Capital One No Hassle Miles can be earned on numerous Capital One rewards cards. The program follows the basics that all other miles based credit card rewards programs use. For each dollar you spend on the credit card, you earn 1 mile. Miles can be redeemed for free airline tickets, free hotel rooms and other free travel services.

2012 Capital One Rewards Catalog

Just like with the Capital Rewards Catalog 2011, Capital One saves money by not mailing a printed rewards catalog to every cardholder. Some customers report that they get catalogs because they have a high point balance, while others say that they only get the miles redemption catalogs when they have high card usage. Either way, there is no way to order a Capital One Rewards catalog in the mail. You either got one or your didn’t.

Fortunately, like all rewards programs, the merchandise you can redeem miles for is not offered at a bargain price. The reward “prices” are good for months at a time, so unless the card company is willing to hold inventory of merchandise (expensive), it is necessary to charge an amount of points that results in paying full retail or more for an item. You are much better off redeeming your rewards points and miles for free travel.

Capital One Rewards Chart

Fortunately, you don’t even need a complicated Capital One rewards chart to figure out how many miles you need to redeem for a free flight, depending upon whether you have Capital One No Hassle Miles, or Capital One Venture Miles.

For the Capital One Venture Card, and its no-fee cousin, the Capital One Venture One Card, you redeem your miles at a rate of 100 miles per dollar for any travel expense. (Only certain categories of travel expenses are allowed under the Venture One rewards program, but they include airfare, hotel and car rental.)

You don’t have to order your reward or redeem miles in advance. Rather, when your travel expenses show up on your credit card statement, you can redeem your miles against the existing charges. For example, if you spent $650 on a free plan ticket as your credit card reward, you would buy the ticket using the Venture card just like you would if you were not redeeming miles for free trips. When you see the $650 show up on your monthly bill, or online, login to to redeem your miles. Use 65,000 miles to cover the $650 charge and your balance is now $650 lower. Just pay the rest of your credit card bill like normal.

If you have a Capital One No Hassle Miles card, the deal does require a free ticket redemption chart. The chart is unchanged from the 2011 credit card rewards program.

A ticket that costs less than $150.00 takes 15,000 miles to redeem.

$150.01 to $350.00 takes 35,000 miles to redeem.

$350.01 to $600. 00 takes 60,000 miles to redeem.

Tickets over $600.01 are the price times 100 miles to redeem.

Redeem Miles for Cash or Gift Cards

You can also redeem No Hassle Miles for cash or gift cards.

Cash rewards are the same cost as statement credits. The only difference is that you don’t get a check in the mail. Each reward is redeemed at a rate of half the redemption points for travel. In other words, while 10,000 miles should get you $100 worth of travel, it only gets you $50 worth of cash.

Gift card rewards are dependent upon both the retailer and amount. Some retailer’s gift cards cost the same amount as cash. In that case, you are better off buying them, collecting the points for spending the money and then redeeming for a statement credit. Other retailers redeem at the same rate as travel.

Watch out for changing redemption rates based upon the size of the card. Some retailers will charge a higher rate on cards with smaller values. Often, the better rate begins at $100 gift cards, so check this price point first.

Related posts:

1. Capital One Rewards Catalog – No Hassle Miles – Travel Rewards
2. Capital One Rewards Catalog 2011 Is Here

Capital One Rewards Catalog 2012 originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Capital One has different types of Venture rewards credit cards. One of them is the VentureOne Rewards Credit Card, which is similar, but different from the main Capital One Venture card that Alec Baldwin pitches on TV. This VentureOne credit card is yellow instead of the Venture card which is blue.

Earn VentureOne Credit Card Miles

The VentureOne credit card is a travel rewards credit card, so cardholders earn miles instead of earning points, although in practice, it is the same thing. Owners of this credit card earn 1.25 miles per dollar spent on every purchase. There is also a one-time bonus for new cardholders of 10,000 miles if you spend $1,000 during the first three months you have the card.

The amount of miles you can earn each year is unlimited and the miles do not expire.

Redeem Miles for Free Travel

The best feature of the VentureOne card rewards catalog is that there is no need for a rewards catalog. Unlike getting the Capital One rewards catalog for the Miles Plus program, there is no need for this card’s reward catalog to come in the mail.

Instead, the number of miles needed to earn free travel is equal to the cost of the tickets multiplied by 100. For example, if you spend $382 on airline tickets to Las Vegas, the number of miles you have to redeem to get them for free is 38,200. That beats trying to manage the credit card reward points ranges typical on other rewards cards.

This rewards ratio is better than a one-percent cash back credit card, which is the minimum to be considered a good rewards card. Assuming all miles are earned at the 1.25 point level, travel rewards are equivalent to 1.25 percent cash back. (Check here for information on how to compare rewards credit cards.)

The great thing about this card is that there are no hoops to jump through to book your reward travel. You don’t have to book the tickets through Capital One or use a special Travelocity website or anything like that. In fact, you don’t have to redeem your miles in advance at all. Instead, you just buy your tickets using the VentureOne card. You can buy your airline tickets anywhere including direct from the airline, through a travel agent or from an online travel website like Expedia. Then, you log on to your account and redeem your miles and you get a credit on your statement.

Since you can book your airfare by any means, there are no blackout dates and no restrictions on which airline you can fly in order to get your free plane tickets.

Miles can also be redeemed for other travel expenses including hotels and rental cars.

Compare to redeeming NoHassle Miles via the Capital One rewards catalog 2011.

VentureOne Interest Rate, Terms and Conditions

There is currently no annual fee for the VentureOne card.

There is currently an introductory 0% interest rate for one year for new card holders. After that, the interest rate is a variable rate equal to Prime plus 8.65 percent, 12.65 percent or 16.65 percent, depending upon which credit rating tier you qualify for. As of today, that means the card has a 11.9%, 15.9% or 19.9% interest rate for current cardholders no longer getting the zero percent interest rate offer. The current cash advance APR is 24.9%, also a variable rate. There is also a 3 percent cash advance fee with a minimum of $10.

As with most variable rate credit cards these days, the interest rate will look absolutely TERRIBLE when interest rates go back to normal levels. A Prime rate of just 5 percent means that the best possible rate on this card will be 13.65 percent and the highest tier customer will be paying a rate of almost 25 percent interest! In other words, you do not want to be carrying a balance on this credit card.

The grace period for interest free purchases is 25 days.

VentureOne Card Perks

The Capital One VentureOne card also comes with the usual lineup of Visa Signature benefits including free auto rental insurance coverage and travel accident insurance. Also included is 24-hour roadside assistance and the Visa extended warranty program.

Venture One Card Review

So, is the VentureOne card worth it?

If you are looking for a card without a complex travel rewards catalog or a travel rewards miles chart, then the VentureOne card is worth a look. Is does have the all important no annual fee feature, but the interest rates are high and will get much higher when the Fed starts raising interest rates.

No related posts.

VentureOne Card Review from Capital One originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Update: Information on the new 2012 Capital One Rewards catalog is here.

The 2011 Captial One Rewards catalog is here! I’ve learned that not everyone gets a printed hard copy Capital One Rewards catalog in the mail, but for some reason, I seem to get one each year around Christmas. I guess the folks at Capital One think that people are more likely to redeem miles for Christmas gifts or for free holiday travel, especially since the airlines like to block out all of the good flights and days around Christmas time.

This year, my NoHassle rewards catalog came after the new year and is titled, “Explore.” If you upgraded to the Capital One Venture card, there is apparently a supplement or entirely different Venture card rewards catalog according to the note enclosed.

Without any further ado, let’s jump right into the current Capital One Rewards Catalog.

Capital One NoHassle Rewards 2011 Program Guide

First up is how to earn miles using my Capital One No Hassle Rewards card. The basic earning rate is 1.25 miles for every $1 spent using the card. Money spent in bookstores, video rental stores, gifts shops, card stores, florists, art supply stores, craft stores, and souvenir shops earns double miles or 2 points for every $1 spent.

The guide also notes that Capital One miles do not expire after a certain number of years, and that there is no limit on how many miles you can earn in the NoHassle miles program.

Capital One Rewards Miles Earning Chart

Perk Central for Capital One Rewards

Like pretty much every other rewards credit card and other program that offers points for spending money, you can earn even more points by shopping through a special Capital One website called Perk Central. You can earn up to 15 bonus miles per dollar spent by shopping through Perk Central.

The best way to take advantage of the bonus miles offered for shopping through the special Capital One website offer is to always check Perk Central before making big purchases online. Be sure to delete your browser cookies, or better yet, use your browser’s privacy mode if you have already been to the merchant’s website before. You don’t want your bonus rewards voided because your shopping trip didn’t count as a “referral.”

For example, Best Buy, CompUSA, and Staples are all listed as Perk Central retailers. Just drop by Perk Central first before buying your office supplies or electronics and rack up bonus points on each purchase. Those bonus points can make redeeming Capital One rewards miles for gift cards a great deal. Double dip by earning bonus miles at Best Buy, and then getting a $100 Best Buy gift certificate reward for cheap!

Other Perk Central companies listed in the Capitol One Rewards catalog for 2011 include:

• Bloomingdales
• PetSmart
• Sephora
• Starbucks
• Gap
• Macy’s
• Barnes & Noble
• Sierra Trading Post
• Foot Locker
• Dick’s Sporting Goods
• Sears / Kmart
• Walmart
• Home Depot
• Sears
• West Elm
• Dell

Earn Miles Fast On Capital One Rewards Card Plus Perk Central

Two other companies of note on Perk Central are the Apple Store and Southwest Airlines.

If you are looking to buy an iPod, iPad, or MacBook Air, you know that they are not cheap. Getting a good deal on an Apple computer or iPhone can be tough because the company doesn’t really allow big discounts. However, if you buy them and earn bonus miles on those big ticket items, the value of your miles goes up and you can get a deal on Apple electronics by combining your purchase with a statement credit or cash back reward.

Likewise, get bonus miles when you book your Southwest Airlines tickets through the Capital One rewards bonus website. Make sure you are also a member of Southwest Airlines frequent flier program and you’ll get big bonus points, plus you still get credit for your Southwest Airlines miles because the two programs are not related or exclusive.

Earn Capital One Miles Paying Bills

To really see your miles add up fast, use your card to pay bills. Pay the card off every month and you are basically getting free money.

That $300 doctor bill is a tax deduction, and it can earn you 375 miles while you are at it.

Your $100 electric bill is worth 125 miles, and so on.

A $1,000 worth of bills and groceries charged to the card each month (and paid off each month) is worth 1,250 miles. That is 15,000 miles per year without doing anything other than what you would normally do. And, that, is the key to taking advantage of rewards programs and discounts.

Up Next: Capital One Rewards redemptions catalog.

Related posts:

1. Capital One Rewards Catalog 2011 Is Here
2. Capital One Rewards Catalog 2012

Capital One Rewards Program 2011 Guide originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Not long ago, comparing rewards cards was pretty straight forward. Most credit card offers gave cardholders one point, or one mile, for each dollar spent and charged to the card. Credit card rewards programs sometimes offered bonuses for earning miles either for using the cards during specific periods of time or when shopping at certain types of stores. Often, these special offers came in the form of “double miles” or even “triple points”.

These days, such offers are non-expiring specials on some credit cards. Other cards, such as some Capital One rewards cards offer a base miles earning rate other than 1 mile per dollar. My Capital One No Hassle Miles credit card, for example, has a base miles earning rate of 1.25 miles for each dollar spent, with two times miles per dollar spent when the card is used in certain types of retail shopping establishments.

Of course, comparing which card offers the highest miles earned per dollar spent is useless without also comparing what rewards those miles or points can be redeemed for.

In order to determine which rewards cards are good values and which ones are below average (or worse) it pays to keep in mind that the “average” cash back credit card offers 1 percent cash back on all standard purchases. That works out to $1 cash back for every $100 spent. If the rewards program offers a value equal to or greater than 1% of dollars spent, the program can be considered average. Bigger rewards equal bigger value.

Redeem Credit Card Miles for Free Flights

Redeeming credit card points for free flights is a long-standing tradition. With both credit card companies and airlines tightening their belts, however, there have been big changes in how to redeem points for free airline tickets.

Many credit card rewards programs require you to book your tickets through them or a designated company. Doing so allows the company to collect fees from the airlines like a travel agent does, allowing them to offset the cost of rewards tickets.

Most credit card customers were savvy enough to use their miles and points only on more expensive flights, which is why most rewards programs have eliminated tiers of rewards based on miles. Instead, many programs charge a certain number of miles for a certain price range of airline ticket.

Others, like the Citibank rewards program cost a certain amount of points to redeem for the exact cost of the ticket. A recent check showed it cost 15,700 points to to get a free airline ticket that cost $149.40 directly on Expedia for the same flights.

Redeem Credit Card Points for Gift Cards

One great way to redeem points without traveling is to get free gift cards for gifts or to merchants that you use on a regular basis. A few years ago, we furnished our baby bedroom with free Babies R Us gift cards we got be redeeming 10,000 miles for every $100 gift certificate, the equivalent of 1 percent cash back.

There are still good deals to be found redeeming credit card miles for free gift cards, but you have to do the math and keep a close eye on the details within each program.

For example, the Capital One rewards catalog shows that a $100 Babies R Us gift card requires redeeming 15,500 miles. That is a lot more than the 10,000 miles it took a few years ago. However, with a base mileage earning rate of 1.25 miles per dollar, that $100 gift card works out to $12,400 of spending. That’s still worse than 1 percent, but not as bad as it looks at first glance.

Choosing the Right Rewards Card

The best rewards programs are usually those that offer rewards at approximately a 1 percent redemption rate that have significant bonus earnings where you shop regularly. For example, if you shop a lot at XYZ Stores and they have a Miles Supreme Plus Visa card where you earn 1 point per dollar spent but earn 2 points (or more) for every dollar spent at XYZ stores, those bonus miles will add up and make your point redemptions more valuable than ever.

Whatever credit card rewards program you go with, always read everything you receive about the program and monitor both the earnings rate and the cost of redeeming rewards, as these can change frequently. What starts out as a good deal, may end up becoming less valuable with one quick little notice that the company hopes you don’t end up reading or understanding.

With a little persistence and research, you can find the right rewards card for you and your family.

Related posts:

1. Amazon Rewards Visa Credit Cards
2. Capital One No Hassle Rewards – Gift Cards

How To Compare Rewards Credit Cards originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

The Capital One Rewards catalog for 2011 is available. Technically, it is the Holiday 2010 Capital One NoHassle Miles rewards catalog, but they never really seem to update it the next year, so for all practical purposes, it is the rewards catalog for Capital One 2011 miles redemption amounts.

After I get a chance to look through it, I’ll post some updates to the rewards chart and any other interesting news from the Capital One rewards program updates.

Update (Jan-2011): The 2011 Capital One Rewards catalog review is here.

Related posts:

1. Capital One Rewards Catalog 2012
2. Capital One Rewards Catalog Holiday Specials Good Until January 31

Capital One Rewards Catalog 2011 Is Here originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

It is standard lobbying practice for any industry about to come under additional regulation from Congress to shout to the press, and whoever else will listen, that any and all proposed regulations or laws of any kind would adversely affect the poor customer. Thus, any additional rules or regulations of any kind on credit card companies would make things worse for credit card customers.

More reading: Citibank Thankyou Points catalog.

Grandstanding aside, while poorly thought out regulations can hamper entire industries and harm customers, many times new government oversight can have a positive affect both on the industry as a whole, and on the experience of customers as well. In the case of recent credit card legislation, the new rules and regulations on banks and credit card issuers were thoroughly debated not just between Republicans and Democrats, but within those parties as well.

Fortunately, the by-product of real debate is often good legislation. Unfortunately, the power of lobbyists can overwhelm good debate when the sides are fractured.

What emerged from Congress in the form of newer, tougher, credit card industry regulation was indeed thoroughly debated, but was it good for customers, or did it, as the industry claimed, hurt ordinary credit card holders?

The general answer to that question remains open. Clouding the issue is the overall tightness of the credit markets, compounded by the nearly overnight end to the traditional way of doing business in the banking and finance industry. If it is harder to get a credit card there is no way of knowing whether that is the result of over-reaching rules issued by Congress, or if it is just that so many financial institutions have shaky balance sheets cluttered with “toxic assets.”

One area that keeps being mentioned in the press that has negatively affected consumers is that credit card reward programs are becoming more stingy. However, little evidence is cited other than the occasional card holder who says that they are getting less value from their credit card mileage or credit card points than they used to. The catch is that many credit card rewards programs were being trimmed before the credit card laws were even passed!

I made note in this personal finance blog that Capital One NoHassle Rewards were less valuable than they were just one year before back in 2008 when I used 10,000 Capital One miles for each $100 gift certificate to major retailers. Nobody can blame credit card laws for that!

Let me know if you see a downward revision in your credit card rewards program. If you have an old rewards catalog, don’t throw it out. Instead, keep it to compare how your rewards change over time, and if a credit card company is screwing you, don’t be afraid to open a new reward credit card or even a cash back credit card and throw that old in the shredder.

Related posts:

1. Credit Card Rewards Catalog
2. New Credit Card Laws Change the Rules in 2009

Credit Card Rewards Programs – Are New Laws Making Them More Stingy? originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Existing Capital One MasterCard holders may or may not be getting the same deals, but new credit card offers from Capital One are arriving in the mail to new credit card users. These are not reserved for highly qualified borrowers with high credit scores either.

How do I know?

One good piece of financial advice that I frequently give is to use phony names when signing up for certain things, especially promotional offers and magazine subscriptions. The reason is that these companies like to turn around and sell your name and address to other companies that then send you plenty of junk mail. These mailing lists can be more profitable than the actual business of writing a magazine or newsletter!

Nothing helps sort out a real “Urgent! Response Required,” mailing from a phony one like seeing one of the fake names that you used to sign up for something in the past. Just like the one that appears on my no annual fee Capital One No Hassle Rewards World MasterCard offer that came to my house under a name used for magazine subscriptions. Since that isn’t even a real person, let alone someone with a high credit score, we know that these offers are either going out blind, or people with low credit scores can qualify for these credit cards.

Capital One Miles Rewards

This particularly Capital One MasterCard looks like it comes with the standard NoHassle miles reward chart and earning points follows the basic Capital One miles rewards earning plan. You get 1 mile for each $1 you spend. The miles do not expire and there is no limit to the number of miles you can earn with the credit card.

A  bonus rewards points offer comes in the form of 30,000 bonus rewards miles comes with plenty of fine print. You actually get a 10,000 mile bonus reward with your first purchase. Then, if you spend at least $3,000 per year on the card, you get another 10,000 NoHassle miles reward bonus on your first anniversary and then 10,000 more No Hassle bonus miles on the second anniversary. So it might be a while before you want to use that Capital One Rewards Catalog to pick your free reward.

Also, there is no annual fee and this is a credit card with 0% interest rate APR on purchases until February 2011. After that, the regular interest rate is 17.99%, but that is not a fixed interest rate. Instead, this MasterCard from Capital One comes with a variable APR. The variable interest rate is calculated as PRIME + 14.74%. OUCH!

Folks, pay attention to these rates from banks on your credit card offers. 17.99% is not a low interest rate by any stretch of the imagination, but when the PRIME rate climbs to a measly 5%, which is still very low, by the way, this card will have an interest rate of 19.74%. That’s 20% interest on a credit card. No amount of miles is worth that.

Related posts:

1. Capital One Rewards Catalog – No Hassle Miles – Travel Rewards
2. Capital One No Hassle Rewards Catalog

Capital One World MasterCard No Hassle Rewards Miles originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Every year, they send out a holiday edition of Capital One No Hassle Miles rewards catalog. The 2010 CapitalOne Rewards Holiday Catalog showed up recently. Of course, we’ll be looking into these special reward offers and seeing if there are some good bargains, or if these points redemption offers aren’t worth it at all.

One quick note is that there is no special on redeeming Captial One points for gift cards. All CapitalOne Miles Rewards still redeem at a low, low, rate of just one-half percent, that is 1/2% cash equivalent. In other words, for every $10,000 you spend and earn points or miles at the rate of 1 per $1, your cash back rate would be equal to 0.5% instead of the industry standard 1% cash back. Of course, there are various opportunities to earn bonus miles and extra rewards in the Capital One No Hassle Rewards program. Unfortunately, even with this holiday edition of the Capital One Rewards Catalog it looks like you will have to load up on those if you want a fair rate on your miles redemptions for gift cards.

Capital One No Hassle Miles 2009 Holiday Rewards Catalog

Our in depth look is coming soon. If you want a couple of quick highlights to get a feel for how good the Capital One Rewards specials are in this year’s holiday catalog, here are a couple of samples. This Capital One Miles Rewards Matrix is just a quick sample. We’ll be back with more special points redemptions and other good deals once we get a chance to do some more in-depth analysis.

• Xbox 360 Elite 120 GB Bundle = 111,750 Miles
• Nintendo DSi Bundle (includes 2 Games) = 56,500 Miles
• Nikon Coolpix S220 10 MB Digital Camera = 34,250 Miles
• Sony Bravia S-Series 1080p HDTV 40 inch screen = 243,500 Miles (439,250 points for 52″ screen)
• Razor Pocket Rocket Miniature Electric Bike = 63,250 Miles
• KitchenAid Artisan Stand 5-Quart Mixer = 67,750 Miles

As usual, it looks like the best credit card rewards are cash back, gift cards, and bill credits. So far, there doesn’t seem to be any exceptions this year. That is because credit card companies like Capital One try and price their rewards points at the full manufacturer list price. That means that if you get even the normal retail level street pricing, you’ll come out behind redeeming your Capital One Rewards points for merchandise.

Frankly, with some of Capital One’s recent changes to their credit card agreement and their recent “restructuring” of customers (even those with good credit) ahead of tighter credit card regulations that Congress pushed up to take effect this year, the No Hassle Miles cared is looking like a lessor value each day. One thing is for sure, the Capital One No Hassle Miles card is not one of the top credit card rewards programs any longer.

Related posts:

1. Capital One Rewards Catalog Holiday Specials Good Until January 31
2. Capital One Rewards Catalog 2011 Is Here

Capital One Rewards Catalog Holiday 2009 Edition originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Update: The newest information regarding the Capital One Rewards catalog for 2012 is here.

I promised a look at the value of the Capital One No Hassle Miles Travel Rewards after looking at the value of the the Capital One Miles Rewards Catalog for gift cards in a previous post.

One of the nice features of the Capital One Miles program is that you can both purchase travel with your miles, or you can get a “statement credit” for travel that you have already taken.  The great thing about this feature is that if you don’t have time to sift through the usual rewards catalog website and redeeming rewards process, you can just book your travel like you normally would, pay with your Capital One No Hassle Miles Reward card, and then use your points after the fact to pay for your trip.

Do it before your payment is due, and it is just like you went through the usual booking process to use your miles or points costing you no interest payments.

Capital One Miles Redeem For Travel Rewards Chart

The basic Capital One No Hassle Rewards card earns 1.25 miles per dollar except at bookstores, card stores, novelty stores, souvenir shops, arts & craft stores, florists, and video rental stores (not Netflix) where it earns 2 miles per dollar.  Unless you do some heavy spending at those places chances are your flight awards will be made up mostly of 1.25 miles per dollar purchases.

At that rate, the max ticket value for each category works about to $12,000 of spending or the equivalent of 1.25% cash back, which is better than your basic 1.0% cash back card.  However, be very aware of the sweet spot near the top of the range, and the dead zone at the bottom.  A $170 ticket or a $375 ticket will be a terrible deal.

Capital One Miles Rewards Good for Students

The Capital One travel rewards can be a great deal for college students.  Since students buy hundreds of dollars worth of books each year, they can really benefit from the 2 miles per dollar rate provided the campus bookstore is properly categorized.  To find out, make a small test purchase at the. campus bookstore and then go online to view the transaction.  If it is listed as a bookstore (or even card shop or novelty shop) then you are in business.  If not, check out the off-campus bookstore alternative that many college towns have.  If it is listed in one of the good categories then you can buy your books there.

Even better, most major university bookstores carry far more than just books, sometimes at bargain prices because of student pricing.  This is especially true for student edition software.  Online deal sites go nuts over the prices students can get on things like Microsoft Office or even Windows Vista or Windows XP.  Each of those purchases can get 2 miles per dollar.

A student spending $2,500 a semester in various bookstore purchases would qualify for a free ticket home for Thanksgiving every other year.  And if they let you charge your tuition or fees, then this baby is going to pay off in free plane tickets.

As always, responsible use of all credit, especially credit cards is vital to a solid financial future, so don’t spend just get miles.

Related posts:

1. Capital One World MasterCard No Hassle Rewards Miles
2. Capital One No Hassle Rewards Catalog

Capital One Rewards Catalog – No Hassle Miles – Travel Rewards originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Got an email from the Capital One No Hassle Miles Rewards program.  They are extending the specials in the Capital One Rewards Catalog Holiday 2008 edition until January 31.  The original catalog cover said that the offers were only for a limited time through 1/15/09.

What kind of deals are available?

As with most credit card points and miles programs, the merchandise tends to be a lesser value than things like redeeming miles for travel, gift cards, cash, or a statement credit.  Still, if you are interested in something and don’t really want to “pay” for it, there is no reason to not use your miles on it.

It is true that a Nintendo Wii console with one game, one nunchuck and a remote for 82,750 miles may not work out to the best price you can get anywhere, the fact is that you can have one for 82,750 miles if you want.

Good Value Rewards

The best way to determine if you are getting a good value for your Capital One No Hassle Miles is to find the price of what you want from the catalog and then convert that amount of dollars into miles for a statement credit or cash.  Or, if you can find the item at a store that has a gift card reward, that can be done too.

Generally, you can get a statement credit or cash for 200 miles per dollar.

The math:

• 82,750 miles / 200 miles per dollar = $413.75

So, if you can find a similar Nintendo Wii for less than $413.75, then you would be better off buying it and then applying for a statement credit or cash.  Keep in mind that the redemption amounts may not work out such that you can get back exactly the amount you spend, but you can definitely come close enough.

No related posts.

Capital One Rewards Catalog Holiday Specials Good Until January 31 originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com