Whoa: Earn 100K Miles + $250 on the Capital One Venture via Referral Links

A few weeks back, Capital One rolled out an excellent bonus on its popular Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: 75,000 and a $250 Capital One travel credit (to use within the first year of opening an account) after spending $4,000 in the first three months. But with the *chase sapphire preferred*‘s current 100,000-point bonus (after spending $5,000 in the first three months) currently blowing up the internet, Capital One has upped the ante.

By applying through select personal referral links, you can instead earn a record-setting 100,000-mile bonus plus that same $250 Capital One travel credit after spending $5,000 in the first three months. While it requires another $1,000 in spending, this elevated referral offer – with 25,000 more Venture miles and an easy-to-use $250 travel credit – makes it the best offer we've ever seen on Capital One's fan-favorite beginner card. Doctor of Credit first spotted this new referral offer.

Existing Venture cardholders may be able to refer friends and family for this 100,000-mile, $250 offer, earning a 10,000-mile bonus for each successful approval (for a total of up to 50,000 miles). But it's hit or miss: It appears to be targeted, so not all Venture cardholders will have it available – and in some cases, a different offer will appear. These links also stop working after a cardholder has successfully referred five new applicants in a calendar year.

If you don't already have a Venture Card, this 100,000-mile and $250 bonus is easily the best we've ever seen on one of our absolute favorite travel credit cards. To be perfectly clear, there's nothing in it for us if you use this referral offer – we just consider it part of our duty to point out an alternative offer when it's arguably more valuable to our readers.

You can try to use our link above or ask friends and family who are Capital One Venture cardholders to share their link with you!

Just remember: Credit cards are serious business. You should never apply for a credit card if you're already in debt, and never charge more to a credit card than you can afford to pay off immediately. However many points and miles you can earn, they're not worth it.

Here's everything you need to know about the Capital One Venture Card.

Read more: A Full Review of the Capital One Venture Rewards Card

Capital One Venture Card Overview

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card earns an unlimited 2x miles per dollar spent on every purchase, everywhere. This makes racking up miles easy, as you can swipe away knowing that you're getting a decent return on your spending, no matter where you're spending.

On top of earning more miles, you can expect a few additional travel-related perks with the Capital One Venture Card.

You'll get up to $120 in statement credits every four years for the purchase (or renewal) of TSA PreCheck or Global Entry. No matter which option you go with, getting the cost covered with your Capital One Venture Card is a win and it will make life easier for even the most infrequent traveler.

Here's a quick breakdown of the Capital One Venture card:

• Earn 100,000 Capital One miles and a $250 Capital One travel credit after spending $5,000 on the card in your first three months of card membership.
• Earn unlimited 2x miles on every dollar spent
• Earn 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• Up to $120 statement credit for enrolling in TSA PreCheck or Global Entry
• Access Capital One Lounges for a discounted rate of $45 per visit
• No fee to add authorized users.
• No foreign transaction fees
• $95 annual fee

All information about the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by Thrifty Traveler and has not been reviewed by the issuer. 

Learn more about the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (for full disclosure, this is a personal referral link). 

How to Use Capital One Miles

If you don’t want to deal with the hassle of transferring points and jumping through hoops to book a free flight or hotel, this is the right option for you. You won’t find an easier way to use points on travel. Just book your flight, hotel, rental car, or other travel expense with your Capital One card, then go back and remove the purchase using miles.

Thrifty Tip: Use Capital One Miles to book a cheap flight – like the ones we send out as part of our Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal alert service – and make it free by removing the travel charge from your statement after the fact. 

Every mile is worth 1 cent apiece, which means this 100,000-mile bonus gets you at least $1,000 toward travel. You can also book flights, hotels, and rental cars through the Capital One Travel portal (but you shouldn't) or send your points to an impressive array of Capital One transfer partners to get even more value out of these miles.

Some of our favorite Capital One travel partners include Air France/KLM, Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways, and Turkish Airlines.

Here's the full list of transfer partners:

Having the option to go the easy route or take things to the next level through transfer partners is what makes Capital One miles – and the Venture Card – such a great place to get started.

Read more: The Best Ways to Use Capital One Miles

How to Use the Capital One Travel Credit

The sweetener with this bonus is the $250 Capital One Travel credit … but what's it good for? And how do you use it?

For starters, new cardmembers will get this credit right away. Unlike the big point bonus, this travel credit does not require you to meet a minimum spending requirement in order to earn it. That's pretty much unheard of in the world of credit card sign-up bonuses and makes this card the perfect option for anyone that's already planning a trip. 

The next thing to note is that the credit is only valid for one year and expires on your account open date's first anniversary. But that doesn't mean that you'll need to complete your travel by that date. 

So long as you use it to book a flight, hotel, or rental car before it expires, you can actually travel well beyond that date. Just be warned: If your plans change and you have to cancel after the expiration date, you won't get that credit back. If you need to make any changes while the credit is still valid, it will be restored, and you can use it for something else. 

Now that we've got some of the finer details out of the way, let's discuss how to actually use the credit and more importantly, what type of travel you should try to use it on. 

For those unfamiliar, Capital One Travel works very similarly to other online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia and Priceline. You can book flights with most airlines, as well as chain and boutique hotels, rental cars, and even vacation rentals all through Capital One Travel. 

To use your new credit, simply log in to your Capital One account online and click the “travel” button under “rewards.”

Once you find something that you want to book, the credit will automatically be applied at checkout. You can use it up across multiple purchases or all at once. Unfortunately, since the credit is applied as a discount on the purchase price and not a statement credit, you won't earn any extra rewards on that $250 credit. That's a small bummer but not the end of the world as you're still getting $250 worth of travel for free. 

Bottom Line

Capital One is out with a record-setting bonus on the via personal referral links  new referral offer on the Capital One Venture Rewards card, giving travelers a 100,000-mile bonus after spending $5,000 on the card in the first three months.

This offer requires an additional $1,000 of spending in the first three months over the other limited-time offer. But getting an additional 25,000 miles instead of a one-time travel credit will no doubt be worth it for many.

Learn more about the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (for full disclosure, this is a personal referral link).