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If you hold any Capital One mileage cards.... get out NOW! Before November 1 at least! They are moving everyone into their new program... No Hassle Miles which should be called No Value Miles! There is no option to opt out.
Under the new No Hassle Miles reward program it will cost a rediculous 35,000 miles to get a free domestic ticket with only a max value of $350! That is terrible, and unless you get max value out of your ticket, you will be earning LESS than 1% on your rewards.
After Nov. 1 you will earn 1.25 miles for every dollar plus a 3,000 mile bonus. This does minimize some of the sting, since you will get miles more quickly, however, your CURRENT miles will be severely devalued. . It is wise to redeem any miles you have now.... Quick!
Ready to get out?! If you can, book an air ticket before the end of the month. Currenly you use miles based on the equation -> Total cost * 80 = total miles required. So if you book now, you will only spend 24,000 miles for a $300 ticket. After the end of the month the same ticket will cost you.... 35,000 miles. that is terrible.
If you are not ready to book a ticket, you may consider turning your miles into cash ASAP. You can do so at a 1% ratio. So 25,000 miles gets you $250. Starting Nov. 1 you will only get $200. Terrible! Under the new program you will never get more than 1% of the value of your current miles, so it is very wise to get out now!
Some no annual fee programs to consider.... Citi PremierPass, Discover Miles card, MBNA World Points, or a Chase Miles card.
What a terrible way to treat your customers Capital One!
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Moving to Credit Crad Forum.
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A few short years ago I had a Capital One personal card and a small business card. Total Mistake! Have I learned since then. They like to bait and switch on their promos and rip their customers off. Their rewards programs give you less and less over time. You cannot combine points/miles or top off frequent flyer accounts. Also Capital One subprime cards rarely ever give credit limit increases, and don't upgrade you out of their subprime interest rate credit cards. They don't report credits limits to the credit bureaus, which decreases your total available credit and may cause a lower credit score...The list goes on and on.
Don't Trust Capital One. No matter what the current gimick/promo is, Avoid Them and you've avoid potential problems.
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The one good Capital One thing though is that, I think, they're still not charging 3% for foreign transactions. Not necessarily worth it; especially depending on your travel/spending patterns, but for some people, it may be.
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I really dont see the value of Capital One miles card - for the same 25K miles on any major airlines, AA, CO, UA, for example, you can do an open jaw and a stopover for domestic (including Alaska, excluding Hawaii) and Canada. That easily adds up to $500 to $1000 depends on how you use it.
We just did one trip in Sept, MIA/DFW/ANC, YVR/DFW/JAC, JAC/DFW/MIA, all on one 25K domestic planahead award on AA. If purchased, the ticket without JAC, just MIA/ANC, YVR/MIA would cost us $650 alone. Threw in JAC, the ticket went skyroketting to $1200.
You are far better off to sign up for airlines own mileage cards, especially now they all have promo going on with first year free. Pick an airline that serves your travel needs the most (the one that has a hub near your location, for example) and concentrate your spending on them.
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I really dont see the value of Capital One miles card - for the same 25K miles on any major airlines, AA, CO, UA, for example, you can do an open jaw and a stopover for domestic (including Alaska, excluding Hawaii) and Canada.
Not on CO you can't.
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I certainly could be wrong, but I didn't think UA offered stopovers or openjaws on domestic awards. I know they do for 35k Hawaii awards...
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I really dont see the value of Capital One miles card - for the same 25K miles on any major airlines, AA, CO, UA, for example, you can do an open jaw and a stopover for domestic (including Alaska, excluding Hawaii) and Canada. That easily adds up to $500 to $1000 depends on how you use it.
You are far better off to sign up for airlines own mileage cards, especially now they all have promo going on with first year free. Pick an airline that serves your travel needs the most (the one that has a hub near your location, for example) and concentrate your spending on them.
You are correct, there is no value to the Capital One miles card any more (as you can see from my post) There is, however, value to the miles card not associated with an airline (bank miles card vs. airline miles card) A year or so ago when I was trying to redeem my miles for an awards ticket for a domestic ticket, CO & AA both said that there was no availability. When I called Capital One (before the program enhancement), they said no problem since there are no seat restrictions. Since there was no annual fee, the ticket was completely free. Good deal.
I hope Chase and Citi will delay "enhancing" their program long enough for me to get another free ticket too. I am going to try Citi for a while and see how I like them.
These bank miles cards are also good for those who don't spend a ton of money on credit cards, need flexibility when travelling, treat the trip as "cash in the pocket" rather than an excuse to take a vacation, and for those who work for the airlines already and are looking to occasionally travel positive space.
I did have the DL AmEx for a year free to reap the 20,000 bonus miles, but I couldn't justify the $70 fee the next year. I may sign up with UAL though since they are now offering 20-25,000 bonus miles, but still it is nice to have a free ticket without the capacity and blackout date restrictions.
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Capital One certainly has its issues (like the mention above of its non-reporting of credit limits).
However, I have a Capital One card that I use exclusively for travel abroad. Zero additional charges. Much better than the other credit card options, which can be up to 3%.
When I need miles, I use an Amex, and I have a 2% cashback card for other US purchases.
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Not on CO you can't.
have not travelled on CO or UA on awards for a long time. Last time I talked to CO, they said they can.
I asked in UA forum, the FT on UA forum responsed that UA can.
right now, my mileage bank is with AA but since UA insisted for me to get 20K bonus miles to sign up their card (for free the first year), I finally graciously accepted the invitation (received 4 times).
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have not travelled on CO or UA on awards for a long time. Last time I talked to CO, they said they can.
They lied.
http://www.continental.com/onepass/rewards/travel/charts/chart_stopover.asp?SID=7641CFD7C5E4463A9F3A1E59B56 F45FA
http://www.continental.com/onepass/rewards/travel/charts/chart_0.asp?SID=7641CFD7C5E4463A9F3A1E59B56F45FA
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They lied.
http://www.continental.com/onepass/rewards/travel/charts/chart_stopover.asp?SID=7641CFD7C5E4463A9F3A1E59B56 F45FA
http://www.continental.com/onepass/rewards/travel/charts/chart_0.asp?SID=7641CFD7C5E4463A9F3A1E59B56F45FA
does not matter, not cummulating miles on OnePlus anyway. But even with 35K it is still a better deal than no stopover 25K CapitalOne type award, just my opinion. I still have some ophan miles with CO but they can sit there forever as far as I know OnePlus does not expire, unless it changes again.
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OnePlus
???
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Only a few days left to redeem your current miles for at least 1% of your total spending.
After Oct 31, there is no way to get more than 1% of value from your current miles.
May I suggest the Citi Thank You Network, or possibly the Discover miles card?!
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KARE-11, the Minneapolis NBC affiliate, quoted me in a story about Capital One devaluation
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=111841
Capital One, one of the nation's most heavily marketed and successful frequent flyer programs has made substantial changes to their awards program - just in time for the holidays. They are changes that can cost you a lot of money.Tickets to Mexico from the Twin Cities last week for travel next spring were running $750. Under Capital One's new math formula, you'd need 75,000 miles for a 'free' ticket. That's more than twice what was needed under the old system. Their new math works like this: Customers can get a free flight with as little as 15,000 miles if they can find a ticket for sale under $150. But tickets costing as little $300 will require 60,000 miles. And seats costing more than $600 would cost 100 times the face-value of the ticket. Under this new math a $750 ticket would cost 75,000 miles.
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I'm confused about the quotes of a ticket costing 15,000 points for a $150 ticket, 60,000 points for a $300 ticket, and 75,000 points for a $750 ticket. This makes no sense to me as it seems that for a $150 ticket and a $750 ticket you need ten points per dollar but for a $300 ticket you suddenly need 20 points per dollar. This can't be right. Additionally, I went and looked at the Capital One No Hassle Card and it claims that you multiply your ticket price by 90 to get the number of points needed meaning a $150 ticket is 13,500 points, a $300 ticket is 27,000 points, and a $750 ticket is 67500 points.
While I agree that the number of points is inflated compared to frequent flier programs and even competitors programs like Chase Travel Rewards and Citibanks ThankYou Network, I do not see it as devaluing the points as significantly as the article claims. Also, I would like to note that I do not like Capital One and do not hold this card nor do I intend to but I feel that information should be accurately presented and this article is misleading because it fails to show how other credit card specific programs have also been devalued. After all, former Chase Travel Rewards card members could redeem Continental miles at a rate of 1 mile /$ with a maximum of 25,000 points per year yet with only a months notice the redemption rate went to 1 mile /2$. Or take MBNA Worldpoints program where the number of points to fly to the Carribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, the Bahamas, or Bermuda increased from 35,000 points to 45,000 points while the $600 cap stayed the same. Or flying to Europe which used to take 50,000 points but now requires 60,000 points with the same exact cap of $800. Or flying to Central America or South America, Asia, Africa, or the South Pacific which used to take 75,000 points ($1200 cap) but now requireds 85,000 points ($1150 cap). All of these are significant devaluations but not much worse than the competitions.
JC
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While I agree that the number of points is inflated compared to frequent flier programs and even competitors programs like Chase Travel Rewards and Citibanks ThankYou Network, I do not see it as devaluing the points as significantly as the article claims.
JC
If my memory serves me correctly, before this enhancement my 25,000 miles would get me a $400 ticket. Now, it will only pay for a maximum of $250. That is at the very best 1%. They came close to reducing the value of my miles by half. That is a major devaluation.
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Another unhappy Capital One customer here. We've been loyal customers for several years, but we're about to switch to a new card for miles (TBD...still doing the research). When they first made the changes I wasn't that surprised or disappointed, as flying is more expensive these days and it seems more difficult to cash in miles no matter which program you use. The reasons I've had it with CO are:
1. Every time I turn the TV on I see a CO commercial with their celebrity spokesman. I wonder how much money are they paying for those commercials, while their loyal customers get screwed.
2. They've been very cryptic about the new system.
3. The online travel agency does NOT give you many options to choose from, meaning unless you do your homework and book elsewhere you spend more points than you need to.
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I just received an offer for the CapitalOne NO Hassle Miles Ultra MC and was seduced by the 1.25 miles/dollar idea + 20K bonus points each year... I figured there had to be some catch, and indeed it seems that there is. I can't imagine redeeming miles for flights that inexpensive! Thanks for helping me sort through my trash.
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I am not a fan of credit cards that have their own proprietary mile/points for redeeming.
just stick with *wood or any airline miles, at least you know what you have IMO.
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Is the Signature card that offer 2 miles per dollar spent a new thing?
http://apply2.capitalone.com/9629/5/index.jsp?s=0009629005000XXCO31XX1MILES2XSXXV2ZZ02 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
That seems to take some of the sting out of the November devaluation...
With 2 miles per dollar, you could do a $400 ticket for 20,000 miles in spending, which for domestic is better than a lot of airline cards (assuming you redeem for a $400 value ticket which costs 25,000 miles). Obviously, using this thing for things like international business class is a sham, though.
Never been a fan of these bank-centric programs, stick to miles myself, but for some novice who only seems to go after low value domestic tickets...it may not be such a bad thing? Of course, those aren't the people on this board!
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Is the Signature card that offer 2 miles per dollar spent a new thing?
http://apply2.capitalone.com/9629/5/index.jsp?s=0009629005000XXCO31XX1MILES2XSXXV2ZZ02 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
That seems to take some of the sting out of the November devaluation...
With 2 miles per dollar, you could do a $400 ticket for 20,000 miles in spending, which for domestic is better than a lot of airline cards (assuming you redeem for a $400 value ticket which costs 25,000 miles). Obviously, using this thing for things like international business class is a sham, though.
Never been a fan of these bank-centric programs, stick to miles myself, but for some novice who only seems to go after low value domestic tickets...it may not be such a bad thing? Of course, those aren't the people on this board!
$39 annual fee and it doesn't work just 100 miles:$1 on a ticket - its tiered until you hit $600. A $400 ticket will cost you 60000 miles, or $30000 worth of spending. Better off with SPG where that ticket will only cost you $20000 worth of spending, assuming its domestic (and you can combine them with miles you earned elsewhere). If someone really wants a card that has a proprietary points system, Amex Blue Sky and Citi Thank You (PremierPass is my top choice because you can hit 2 TY points/$, but Professional and other cards aren't bad either) are better choices IMHO.
I do have the card, purely because I use it for international transactions (signed up after I got sick of paying 2% on amex and 3% on MC/Visa), and they gave me the standard 10000 miles for your first and second anniversary bonus. I got the Visa signature card too (don't remember if thats what I actually applied for), but with no annual fee and only 1.25 miles/$.
If they start charging an international transaction fee, this card is going away and I'm signing up for Merrill+.
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Their program changes remind me of United Airlines' "Choices" program, except that you only have one way to redeem your miles earned. Maybe this should be called Choice program. :D