How Capital One can save you time and help you keep more money in your pocket this Thanksgiving and Black Friday

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With Thanksgiving and Black Friday quickly approaching, it’s time to start thinking about how you’ll save on your holiday purchases. Whether that’s groceries, Cyber Week deals on holiday gifts or even a stop at your favorite drive-thru on a holiday road trip, there are great ways to earn rewards with your Capital One credit cards on everything you buy this holiday season.

Here, we’ll discuss which cards to use and other useful tools and benefits that will help you save time and maximize rewards.

Earn miles and cash back on groceries

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Make the most of your grocery purchases with the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card. (Photo by By Alexander Raths/Shutterstock)

If the holiday season calls for one thing, it’s food. Even if this is the first year you’re roasting the turkey and making decorated gingerbread cookies just for those who live in your home, food is often synonymous with the holidays.

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Make the most of these expenses by putting these purchases on the right credit card. If you’re seeking cash back, consider the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card instead. This card earns 2% cash back at grocery stores. This covers in-store purchases as well as grocery delivery, so long as the purchase codes as a grocery expense. Note that this excludes superstores like Walmart® and Target®.

If you do your grocery shopping at a specific retailer, such as Walmart®, you can earn 5% back on grocery purchases at Walmart.com, including contact-free pickup and delivery with the Capital One Walmart Rewards Card.

If flexible travel rewards are your goal, consider using the Capital One Venture Credit Card. This card earns unlimited 2 miles per dollar on every purchase and is a great option for groceries, farmers markets, gifts and whatever else you need to stock up on this holiday season.

When it comes time to redeem, you can transfer your Venture miles to more than 10 airline and hotel transfer partners. This can provide excellent value and lets you book things like business-class tickets around the world, discounted hotel rooms and domestic flights to visit family. Alternatively, you can use your rewards to cover any recent travel purchase, for a statement credit or for gift cards (from dozens of retailers such as Apple®, Whole Foods®, Lowe’s® and more).

Capital One rewards cardholders can also redeem their rewards on purchases at Amazon.com, or on eligible purchases at millions of online stores when you check out with PayPal®.

Related: Review of the Capital One Savor card

Maximize your dining, takeout and food delivery

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Ordering takeout this Thanksgiving? Make sure to earn extra rewards in the process. (Photo by insta_photos/Shutterstock)

Some of us prefer to order takeout or food delivery over the holidays — and it’s easy to see why. It’s stress-free and saves a ton of time, and you don’t risk accidentally burning a turkey. Plus, with the traditional large family gatherings off the menu for many this season, takeout may simply be an easier solution than going all-out on a massive traditional holiday meal just for one or two people.

If you fall into this camp, put your dining and takeout purchases on your Capital One Savor card. It earns a huge 4% cash back on dining purchases, which is an excellent return. If you have the Capital One SavorOne card, this can also be a good choice as it earns 3% back on dining purchases. In our experience, the dining category is broad and includes everything from takeout and delivery to a meal ordered from the nicest restaurant in town.

Related: Hungry for miles? Use these tips to maximize earnings on your next food delivery order

Earn 5x miles or 5% cash back with Uber Eats

Capital One and Uber Eats announced a partnership that offers exclusive perks to Capital One cardholders.

Until Jan. 31, 2021, Capital One Venture and VentureOne cardholders earn 5x miles per dollar spent on qualifying orders with Uber Eats, while Capital One Savor and SavorOne cardholders earn 5% cash back. The cost of food, delivery or service fees, tax and tip are all eligible for bonus earning.

You can take advantage of this promotion by simply adding your Capital One card to your Uber account and using it to pay for your orders with Uber Eats. The bonus miles or cash back will appear in your account one to two billing cycles after you make the purchase.

This is an excellent return on food delivery and restaurant takeout spending, so use it if you’re ordering food over the holiday to rack up extra rewards. You can use the bonus rewards to help fund your holiday shopping or take a much-needed vacation in 2021 — the choice is yours.

Related: Here are 12 food delivery promo codes to help you save money on your next meal

Redeem Capital One miles for delivery and takeout

Through April 30, 2021, Capital One is letting Venture and VentureOne cardholders redeem miles for restaurant delivery, takeout and eligible streaming service purchases. These redemptions process at the same rate as covering travel purchases — 1 cent per point — for the length of the promotion.

This means you can use 5,000 miles to cover a $50 takeout order or $50 toward eligible streaming service purchases.

Gallery: 40 Easy Ways to Save for Holiday Shopping (GOBankingRates)

This can be a huge benefit, depending on how often you order food delivery or if you’re a big streaming fan, and it’s an excellent way to redeem your rewards around the holidays if you’re not traveling as much as you used to. Just charge your restaurant order or eligible streaming service purchase to your Venture or VentureOne card and then redeem your miles to cover a purchase online within 90 days.

Related: Take a trip around the country with these famous foods delivered straight to your door

Maximize Black Friday and Cyber Monday gift purchases

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Capital One offers a number of ways to save on your Black Friday and Cyber Monday purchases. (Photo by Kite_rin/Shutterstock)

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are excellent times to find deals on gifts for others and, of course, yourself. That said, make sure you’re using the right Capital One credit card to pay for your purchases.

Again, those seeking travel rewards are best off with a Venture card. You’ll earn 2x miles per dollar on all your purchases, so it’s easy to rack up miles on your next shopping spree. Those seeking cash back have a good Capital One option too. The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card earns 1.5% cash back on all purchases. This can be an excellent way to earn rewards from the cost of your gift purchases wherever you shop. And since it earns the same amount of cash back everywhere, you don’t have to think about which card to use.

Related: Best credit cards to use for Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping

Walmart shoppers should use this card instead

If you plan on doing your Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping at Walmart, use the Capital One Walmart Rewards® Card instead. This card earns a substantial 5% back on Walmart.com purchases, including online pick-up and delivery purchases. In addition, you’ll earn 2% back on purchases made in Walmart stores and on fuel purchases at Walmart and Murphy USA fuel stations, travel and at restaurants.

This is an excellent all-around cash-back card for Walmart shoppers. You can maximize your earnings by always ordering on Walmart.com instead of shopping in the store. To put this into perspective, buying a $500 television on Walmart.com could net $25 in cash back. You’ll reap even more rewards if you do all your holiday shopping on Walmart.com.

Related: Walmart set to release its Amazon Prime competitor

Save even more with Capital One Shopping

Capital One also has Capital One Shopping. This browser extension is available to anyone and is free to use. Capital One Shopping automatically searches for lower prices for anything you purchase online, and you can even track prices and wait for the best available deal on products you don’t need immediately.

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(Image courtesy of Amazon)

Capital One Shopping will also automatically use all available coupon codes when you make an online purchase. This has saved me hundreds of dollars in the past, and is a great way to ensure you’re getting a great price for everything you purchase online.

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(Image courtesy of Macy’s)

Plus, you can earn extra rewards when using Capital One Shopping at thousands of online merchants. The rewards you’ll earn varies, but in my experience, ranges from 1% to 20% of your total purchase.

You can earn rewards by clicking through the Capital One Shopping portal before you shop or by clicking the Activate button in the extension. Your rewards can be redeemed for gift cards at top merchants like Walmart®, Nordstrom® and GameStop®.

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(Image courtesy of GoPro)

You do not have to hold a Capital One account to use the Capital One Shopping extension to save money on Black Friday and Cyber Monday or throughout the year. Anyone can head to Capital One’s Shopping website to install the browser extension on your favorite web browser to start saving money immediately. Trust us: You’ll be happy you did.

Apply your credit card rewards when you shop at Amazon.com and when you check out with PayPal

Capital One allows cardholders to redeem their miles and cash back on Amazon.com and through the PayPal Pay with Rewards feature at millions of online stores, including Apple® and Target®. Link your rewards card to your Amazon.com or PayPal® account and seamlessly apply rewards to purchases when you check out.

For miles, you’ll get 0.8 cents in value per point. On the cash back side of things, you’ll get the same value when redeeming rewards on Amazon and with PayPal as with anything else.

Related: Capital One introduces Amazon Shop with Points for select cards

Apply for a new card and you could earn a limited-time sign-up bonus

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Earn bonus miles when you open a new Capital One credit card. (Photo by John Gribben for The Points Guy)

One of the best ways to earn extra rewards this holiday season is by opening a new Capital One credit card and earning a limited-time sign-up bonus.

This is a one-time bonus you’ll earn after spending a certain amount of money when you open an eligible new card. Right now is a great time to apply if you have extra expenses coming up through the end of the year that can help you hit the minimum spending requirements that much faster.

Most Capital One cards offer a solid bonus — here’s a look at some of the available offers:

• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: For a limited-time earn 100,000 bonus miles when you spend $20,000 on purchases in the first 12 months from account opening, or still earn 50,000 miles if you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months. This is the biggest-ever bonus for this card and the offer ends on Dec. 14, 2020.
• Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card: Earn a one-time $300 cash bonus once you spend $3,000 on purchases within three months from account opening.
• Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card: Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within three months from account opening.
• Capital One Walmart Rewards Card: New applicants who apply for the card on Walmart.com through Dec. 1, 2020, and in-store at Walmart through Dec. 26, 2020, can earn a $50 bonus after spending $300 on purchases anywhere the card is accepted in the first three months after approval. Remember, this card also awards 5% on order at Walmart.com.
• Capital One SavorOne: New cardholders can earn a one-time $200 cash bonus once they spend $500 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.

Whichever card you pick, you’ll earn valuable rewards. Make sure to check out our complete guide to maximizing Capital One miles if you open a Venture card. We’ll show you how to get the best travel redemptions, and more.

Related: Review of the Capital One Venture Rewards credit card

Bottom line

With the holidays rapidly approaching, it’s time to make a plan for saving money and earning the most rewards on your purchases.  From rewards-earning credit cards to Capital One Shopping, there are a ton of ways to save within the Capital One lineup.

Feature photo by Hananeko_Studio/Shutterstock