Have to close Capital One card, then open a new one to qualify for travel point bonus

We use the Chase Sapphire card, which has very good benefits for travel. There are a number of cards like that. Probably you need to find a card that you don't have which you can open.

Yes, just apply for and open a new card and then cancel your old card later.

I would imagine could affect my credit score, at least temporarily

Maybe for a day or 2, but my experience is that opening and closing a lot of credit cards enhances the credit score.

When we closed my business I wanted to change my Citi card from business to personal. During the process of cancelling the business card, which had a decent credit limit, the personal card limit was dropped too low-due to our lack of planning regarding the questions they ask upon sign-up. It was a totally different department too, which is probably not like your situation.

We were able to fix it, but we had to wait several months to call them back before they agreed to raise it.

Of course that low credit limit period was the time when we needed to purchase expensive plane tickets, which ate up just about all of our allotted credit.

Maybe have your ducks in a better row than we did?

Often, you can't close a card and then get a new one in short order and still get the bonus (they're not always as dumb as they look). I'd check with something like the Points Guy to find out how Cap One works. In fact, you should cross shop cards from Chase and Amex and Discover to find the current bestest.

I know with Chase there's some formula they use for cards (I just looked it's 5/24).

$395 a year for this????

Here's calculation for you: You know how much you spend on your current card and how much cash you get back yearly (for example my CapOne card is 1.5% pure cashback on everything).

Now, figure as best as you can the ACTUAL CASH VALUE you will get spending those points (and check conditions, for, example, points cover a flight ticket--not the fee which are the bulk of the cost). And then - does that value decently (and I say decently, because if it is close its is not with the trouble) exceed the cash back you would have gotten PLUS the $395 yearly fee? I am betting that it does not, if someone has other calculations please show them. I do not think the banks are in the habit of giving away money dare teasing the consumer with "points".

And as an aside, if this is going to affect your credit score, even temporarily, and cause issues for you, perhaps you should not even be considering this.

I'm always getting new cards for the bonuses. I have at least 18-20 and have never had a problem with my credit score or credit limit. But I also don't usually close cards. :)

I have a chase card, but the sapphire won’t suit my needs as well anyway, so I don’t intend to change anything there.

Larry, I don’t exactly understand what you’re saying, so this might not answer your question, but I’ll take a guess. The cost of 395$ a year is offset by giving better points overall (at least for me) that can be used for air miles. There’s a yearly bonus of miles to equal 100$+, which essentially beings it down to 295$. It will also allow me free access to over 1300 lounges around the world for me and two guests. Additionally the bonus points for which I’m not currently eligible would have amounted to 750$ worth of airline tickets in addition to the points earned for each dollar spent (I tend to use my cc for almost everything) and I’ve got a few trips in mind for next year.

I’m leaning toward getting the new card, I guess under a new account (?), then once I’ve switched all my online stuff over to the new card, the old one, which has no cost associated can either go dormant or be closed. I tend to be a set it and forget it kind of person, so this is all a bit new for me.

I have two Capitol One cards applied for in two consecutive years and received the sign up bonus for both. I realized after getting the Venture, that the Venture X was better for my purposes for it’s versatility and all it offered, which outweighs the annual fee by far for all the reasons OP states as well as the $300 in annual travel credit.

Cancelling a card, particularly an old account, will definitely hurt your credit score. But if you don't care about that, and have done the math to determine if the new card is worth the switch...go for it.

KRS, you may need to cancel the existing card first, then open a new one, so it would be helpful to have another card you can use temporarily. At least, that's if Capital One says you can't get a bonus if you already have another Capital One card. Every bank has different rules. E.g. Chase will let you cancel your Southwest Airlines visa and get a new card and a new bonus two years after you last got another Southwest bonus...but you can't immediately re-apply for the same card after canceling (I tried once, was denied a week after canceling, but got a new card a month or two later.)

$395 seems like a lot to me to pay if you are just trying to get bonus points. (75K bonus points does not seem like nearly enough to offset that huge fee, unless you get other benefits to offset.) There are many other cards that have far lower annual fees (or which will even waive the fee the first year, depends on the offer) and still give you a nice bonus e.g. the AA Citibank Visa card usually waives the fee the first year.

Personally, I think Southwest's card is one of the best out there. If you accumulate points, you can book cheap flights whenever there is a sale and cancel them later for free if you won't use it. Having this kind of flexibility makes the points much more valuable in my view. Southwest Chase doesn't waive the fee the first year, but it's under $100 for most of their cards so seems well worth it if the bonus is high enough.

KRS, I believe you may see during the online application process whether you’ll get the bonus (if I recall correctly … it was a few months ago when I applied for the Venture X) .

And you might want to keep the free one since it has no fee and just use it for a small charge occasionally to keep it active as it may factor into your score from what I understand from the info listed with credit scores (credit available and potential longevity if it’s your oldest account).

Unfortunately, I let a fee free card go dormant myself and my credit score took a (temporary) hit. I wished I’d known to keep the free card active.

My son is a pro on this stuff and says: Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve is the best of them all.
Then cancel your Cap One card and open a Cap One Venture X card, the second best.

Or, keep your Cap One but open a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve and reap all the travel financial benefits from it.

I had the old free Cap One card and opened the Venture (not X) on line with no issues and got all my bonus points.
I still keep the old free one as a back-up "just in case" and if I need to use it for some reason I can transfer the points to the Venture card.
I would say you should just do it on line, not through customer service.

Let me know if I'm wrong, but my understanding is this:

Credit Bureaus keep track of your oldest credit line. When you cancel that credit card, the time accumulation stops. For instance, if your card is 18 years old, when you cancel it, it'll remain at 18 years. Opening a new credit card will simply restart a new timeline rather than add on to your accumulated years so the new card will begin at year 1. That's not to say that you lose the 18 years. It'll be there, but it wouldn't be added on to.

If that doesn't matter to you, that's fine. For some people, they want to keep building the time they have had with a credit line to get a better credit score.

Also, I can't fathom paying almost $400 a year for a credit card. There are better ways to save, surely.

That $400, if you maximize accumulating points throughout the year, can save you thousands of dollars on plane tickets and hotels. Well worth it.

Credit Bureaus keep track of your oldest credit line. When you cancel that credit card, the time accumulation stops. For instance, if your card is 18 years old, when you cancel it, it'll remain at 18 years. Opening a new credit card will simply restart a new timeline rather than add on to your accumulated years so the new card will begin at year 1. That's not to say that you lose the 18 years. It'll be there, but it wouldn't be added on to.

You lose the accumulated years on the now canceled card/account, so your average length of active credit across all credit sources decreases commensurately and that is a negative for credit scores. You will take a a definite hit on your credit score when you close the old account, but over time, assuming you continue to manage your credit well, you can recover. The advice is to never close an old account if you want to keep your credit score up.

Actually, the Venture X is a great deal at $395 annually because you get a $300 travel credit each year beginning with year 1 (must book through Capital One Travel--not a problem for me because they have competitive rates on hotels and cars) plus a 10K mile renewal bonus each year worth $100 in money to spend on travel any way I want. Therefore, Capital One pays me $5 per year to have their card. This is aside from the Global Entry fee that you get during the first year plus other perks such as Priority Club and Capital One Lounge access annually. (You can bring two guests.) I signed up for the card as soon as it came out and haven't looked back--been very happy. I think they are losing money on me.

Also keep in mind, many of these cards require a pretty hefty original spend to qualify for the bonus miles. And income tax time is a great way to meet that spend (but as usual, be mindful of fees that your state or the feds may charge for using a card).

I appreciate all the input. There are many good points here. I think I'm going to try to open a new account for the Venture X, then work on switching auto payments and apple pay over to it, but keep the old card open and use it just once in a while for small purchases as someone suggested since that seems to cover as many of my needs as possible.

Is the first year free but then a annual coat after that? We open a card, get the bonus points and close it before we pay the annual fee.

Well that really was quick and easy online rather than calling customer service. Although I initially balked at the idea of opening another account, I think the suggestion of just keeping my other credit cards open (since I've had them since the dawn of time) and using them for small purchases now and then was a good one. Thanks everyone!

Also keep in mind, many of these cards require a pretty hefty original spend to qualify for the bonus miles. And income tax time is a great way to meet that spend (but as usual, be mindful of fees that your state or the feds may charge for using a card).

Also property tax time, if you don't escrow taxes (but as phred said, watch out for those fees).

Is the first year free but then a annual coat after that? We open a card, get the bonus points and close it before we pay the annual fee.

Be careful with that. You could lost the reward points or possibly face other action. Here is a good article by The Points Guy that discusses this: Here’s why you should never close your credit cards before the 1-year mark

Also property tax time, if you don't escrow taxes (but as phred said, watch out for those fees).

I find that insurance, either property or auto, is best for this since there is no fee for using a card. The Dentist works, too.

Be careful with that. You could lost the reward points or possibly face other action

I had only heard of Delta/Amex doing this, and the article only uses this as an example. I don't think there are any others. TPG churns through journalists and has so much daily content, the articles are uneven in value.

I push all charitable contributions through my main credit card, which helps the mileage balance. I'm about to hit the IRA required-minimum-distribution (RMD) age, though, so in the future I guess I'll be taking charitable distributions from IRAs rather than making donations through a credit card; the tax savings will be worth a lot more than the foregone airline miles. I haven't shopped for new cards with bonuses in the past; if I do so in the future, I guess I'd have to apply early enough to be sure I have the card in hand before heading out on a major trip. That's about the only time I'll be putting a significant amount of money on a card within a short period.

My main card (United Explorer MileagePlus) has had three bonus-earning opportunities this fall. I haven't seen overlapping, worthwhile bonuses like that previously. I'm going to end up with 40,000 bonus miles. Always open those emails! You always have to sign up for those deals.