Your Complete Guide to Wells Fargo Rewards

Wells Fargo Rewards has had a recent glow-up, adding buzzworthy travel credit cards and a handful of transfer partners to its in-house rewards program. 

Although it’s smaller than rewards programs from competitors like Chase and Amex, Wells Fargo Rewards can still help you earn free flights and hotel nights through your everyday spending.

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How Does Wells Fargo Rewards Work?

You can earn Wells Fargo Rewards as cashback or rewards points by making purchases with Wells Fargo Rewards credit cards. 

Rewards can then be transferred to other travel loyalty programs, redeemed for travel via Wells Fargo’s portal, or used for a statement credit, among other options.

READ MORE: How To Use Credit Card Points for Travel

How To Earn Wells Fargo Rewards

Wells Fargo issues 11 personal and business credit cards, five of which earn Wells Fargo rewards:

• The Active Cash and Signify Business cards are no-annual-fee cashback cards with strong base rewards rates on all purchases.  
• The Attune card is a no-annual-fee cashback card that rewards spending in niche purchase categories that other credit cards ignore, like pet care, summer camps, and fabric shops.
• The Autograph card is a no-annual-fee travel rewards card with elevated rewards rates in several routine purchase categories, like restaurants, gas, and streaming services.
• The Autograph Journey is a travel rewards card with exceptional hotel and airline rewards rates and a moderate annual fee.

All five cards offer lucrative welcome offers, and rates for spending after the welcome period ends are competitive with some of the other best cashback, travel rewards, and business credit cards on the market.

Aside from its five in-house rewards cards, Wells Fargo also issues co-branded rewards credit cards, like the Bilt Mastercard®. But those cards’ rewards belong to separate loyalty programs.

How To Use Wells Fargo Rewards

Your Wells Fargo Rewards account is created automatically when you open a Wells Fargo Rewards credit card. 

Rewards usually appear in your account within 2-3 business days of making a card purchase, but they won’t be redeemable until the day after your card’s billing cycle ends. 

You can make your redemption requests on Wells Fargo’s website or mobile app or by calling Wells Fargo’s rewards center at 1-877-517-1358.

Statement credits, cash, and checks

Rewards can be redeemed for:

• Credit against a Wells Fargo mortgage, loan, or credit card purchase 
• Deposits into a Wells Fargo checking or savings account
• Physical checks delivered by mail
• Cash withdrawals at Wells Fargo ATMs (if you have a Wells Fargo ATM card or debit card)

These redemption paths are available whether you’ve earned cash rewards from Wells Fargo cashback cards or points from the Autograph cards, which get a cashback-like value of one cent per point. 

This is comparable to the value that Chase Ultimate Rewards® get when they’re redeemed for statement credits. American Express Membership Rewards® points, however, get only 0.6 cents per point when redeemed for statement credits.

Gift cards

Rewards can be redeemed for gift cards with major brands like Best Buy, Gap, and McDonald’s.

They’re typically redeemable for a value of one cent per point (10,000 points for a $100 gift card), but promotions can increase the value you get for select gift cards, like in the example below.

Merchandise

You can exchange rewards for products offered by participating online merchants, like Apple, Bed Bath & Beyond, and adidas. 

But these redemptions sometimes give values of less than one cent per point. 

It usually makes more sense to pay for merchandise with your Wells Fargo credit card, earn rewards from that purchase, and then request a statement credit afterward.

Donations

Rewards can be converted into donations to the American Red Cross, currently the only nonprofit that partners with Wells Fargo Rewards. 

Alternatively, you can transfer rewards to another Wells Fargo Rewards customer or deposit them into someone else’s Wells Fargo checking or savings account.

Wells Fargo travel portal

Rewards can be exchanged for flights, hotel stays, rental cars, and other travel activities in Wells Fargo’s travel portal. 

But we generally advise against booking travel through third-party travel platforms, including the Wells Fargo portal, for a few reasons:

1. The pricing/rewards required for travel services may be higher in a travel portal than what you’d pay when booking directly from an airline or hotel.
2. Portals may not list every travel service that matches your needs. For example, low-cost airlines like Southwest and Ryanair are excluded from the Wells Fargo portal.
3. Booking travel through a “middleman” like Wells Fargo can lead to customer service nightmares if your travel plans are canceled or you need to adjust your reservation.

READ MORE: How To Use the Wells Fargo Travel Portal

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Wells Fargo transfer partners

Transferring points to a partner loyalty program and redeeming them for flights or hotel nights is the best way to maximize the value of your credit card spending.

Points earned from the Autograph and Autograph Journey cards can be transferred to the following six airline loyalty programs and one hotel loyalty program. 

All points transfer at a 1:1 ratio, except for Choice Privileges, which benefit from a 1:2 transfer ratio.

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Choice Privileges
• Air France and KLM Flying Blue 
• Iberia Plus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

These transfers are advantageous if you’re a customer of one or more of those travel providers or other airlines within their airline alliances. 

But it’s a much smaller transfer network than those offered by the big competing credit card rewards programs, and all of these transfers are provided by at least one competitor program.

Unlike points earned from the two Autograph cards, the cashback earned from the Active Cash, Attune, and Signifiy Business cards can’t be automatically transferred to those seven partner loyalty programs. 

But there’s a workaround: If you have the Autograph or Autograph Journey, you can pool those points with cashback from the Active Cash, Attune, and/or Signify Business cards and transfer the combined rewards to partner loyalty programs.

READ MORE: How To Travel for Free with Credit Cards

What Are Wells Fargo Rewards Points’ Value?

The base value of a Wells Fargo Rewards point is one cent. 

But you can increase the value you get for your points by transferring them to a partner loyalty program and redeeming them for an expensive flight or hotel stay that requires relatively few points. 

On the other hand, some merchandise redemptions give a value of less than one cent per point, so you should always calculate the value you’ll get for your points before redeeming them. 

If you’ll get a value of one cent per point or less, save your points until you find a better redemption.

Here’s a quick look at how Wells Fargo Rewards compares with its chief competitors:

	Number of Transfer Partners	Travel Portal Redemption Value	Statement Credit Value
Wells Fargo Rewards	7	$0.01 per point	$0.01 per point
Chase Ultimate Rewards®	14	$0.01 to $0.015 per point	$0.01 per point
American Express Membership Rewards®	21	$0.007 to $0.01 per point	$0.006 per point
Capital One miles	15+	$0.01 per mile	$0.005 per mile
Citi ThankYou® Rewards	19	$0.01 per point	$0.01 per point

FAQs

Do Wells Fargo rewards expire?

Wells Fargo rewards don’t expire if you keep at least one Wells Fargo Rewards credit card account open. 

Closing all your Wells Fargo Rewards credit cards, however, can lead to your rewards being forfeited. 

How long does it take to redeem Wells Fargo rewards?

The time it takes to redeem Wells Fargo rewards varies by redemption path. 

It can take over a month until rewards earned from a purchase are available for redemption. They can then be redeemed immediately as a cash withdrawal from an ATM if you have a Wells Fargo ATM or debit card. 

Statement credits, however, can take up to seven business days to post to your account.

TL;DR: Should You Join Wells Fargo Rewards?

It makes sense to apply for Wells Fargo Rewards credit cards and join the Wells Fargo Rewards program if you:

• Fly or lodge with at least one Wells Fargo Rewards partner travel company
• Prefer credit cards with a low or no annual fee
• Are open to using multiple credit cards

But there are other worthwhile credit card rewards programs to consider, so take a look at which program will give you the best value for your spending and travel habits. 

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