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As a credit card writer, I carefully curate my wallet.
I have cash-back cards that earn rewards on everyday spending, travel cards with useful perks and other cards that I've picked up for one reason or another. Most of them earn between 2% and 5% rewards in different categories or provide benefits such as trip insurance.
Then there's my humble Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card*, which earns a flat 1.25x miles on all purchases and comes with relatively few travel benefits. It's not a bad card for its niche -- a no-frills travel card meant for those who don't want to pay an annual fee -- but I personally have more rewarding options in my wallet.
So why do I use it?
For one specific feature: Capital One's virtual credit cards tool. It's invaluable for keeping my card information secure when shopping online. This alone makes my VentureOne worth using over my other, more rewarding cards.
What's a virtual credit card and how does it work?
A virtual credit card is a unique, randomly generated card number you can use in place of your real card information when making purchases online.
The benefit of a virtual card is that you don't have to share your real card number during the transaction, giving you some extra protection from hacking and fraud. A digital wallet like Google Pay and Apple Pay provides similar benefits, but not all merchants accept this payment method. You can use virtual credit cards anywhere online that you'd use a normal credit card.
Some issuers will give you a temporary virtual card number for a newly opened card so you can start spending while you wait for the physical card to arrive. But Capital One's virtual cards feature lets you create and manage new virtual cards at will, which is what really makes it useful.
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