Wells Fargo Rewards Program: Everything You Need to Know

Wells Fargo is one of the newest players in the credit card points and miles world. It began adding its first transfer partners to its rewards program in 2024 and now boasts a total of eight, including airlines from all three major alliances.

Using Wells Fargo points, you can book Oneworld award flights through British Airways Executive Club, SkyTeam award flights through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and Star Alliance award fares through Avianca LifeMiles, just to name a few.

And with a lucrative range of credit cards on offer, each with unique bonus spending categories and low annual fees, it may be worthwhile to consider adding a Wells Fargo credit card to your wallet.

Here’s a full rundown of the Wells Fargo Rewards program, from earning points to redeeming them, and everything in between.

How to Earn Wells Fargo Rewards

Wells Fargo has a solid range of credit cards that offer different benefits and earning potential.

Currently, there are two cards that earn transferable Wells Fargo rewards points: the Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card and Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card.

Points earned using these cards are fully transferable to all of Wells Fargo’s transfer partners.

Additionally, Wells Fargo offers a range of cashback credit cards, some of which offer competitive earning rates on a range of spending categories. If you hold both a points-earning and cashback card with Wells Fargo, you can convert your cashback earnings into points, enabling you to redeem them with transfer partners.

Keep in mind that Wells Fargo also offers a range of co-branded credit cards with OneKey Rewards and Choice Privileges. However, these cards earn rewards with the specific partner loyalty program rather than with Wells Fargo. Likewise, the Bilt Mastercard® is issued by Wells Fargo in conjunction with Bilt, but earns Bilt points that can be used with Bilt’s transfer partners and through the Bilt Travel Portal.

Therefore, we’ve left these cards out of our analysis as they don’t earn Wells Fargo Rewards points.

Here’s an overview of Wells Fargo’s travel rewards credit cards.

Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card is Wells Fargo’s premium rewards card.

It comes with an annual fee of $95 in exchange for lucrative earning rates and strong insurance perks.

You’ll benefit from high coverage limits with automatic trip cancellation and interruption insurance, worldwide common carrier accident travel insurance, lost baggage insurance and cell phone protection.

Among its bonus spending categories, it offers a strong rate of 3X points per dollar spent on restaurants and other travel purchases (excluding airlines and hotels—they earn 4X and 5X points, respectively). These rates make it compete with some of the best cards offered by American Express—Capital One and Chase.

Here’s an overview of what the card has on offer:

• 5X points on hotel purchases
• 4X points on airline purchases
• 3X points on restaurants and other travel purchases
• 1X points on all other purchases
• Annual statement credit of $50 for airline purchases (minimum purchase requirement of $50)
• No foreign transaction fees
• Common carrier accident travel insurance of up to $1,000,000
• Lost baggage reimbursement of up to $3,000 per trip
• Trip cancellation and interruption protection of up to $15,000 for lodging, flights and activities if the trip is canceled for a covered reason
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Cell phone protection of up to $1,000 with a maximum of two claims per 12 months, for damage, theft or unintended separation, subject to a $25 deductible

Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card

The Wells Fargo Autograph Card is the sibling card of the Autograph Journey Card, with a $0 annual fee.

It offers some of the best earning rates seen on any travel rewards card, earning an unlimited rate of 3X points across a diverse range of bonus spending categories, from streaming services and transit to gas and EV charging station purchases and more.

This makes it a strong asset to have in your wallet when it comes to covering purchases that may lie outside of typical bonus spending categories, particularly as it doesn’t cost you anything to hold it.

The card also offers an auto rental collision damage waiver and cell phone protection.

Here’s a complete rundown of what the Autograph Card has on offer:

• 3X points on dining at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
• 3X points on transit purchases
• 3X points on travel purchases
• 3X points on phone plan providers including landlines
• 3X points on popular streaming services, including cable and other pay television, digital goods, books, movies, music and subscription services
• 3X points on gas, including EV charging stations
• 1X points on all other purchases
• No foreign transaction fees
• Cell phone protection of up to $600 with a maximum of two claims per 12 months, for damage or theft, subject to a $25 deductible
• Auto rental collision damage waiver

Wells Fargo Reflect® Card

The Wells Fargo Reflect Card is a competitive balance transfer card offering low introductory APR.

It has a $0 annual fee and is the perfect card for those pursuing a debt consolidation strategy.

While it doesn’t earn any rewards on spending, it does offer cell phone protection of up to $600 with a maximum of two claims per 12 months, for damage or theft, subject to a $25 deductible.

If you’re looking to consolidate your debt or gain a time advantage with low introductory APR, this could be the card for you. However, keep in mind that you won’t earn any rewards on your spending using this card.

Wells Fargo Attune℠ Card

The Wells Fargo Attune Card offers 4% cash back on a range of bonus spending categories you won’t typically find on other cards for a $0 annual fee.

You can earn 4% cash back on sports, recreation and entertainment purchases, self-care purchases and even planet-friendly purchases.

These include purchases such as gardening and floral stores, pet supplies, boarding and grooming, massage, spa, gym and salon spending, public transportation, EV charging and second-hand store purchases, among many others.

The card thus offers a unique opportunity to earn 4% cash back on non-traditional purchases. If you hold an Autograph Card, you can transfer these earnings into points, enabling you to rack up your points balance and transfer them to Wells Fargo’s airline and hotel partners for maximum value.

Here’s an overview of what the Attune Card has on offer:

• 4% cash back on select sports, recreation and entertainment purchases (including gardening and floral stores, campgrounds, sports supplies, movie theaters, live shows and sporting events, amusement parks, tourist attractions, and pet supplies, boarding, and grooming)
• 4% cash back on self-care purchases (including gym memberships, massages, hair and nail salons)
• 4% cash back on planet-friendly purchases (including public transportation, electric vehicle charging stations and select second-hand stores)
• 1% cash back on all other purchases
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Cell phone protection of up to $600 with a maximum of two claims per 12 months, for damage or theft, subject to a $25 deductible

Wells Fargo Active Cash® Credit Card

The Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit Card offers a lucrative baseline rewards rate of 2% cash back on all purchases.

With a $0 annual fee, this is an excellent card to keep in your wallet to cover expenses that don’t fall into typical bonus spending categories.

You can convert these earnings into transferable points if you hold an Autograph Card, making them even more lucrative.

Here’s an overview of what the Active Cash Credit Card offers:

• 2% cash back on all purchases
• Cell phone protection of up to $600 with a maximum of two claims per 12 months, for damage or theft, subject to a $25 deductible
• Auto rental collision damage waiver

Signify Business Cash℠ Card by Wells Fargo

If you’re a small business owner, the Signify Business Cash Card by Wells Fargo offers you the opportunity to earn an unlimited rate of 2% cash back on all your spending.

This rivals other business cards, such as the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, whose 2X points earnings are capped at $50,000 per calendar year (1X points thereafter) (see rates and fees).

The card offers pay-as-you-go rates for Priority Pass Select™ lounges, however this means you still have to pay to enter.

Here’s an overview of the card’s benefits:

• 2% cash back on all business spending
• Employee cards available at no additional cost
• Pay-as-you-go fee schedule for Priority Pass Select™ lounges
• Common carrier accident insurance of up to $250,000

How to Redeem Wells Fargo Rewards

There are a wealth of ways that you can redeem Wells Fargo rewards. However, the two best options are booking through the Wells Fargo portal and transferring your points to Wells Fargo’s airline and hotel transfer partners.

Let’s take a look at your options.

Wells Fargo Rewards Travel Portal

The Wells Fargo travel portal enables you to book flights, hotels, car rentals and more using your rewards.

When using the travel portal, the price in points is tied directly to the cash cost, and your points are worth 1 cent apiece. That means a $500 airfare would require 50,000 points, while a $1,000 cruise would cost you 100,000 points.

Booking with points through the Wells Fargo travel portal enables you to find greater award availability. It can also be a good idea when equivalent cash prices are running low, enabling you to use points to save you on out-of-pocket costs. Likewise, when booking airfare through the portal, your booking will be treated as a cash booking, enabling you to earn frequent flyer miles on your fare.

Transfer Partners

The number one way to redeem your Wells Fargo points for maximum value is to transfer them to Wells Fargo’s suite of airline and hotel transfer partners.

Wells Fargo has the following transfer partners:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Choice Privileges (hotel partner)
• Iberia Plus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• Virgin Red

You can transfer your Wells Fargo Rewards points to airline partners at a 1:1 transfer ratio and to Choice Privileges at a 1:2 ratio.

You could transfer your Wells Fargo Rewards points to Air France-KLM Flying Blue and take advantage of its many sweet-spot award redemptions on its own and partner SkyTeam alliance flights. Despite its dynamic award pricing, you can still get great value on award flights between the United States and Europe, as well as partner-operated flights to and within Africa. You can also use monthly Flying Blue Promo Rewards to score even greater value on your award bookings.

British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia all earn Avios but have their own unique sweet spots when it comes to award bookings, particularly for flights between the U.S. and Europe, making them valuable transfer partners for Wells Fargo cardholders. They also enable you to book flights on Avios partner airlines including Finnair and Qatar Airways.

Avianca LifeMiles is a solid rewards program when it comes to booking competitive Star Alliance award fares between the U.S. and South America, Asia and Europe. Avianca doesn’t pass on carrier-imposed surcharges, which can save you hundreds of dollars on long haul business- and first-class award fares. It remains one of the best programs for booking Lufthansa award fares.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is another valuable transfer partner of Wells Fargo that offers competitive pricing on its own and partner-operated award flights. You can book cheap Delta, Air France and KLM award fares through Virgin, enabling you to avoid the pitfalls of dynamic pricing during high periods of demand.

Virgin Red enables you to book a wider variety of award travel, from cruises to excursions and more. You can link your Virgin Red and Virgin Atlantic accounts to pool your points together, making for more flexibility come booking time.

While Wells Fargo may have Choice Privileges as its only hotel rewards program, it still offers great value for your points, with a 1:2 transfer ratio. Choice Privileges boasts a portfolio of 22 distinct brands with more than 7,500 hotels spread across 40 countries. It offers everything from budget-friendly chains like the Comfort Inn and Quality Inn to upscale chains such as Radisson and Cambria Hotels.

Redeem as Cash Back

You can redeem your rewards as physical cash back from a Wells Fargo ATM if you hold a Wells Fargo debit or ATM card.

You can withdraw your cash back in increments of $20 (2,000 points).

Alternatively, you can request your cash back as a paper check or as a deposit or credit to a qualifying Wells Fargo account, in increments of $25 or 2,500 points.

Redeem for Gift Cards

You can redeem your Wells Fargo rewards for 1 cent apiece toward gift cards.

However, given the inflexibility of gift cards, you’re usually better off pursuing an alternative redemption option.

Redeem as a Statement Credit

If you’re interested purely in offsetting the cost of your spending, you can redeem your Wells Fargo points as cash back toward your balance.

You can pay your statement by using your rewards, however you’ll need enough points or cash back to cover the full transaction amount you’re looking to pay off.

When redeemed in this way, your rewards will be worth 1 cent apiece.

Online Shopping

Pay With Rewards enables you to use your Wells Fargo rewards to pay for online purchases with participating merchants.

Generally, you’d be better off covering the transaction as a statement credit or transferring your points to Wells Fargo’s transfer partners, as Pay With Rewards is restricted to participating merchants and offers suboptimal value for your rewards.

Bottom Line

While it may not yet have the clout of American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards, Wells Fargo Rewards is a growing credit card loyalty program that has potential to become a heavyweight.

With a unique array of cards that offer a wide range of bonus spending categories, low annual fees to match and a growing list of airline and hotel transfer partners, a Wells Fargo credit card could be well worth a spot in your wallet.