It’s Back: Earn 75K Miles + $300 on the Capital One Venture via Referral Links!

Capital One just rolled out a big, new bonus offer on its popular Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card … but you won't find it on the bank's website or even through sites like ours. Instead, you'll need to “phone a friend” and apply through a referral link.

With this elevated offer, you can earn a $300 Capital One travel credit (to use within the first year of card opening) and 75,000 Capital One miles after spending $4,000 in the first three months. Doctor of Credit first spotted this new referral bonus.

If you don't already have a Venture Card, this is one of the best offers we've seen on one of our absolute favorite travel credit cards, and this referral offer is arguably more valuable to our readers than our actual affiliate link. 

How valuable? Considering Capital One miles can easily be redeemed for 1 cent each, this bonus is worth a minimum of $1,050 when used for travel … but you can likely do even better by kicking those miles over to one of Capital One's transfer partners. 

To be perfectly clear, this offer may not be available on all referral links. Try using 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 75,000 Capital One miles and a $300 Capital One travel credit after spending $4,000 on the card in your first three months of card membership.
• Earn unlimited 2x miles on every dollar spent
• Earn 5x miles on hotels, vacation rentals, 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 miles to travel. Just book your flight, hotel, rental car, or other travel expense with your Capital One card, then go back and cover 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 75,000-mile bonus gets you at least $750 toward travel. Add in the $300 Capital One Travel credit, and the total offer is worth a minimum of $1,050.

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 $300 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 who'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 $300 credit. That's a small bummer but not the end of the world as you're still getting $300 worth of travel for free. 

Bottom Line

Capital One is out with a big, new bonus on the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card via personal referral links, giving travelers a $300 Capital One Travel credit and 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 in the first three months.

The additional $300 Capital One Travel credit (only available through referral links) makes this the current best offer on the card. 

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