Guide to Wells Fargo Rewards

Wells Fargo has been around for a while, but their credit cards haven’t offered anything particularly special until the last couple of years. With the addition of the Autograph cards, Wells Fargo introduced the ability to transfer points to partners. This makes Wells Fargo worth a look for those looking to earn more points and miles.

Wells Fargo has gotten even more interesting lately by adding several new transfer partners with strong transfer rates.

If you’re curious about Wells Fargo, this guide is for you! We’ll look at all the ways to earn and redeem Wells Fargo Rewards Points to help you make the most of this program.

What Makes Wells Fargo Interesting

Cards with little to no annual fee

Most of the cashback and point earning cards from Wells Fargo have no annual fee.

The highest annual fee is just $95 on the Autograph Journey℠ Card– and that card comes with a $50 credit towards an airline purchase to help offset the fee. The credit applies to any airline purchase of $50 or more, so it’s very easy to use.

Strong Earning Rates

It’s rare to find cards that offer high earning rates without a high annual fee, but Wells Fargo has some strong contenders.

• Signify Business Cash® Card: 2x on everything with no annual fee.
• Autograph Journey℠ Card: 5x on hotels, 4x for airlines, and 3x points on other travel and dining for a $95 annual fee.
• Autograph® Card: 3x points for restaurants, streaming services and phone plans, gas stations, travel, and transit with no annual fee.
• Attune℠ Card: 4x on a wide variety of categories, including “self care” (gyms, spas, barber shops, wellness, etc), select sports, recreation and entertainment (includes gardening, floral, pet care, movie theaters, live events, and more), and “impact purchases” which includes thrift stores, public transportation, EV charging, and more.

Strong Transfer Ratios to Hotels

Wells Fargo offers some of the highest transfer ratios to both Choice and Wyndham.

You can transfer Wells Fargo Rewards points at a rate of 1:2 to both of these programs. For every 1,000 points you transfer, you get 2,000 points to use on hotels booked through Choice Privileges or Wyndham Rewards.

Point Sharing

You can combine Rewards points with cashback, and you can share points with other cardholders. Not many banks offer the ability to share points anymore, so this is a nice perk.

Drawbacks to Consider

Travel protections aren’t as good as those offered by many other cards

Travel protection benefits include things like trip cancellation coverage, baggage delay, rental car coverage, and other insurance.

Wells Fargo does offer some travel insurance on some of their cards, but the policies aren’t as strong as those on other cards, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® card.

Limited number of transfer partners

Although they’ve been adding more over time, Wells Fargo still has a limited number of transfer partners when compared to other programs.

To date, they haven’t offered any transfer bonuses either.

Sign Up Offers Tend to Be Low

When you sign up for a new card and meet the minimum spend, you can earn a sign up bonus of extra points. Historically, the sign up bonuses that Wells Fargo offers are not as high as those offered by other banks like Chase and Capital One.

No Referral Bonuses

Many banks offer a bonus when you refer friends and family and they open their own card. Unfortunately, Wells Fargo does not offer this type of referral bonus.

Cards to Earn Wells Fargo Rewards

The easiest way to earn a lot of Wells Fargo Rewards points is to sign up for a new credit card offering a welcome bonus. Some of the cards offered by Wells Fargo earn Rewards points, and some earn cashback. If you have both types of cards, you can combine your cashback points with your Rewards points.

Cards That Earn Wells Fargo Rewards:

• Wells Fargo Autograph® Card
• Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card

Cards that Earn Cashback:

• Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card
• Wells Fargo Attune℠ Card
• Wells Fargo Signify Business Cash® Card

Application Tips

You are more likely to be approved if you have an existing relationship with Wells Fargo. An easy way to establish a relationship is to open a checking account. You can often earn a cash bonus for opening a new account with many banks, including Wells Fargo.

According to Wells Fargo, you can only open a new credit card with them once every six months. (Business cards and personal cards are counted separately, so it’s possible to open one business card and one personal card within a six month period.) Some people report being approved for more than one card in six months, so this doesn’t appear to be a hard and fast rule.

You’re more likely to be approved if you have opened fewer than five personal cards in the last 24 months. This is similar to the 5/24 rule from Chase.

Other Ways to Earn Wells Fargo Rewards

Put Everyday expenses on your Wells Fargo card

You can continue earning Wells Fargo Rewards points by putting regular spend on your cards even after you earn the initial welcome bonus. Wells Fargo has some strong earning rates in several different categories on most of their cards. You can rack up a lot of points by using the right card when spending in those categories.

For example, use the Attune card to earn 4x points on things like getting a haircut, going to the movies, and shopping at thrift stores.

Use the Autograph card to earn 3x on eating out, gas stations, and your phone bill.

Wells Fargo Travel

You can earn extra points by booking travel, including airfare, hotels, and rental cars through the Wells Fargo Travel portal.

Combining Points

If you hold multiple cards that earn Wells Fargo Rewards, those points are automatically combined in one place in your account. This is different from some other banks, where the points are held on the individual card where you earn them.

With Wells Fargo, points are already combined, which makes it easier to use all of your points together without taking any extra steps to combine them.

Note: If you have a co-branded card from Wells Fargo, like the Choice Privileges card, those points can only be used in that particular program (in this case, Choice Privileges). They don’t combine with your Rewards points.

Combining Rewards Points with Cashback

Wells Fargo allows you to combine your cashback with your Rewards points, meaning your cashback can easily turn into transferable points.

Transferring points to partners can help you get even more value out of your points.

Points Sharing

Wells Fargo allows you to share points with another person for free. Not many programs allow points sharing anymore, so this is a nice perk! As long as you both have a credit card that earns Wells Fargo Rewards, you can share points with anyone, at any time. Even better, there is no limit to the number of points you can share.

How to Use Wells Fargo Rewards

One of the best ways to get outsize value for your points is to transfer them to partners. Wells Fargo offers several airline and hotel partners where you can transfer your points.

You can transfer points to partners in increments of 1. This is a nice perk, since most banks require you to transfer points in increments of 1,000 or at least 100.

If you need 18,165 points, for example, most banks would require you to transfer 19,000 points, but with Wells Fargo, you can transfer exactly 18,165 points. That saves you from having to transfer extra points you don’t plan to use with that program.

Transfer Partners

Transfer Partner Sweet Spots

Wells Fargo transfers 1:2 to both Choice and Wyndham. This is a strong rate, which is higher than any other bank offers to either program.

Choice

Choice Hotels is often overlooked as a points program because it has a lot of lower-end properties in the US. But it actually has a number of great properties in Europe.

Also – Choice has a number of Ascend Collection hotels, which are often independent, historic, or boutique hotels that partner with Choice Hotels.

Most hotel chains only allow you to book a standard hotel room with points. Some offer the option to use more points to upgrade to a suite. With Choice, though, the number of points charged is the same no matter the room type. So if a property has larger suites or even 2-4 bedroom villas available, they cost the same as a 1 room hotel room! This makes these properties great options for families.

Get access to higher-end independent hotels within the Preferred Hotels & Resorts network at competitive rates. We have a map for Preferred Hotels with Choice Points, too!

Choice also has a partnership with Bluegreen Vacations, which has timeshare properties that usually include a full kitchen and separate living room. These are included in the Ascend Collection.

Wyndham

Wyndham’s portfolio spans a range of hotel and resort properties, primarily in the US, with award nights starting at 7,500 points, but more commonly priced between 15,000 to 30,000 points per night.

One of the things I like about Wyndham is the ability to book larger rooms, including multiple bedrooms. Additionally, if you’re looking for all-inclusive options, they have some available.

Wyndham Card Benefit: Wyndham credit card holders receive a 10% discount on award bookings, reducing your total point costs even more.

You could book this studio apartment at the Beekman Tower for 30,000 Wyndham points per night — which is just 15,000 Wells Fargo Rewards points after the 1:2 transfer.

Aer Lingus

You can fly roundtrip to Ireland on Aer Lingus from just 26,000 points and around $290.

Nonstop flights from BOS, BDL, JFK, EWR, PHL, CLE, YYZ, IAD, ORD, and MSP to DUB cost just 13,000 miles each way for off peak dates.

Points Value Calculator

Other Ways to Use Wells Fargo Rewards

Redeem for Cashback

You can redeem your points as cashback in the form of a statement credit to your Wells Fargo card or to a Wells Fargo checking account. Cashback redemptions don’t have to be tied to a particular purchase or spending category (such as travel). You can redeem your points for cashback at any time.

When you use the “Redeem for Purchases” feature, your points can be applied to a purchase to essentially erase the cost of the purchase from your card. You can do this for any purchase, as long as you have enough Rewards points to cover the entire purchase.

Travel Portal

Points can be redeemed to book travel directly in the Wells Fargo Rewards portal. Points are worth a flat rate of 1 cent per point when redeemed this way.

For example, if you want to book a $100 hotel room, that would cost 10,000 points. A $300 flight would cost 30,000 points.

Pay with Rewards

You can use your rewards to pay when you check out online at participating merchants. Points are worth 1 cent per point when redeemed this way.

Because you don’t earn rewards when you redeem points, this generally isn’t a good use of your points. If you want to use rewards to cover a purchase, you’ll get better value by putting the purchase on your card to earn points first. Then you can still redeem points for cashback to cover the purchase.

Gift Cards

You can use your points to purchase gift cards through the Wells Fargo Rewards Portal at a rate of 1 cent per point. You would need 1,000 points for a $10 gift card.