Some travel redemptions can easily be covered with points – and some, not so much.

Cruises, Disney tickets, rental cars, and Airbnbs are a little trickier when it comes to using points. However, there are ways to make it happen and the Capital One Venture cards can help you cover hundreds of dollars’ worth of travel you may not otherwise be able to!

To use the purchase eraser, you must have a Capital One card. Two of the most popular for beginners are the Venture and Venture X.

Each comes with a 75,000 points welcome offer after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. However, they differ in their annual fee and benefits.

While the Venture has a $95 annual fee, the Venture X is the more premium option with a $395 annual fee to reflect it. But it comes with some noted benefits that cover the entire annual fee, making it one of the best premium travel cards in my opinion.

• Annual $300 travel credit (to be used in the portal)
• 10,000 points at your card anniversary
• Lounge access for the cardholder + 2 guests (until February 2026)

Both cards give you the opportunity to use the purchase eraser feature that we’ll be discussing here.

First things first, Capital One does not let you redeem your points at 1:1, unless you are covering purchases that code as travel.

For instance, if you decide to redeem for cash back, you’ll only redeem for half of your points’ value. Example: 50,000 points could be redeemed for $250 cash back.

Obviously, this isn’t a good redemption, especially since we’re trying to cover purchases that are harder to use points for.

Capital One Purchase Eraser Strategy

First, open the Capital One Venture or Venture X card. You’ll have 3 months to meet the $4,000 spend. After you meet the spend, you’ll earn 75,000 points as the welcome offer. Coupled with the 8,000 points you earned from spending on the card, you’ll have a total of 83,000 points which can be used to cover $830 in travel purchases.

Part of this spend should come from the purchase you want to cover – Airbnbs, cruises, or Disney tickets.

>>> Did you know that Disney tickets purchased on the Disney website code as entertainment and not travel? Buy your tickets through Undercover Tourist for the travel coding, so you can use the purchase eraser feature!

To cover travel purchases, you’ll log in to the app and scroll down to the rewards section.

If you have several Capital One cards, select the one that holds your points.

Then choose the redemption option that says “Cover Travel Purchases”.

Any purchase that codes as travel will show up, as you can see below, as well as how many points it would take to cover that purchase.

It’s important to note that you can only cover travel purchases you made in the last 90 days, so keep this in mind when using the purchase eraser feature.

You’re also able to erase a portion of your travel purchase. For instance, if you bought $1,000 worth of Disney tickets, but only have 50,000 points, you can apply those to cover $500 worth of the Disney tickets.

Want to save even more?

Refer your player 2 to the same card! This will earn you 20,000 referral points + your player 2 will earn their own welcome bonus! This means you’ll be able to cover at least $1,860 in travel purchases with just 2 cards!

Some may argue that the purchase eraser isn’t the best value for your points, because these points can be redeemed for more than 1 cent apiece. However, as a homeschool mom who is on a budget, I believe that any redemption (even 1:1) that makes affordable travel possible for your family is a great redemption. If using the purchase eraser makes your bucketlist trips happen, then go for it!

If you have any questions at all about this strategy, shoot me a message over on Instagram and I can help you out!