of round-trip domestic flights or even countless hotel nights.

The Capital One Venture X’s annual fee is $395 and the Savor Cash’s is $95, but this is offset by the $300 travel credit and 10,000 annual bonus miles. This means that the annual fee is effectively less than $100 per year, an amazing deal compared to the benefits of holding the cards. 

Neither card has foreign exchange fees or charges to add an authorized user, a nice benefit compared to other premium travel cards with additional costs. 

Bottom line

Credit card issuers have built their products to work better together. This includes Chase’s classic trifecta, the Amex trifecta and even Citi’s quadfecta, but the most recent player on the block is Capital One. 

With more reasonable annual fees than their Chase and American Express counterparts, the Venture X and Savor Cash cards — Capital One’s dynamic duo — earn great rewards on most common categories of spending and a minimum of 2 miles for every dollar spent. 

Add in the protections, yearly benefits and sign-up bonus miles, and these two cards are perfect for individuals who want to keep a simple, two-card set-up to maximize their daily spending for travel. Not to mention that the travel will be enhanced by perks such as lounge access and TSA PreCheck.

Capital One has really stepped up its travel rewards program in recent years and this duo of cards is no exception — they are giving Chase and Amex some steep competition.