24 Benefits of Adding Authorized Users to the Capital One Venture X Card

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is one of our top picks for a travel rewards credit card.

It has fantastic bonus categories enabling you to earn up to 10x miles per dollar spent, an array of travel benefits, and awesome shopping perks.

It doesn’t end there, though. This card is also one of the absolute best cards for authorized users in terms of the additional benefits conferred to them at no additional cost (rates & fees).

Usually, ultra-premium credit cards have additional fees associated with adding authorized users — this is not the case with the Capital One Venture X card!

There truly aren’t many downsides to adding an authorized user to the Capital One Venture X card, so let’s dive right into what these additional users can expect!

Capital One Venture X Card Snapshot

We’ve sung the praises of the Capital One Venture X card consistently — below, you’ll find a table that provides a snapshot of crucial information relevant to the card, including the current welcome offer, annual fee, card highlights, and more.

Terms Apply / Rates & Fees

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

U.P. Rating 

The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the ins and outs of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.

The Capital One Venture X card is an excellent option for travelers looking for an all-in-one premium credit card.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture X card is an excellent option for travelers looking for an all-in-one premium credit card.

Welcome Offer

Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

75,000 miles

UP's Offer Valuation*:

$1,350

Annual Fee

$395

APR

Purchases: 19.99% - 29.24% (Variable)

Credit Recommended

Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.

Excellent (740-840)

Why We Like This Card

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is the premium Capital One travel rewards card on the block.

Points and miles fans will be surprised to see that the Capital One Venture X card packs quite the punch when it comes to bookings made through Capital One, all while offering the lowest annual fee among premium credit cards.

Depending on your travel goals and preferences, the Capital One Venture X card could very well end up being your go-to card in your wallet.

 

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 10x miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars purchased through Capital One Travel
• 5x miles per $1 on flights and vacation rentals purchased through Capital One Travel
• 2x miles per $1 on all other purchases

Cons

• $395 annual fee (rates & fees)
• Does not offer bonus categories for flights or hotel purchases made directly with the airline or hotel group, the preferred booking method for those looking to earn elite status

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Card Highlights

• Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel
• Receive a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options
• Get 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary
• Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
• Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases
• Enjoy complimentary access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and the Partner Lounge Network
• Use your Venture X miles to easily cover travel expenses, including flights, hotels, rental cars and more—you can even transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs
• Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
• Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck^®

Financial Snapshot

• APR: Purchases: 19.99% - 29.24% (Variable)
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Rewards Center

Capital One Miles

 

What Is an Authorized User?

Although most of us know intuitively what an authorized user is, it’s helpful to outline the formal definition: a person added to a credit card or charge card account by the primary cardholder.

The most common situation where authorized users are added is when the head of a household has a credit card and adds his/her partner and/or children onto the same credit card account.

And although authorized users aren’t limited to direct family members, you’ll generally want to trust whoever it is you’re adding because you will be solely responsible for paying off any charges made with the additional cards.

Core Benefits of Adding Authorized Users

Here’s a look at some of the high-level benefits of adding an authorized user:

• Avoiding higher annual fees for separate cards
• Building credit history (mostly for children)
• Consolidating and tracking expenses under 1 card
• Additional benefits

Please note that the information below has been collected independently by Upgraded Points and has not been provided by the card issuer. Some of these benefits are provided by Visa^® or Mastercard^® and may vary by product. See your respective guide to benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

1. Add Up to 4 Authorized Users for No Additional Fees

The Capital One Venture X card offers the ability to add up to 4 authorized users at no additional cost (rates & fees).

This is a bit different than other credit cards, for the simple reason that each authorized user enjoys a long list of legitimate benefits, as opposed to other cards that don’t offer much in the way of additional benefits.

This way, you can avoid paying extra annual fees for separate accounts.

2. Building Credit History

Another great reason to add authorized users is to build the authorized user’s credit history. Many parents choose to add their children as authorized users, even when they’re still very young, to build credit history.

That way, by the time they’re old enough to apply for their own credit cards, they already have excellent credit!

Keep in mind that this same principle also applies to spouses that may not have established or excellent credit history.

3. Financial Consolidation

If, as a household, you prefer to consolidate all credit card spending under 1 account, adding authorized users is one of the only ways to accomplish this.

For example, if you are married with 2 children, you can have 1 main credit card and 3 authorized users instead of trying to juggle 4 separate credit cards.

And with the advanced reporting available to Capital One credit card members, you can freely set spending limits for authorized users, view spending activity filtered by the user, and much more.

4. Additional Perks

The Capital One Venture X card offers some of the best benefits in the industry — and the best part is that most of these benefits are conferred to authorized users, as well.

If you want to be able to help your family members get access to these perks without having them apply (and pay) for their own cards, this is the way to go.

Earning Benefits of Adding Authorized Users

5. Making It Easier To Meet Welcome Bonus Spending Requirements

When you’re approved for the Capital One Venture X card, you can usually qualify for a welcome bonus by meeting a minimum spending threshold, usually within the first 3 months of opening the account. But, if you add an authorized user, the extra spending from the user(s) also counts towards the time-sensitive spending requirement.

Hot Tip: Authorized users aren’t excluded from earning a welcome bonus for the same card in the future.

6. Bonus Category Purchases

As we mentioned above, you can earn up to 10x miles per dollar spent with the Capital One Venture X card.

All spending done by authorized users counts toward any bonus categories that the primary card offers.

For example, the Capital One Venture X card has 2 bonus categories:

• 10x miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 5x miles per dollar spent on flights booked through Capital One Travel

If your authorized user books a $500 plane ticket through Capital One Travel, expect to earn 2,500 Capital One miles.

7. Lots of Extra Rewards on All Other Purchases

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest selling points of the Capital One Venture X card is the ability to earn tons of miles on everyday purchases.

In fact, you don’t even need to worry about other bonus categories because this card earns 2x miles on all other purchases without any caps or limits — this applies to authorized users as well.

Redeeming Rewards

8. Redeem Miles for Authorized Users

If you have a Capital One Venture X card and need to transfer some miles to your frequent flyer program and book travel for a family member, you can easily do so, as long as the frequent flyer program allows you to book award travel for others.

9. Transferring Capital One Miles to Another Capital One Credit Card

One of the best attributes of the Capital One Miles program is that you can move miles from your credit card to anybody’s credit card of choice without needing to be related or share the same mailing address.

As long as the credit card you’re transferring to is a Spark Miles or Venture card, you can call the number on the back of your Capital One Venture X card to process these transfers.

However, you cannot transfer Capital One miles directly to a loyalty program account that’s under someone else’s name. For example, John Doe cannot transfer Capital One miles to Jane Smith’s Emirates Skywards account directly.

John Doe must either transfer the miles to Jane Smith’s eligible Capital One credit card (from which Jane Smith can transfer those miles to Emirates Skywards) or he must transfer the miles to John Doe’s Emirates Skywards account and then book Jane Smith’s flight from there.

Travel Benefits

10. Access to the Capital One Partner Lounge Network

Capital One Lounges

One of the most important benefits offered to cardholders of the Capital One Venture X card is the ability to access the exclusive new Capital One Lounges.

Currently, there are 3 locations — Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW), Washington, D.C. (IAD), and Denver (DEN).

These lounges come with full cocktail bars, shower suites, super-fast Wi-Fi, grab-and-go snacks, hot meals, and so much more.

Authorized users can enjoy unlimited free visits!

Priority Pass Select Membership

When you add an authorized user to your Capital One Venture X card, they will also be able to activate their own complimentary Priority Pass Select membership.

This is a huge benefit because the membership alone is valued at no less than $469 per year. Authorized users receive it for free.

Hot Tip: Here’s a full list of the lounges that Capital One Venture X cardholders can access.

11. Hertz President’s Circle Status

Hertz’s loyalty program is known as Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, and its highest elite status tier is called President’s Circle.

Normally, you need 15 rentals annually or $3,000 of qualifying spending to get President’s Circle status, but even authorized users of the Capital One Venture X card can enjoy perks like guaranteed upgrades, access to the President’s Circle section of the Hertz Ultimate Choice lot, 50% bonus points, and so much more, all thanks to their President’s Circle status.

12. No Foreign Transaction Fees

Both authorized users and the primary cardholder enjoy no foreign transaction fees on all purchases (rates & fees).

Travel Protections

13. Primary Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance

The Capital One Venture X card is one of the few credit cards that comes with primary rental car insurance (as opposed to secondary coverage).

Just decline the rental car company’s collision damage waiver (CDW), also known as loss damage waiver (LDW), and use your credit card to pay for the entire rental to get coverage.

14. Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Insurance

If your flights are disrupted or canceled due to your airline becoming insolvent or due to a death, accidental bodily injury, disease, or physical illness or a direct family member, so long as your travel is booked on your Capital One Venture X card.

15. Trip Delay Reimbursement

If your trip is delayed for more than 6 hours or requires an overnight stay, you’re eligible for coverage. You’re limited to 1 claim per trip, but you only need to charge a portion of the common carrier fare to your credit card.

You, your spouse, and your dependent children under the age of 22 are all covered as long as the trip was purchased with the same credit card.

16. Lost Luggage Reimbursement

Lost luggage reimbursement coverage is offered, as long as you purchase a portion of your covered trip using the Capital One Venture X card.

17. Travel and Emergency Assistance Services

Travel and emergency assistance services are available to both the primary cardholder and authorized users, including medical referral assistance, emergency transportation assistance, emergency translation services, and more. The cost of any services or goods provided is your responsibility and is not covered.

18. Travel Accident Insurance

All cardholders, including authorized users, are covered against the accidental loss of life, limb, sight, speech, or hearing while riding as a passenger in, entering, or exiting any licensed common carrier.

To qualify for this coverage, you must pay for the entire fare using the Capital One Venture X card. Terms, conditions, and exclusions apply. Refer to your Guide to Benefits for more details. Travel Accident Insurance is not guaranteed, it depends on the level of benefits you get at application.

Hot Tip: Check out the full list of travel insurance benefits for the Capital One Venture X card in our detailed guide.

Shopping Benefits and Protections

19. Cell Phone Protection

The Capital One Venture X card offers cell phone protection against theft, damage, or involuntary or accidental parting from your cell phone.

To qualify, you need to pay your monthly cellular bill with your credit card for the billing cycle before the month in which the incident occurs.

20. Purchase Protection

For eligible purchases made on the Capital One Venture X card, you’re protected against covered theft or damage for 90 days after the date of purchase.

21. Return Protection

Let’s say you buy an item with your Capital One Venture X card. You want to return the item to the original merchant, but the merchant denies your request for a return.

Return protection will help you get reimbursed if the merchant denies your return.

22. Extended Warranty

If you purchase an eligible item that has a warranty of 3 years or less, an extended warranty adds 1 extra year on top of your existing warranty.

Additional Benefits To Take Advantage Of

23. Access to Capital One Dining

Authorized users can leverage the Capital One Dining platform to make reservations at premier dining destinations, as well as access a curated list of top restaurants worldwide.

24. Access to Capital One Entertainment

In addition to Capital One Dining benefits, authorized users get access to pre-sales, exclusive seats, VIP packages, and more with Capital One Entertainment.

What Benefits Do Authorized Users Not Receive?

Now that we’ve outlined all of the perks that authorized users do receive, what are some of the benefits that authorized users are not entitled to?

$300 Capital One Travel Credit

One of the best perks of the Capital One Venture X card is $300 annual travel credit for purchases made through Capital One Travel.

Authorized users do not get their own separate $300 Capital One travel credit, but their purchases do count toward the credit.

Anniversary Bonus Miles

Every account anniversary year, the primary cardholder receives a bonus of 10,000 Capital One miles, but authorized users do not receive this anniversary bonus.

Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Application Fee Credit

Another perk of the Capital One Venture X card is the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit.

If you opt for Global Entry, you can get a value of up to $120 every 4 years for Global Entry or every 4.5 years for TSA PreCheck.

Although the primary cardholder can choose to use his/her fee credit for an authorized user’s Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application, authorized users are not entitled to their own fee credit.

How To Add an Authorized User to the Capital One Venture X Card

To add an authorized user, you’ll want to log into your Capital One Venture X card’s online account and click Manage Account Users near the middle of the page.

You’ll be taken to a page that shows all current authorized users and managers. Click Add New User.

You’ll see a box pop up that asks for the new authorized user’s information. Fill out the form and complete the process for adding the authorized user.

Hot Tip: You may be prompted to designate an Access Level for the user — choose Account Manager if the user is also going to have their own login details and assist in managing your account. Choose Authorized User if they won’t have their own login but will receive their own credit card.

You can also add authorized users over the phone via the number on the back of your card if the website is giving you issues. New cards should be delivered by mail within 7 to 10 business days.

Everything Else You Need To Know

There are just a couple of drawbacks associated with adding authorized users:

1. Authorized user cards are reported to credit bureaus (which may affect your Chase 5/24 status, for example).
2. All charges made by the authorized user are the sole responsibility of the primary cardholder.

Final Thoughts

The Capital One Venture X card is one of the best credit cards around for authorized users.

With the exception of the travel credit, Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit, and the 10,000-mile anniversary bonus, authorized users get pretty much all of the benefits that the primary cardholder enjoys.

Just remember that adding an authorized user should only be done if you truly trust the individual since you’d be accepting all financial responsibility for charges made on that card.

Additionally, being able to build the authorized user’s credit and consolidating expenses are both great reasons to add authorized users.

Upon enrollment, accessible through the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at that status level through the duration of the offer. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.