Taking Advantage Of The Capital One "Match My Miles" Offer
After a flurry of speculation in the online forums, I finally received my email regarding Capital One’s “Match My Miles” offer. It gave me a unique passcode and directed me towards their www.submitmymiles.com web site. There I had the choice of either emailing or faxing my airline statement to them. If you chose to email, you have to submit it as a .PDF file. I downloaded one of the many, free .PDF printer drivers out there, and generated the file by “printing” a page from my US Airways account. Since I easily had over 100,00 miles in that account, I am expecting the entire 100,000 mile match as soon as I spend the first $1,000 on my card.
Is This Urgent
As an existing Capital One customer, I jumped on the offer within minutes of hearing about it. I then submitted my miles immediately after getting the email. I did this because they had said that they are only extending the offer to the first billion miles are redeemed. That would mean that if everyone submitted the full 100,000 miles, only the first 10,000 customers would get the match. That said, this restriction has not been appearing in their tv ads, leading some to speculate that this is more of a marketing ploy than a hard cap. To look at it otherwise would make this much more of a lottery than a sign up bonus, something that has discouraged many others.
For myself being a long time customer of theirs, it was a no brainer to sign up as it wasn’t even a new account application.
What’s Next
I haven’t even received my card yet, but I know I will soon. It shouldn’t be too challenging to spend $1,000 on the card in 90 days and then I will have the “miles”. The next step will be to claim any travel related expenses towards those “miles”. This can be hotel, rental car, or airfare. I suppose trains, buses, and boats might count too. The key is to spend it before the year is over, as my understanding is that they must be used by then. If that information is somewhere on their website, it is deeply hidden.
The next step will be to decide if I want to stick with their Venture Rewards card or their lesser Venture One card. The difference is that the Venture Rewards card has a $59 annual fee and returns 2% back while the Venture One card has no annual fee and returns a mere 1.25% back. I really only use my Capital One card overseas and where Amex isn’t taken, so it is unclear if I will ever spend the $4,000 it would take to make up the annual fee in the form of increased rewards.
