Wells Fargo Attune℠ Card review: Promoting wellness with uncapped rewards

The no-annual-fee Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is a close competitor for entertainment and streaming spending, earning an unlimited 3 percent cash back on these categories (See Rates & Fees). You can also earn 8 percent cash back when booking eligible sports, music or dining through Capital One Entertainment. However, that can be trickier than booking directly with the Wells Fargo Attune for an unlimited 4 percent cash back.

The Savor Cash also earns unlimited 3 percent cash back in traditional everyday categories like dining and grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart and Target) and 5 percent cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, making it a well-rounded card. The Wells Fargo Attune earns higher rates on many categories outside these areas, which means the more valuable of the two comes down to your spending habits. 

If your focus is on initial value, the Savor Cash’s value is twice as large as the Wells Fargo Attune for the same amount of spending. You’ll also get a longer intro APR term on purchases while covering balance transfers, giving the Savor Cash the edge as a primary card.

If you’re looking for a card to start with, you’ll find the no-annual-fee Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express a better choice than the Attune. The Wells Fargo Attune Card focuses on unconventional categories, meaning it works better as a secondary card once you’ve covered the main spending areas. The Blue Cash Everyday covers the traditional spending areas well, offering 3 percent cash back at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations and U.S. online retailers on up to $6,000 in each category per year (then 1 percent).

The Blue Cash Everyday ventures into niche areas with statement credits for the Disney Bundle and Home Chef but doesn’t match the wide range covered by the Wells Fargo Attune Card.

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card is a travel-centric card that earns 5X points at hotels, 4X points on airlines, and 3X points on other travel and restaurants. The Autograph Journey also has a welcome offer worth around $600, which can jumpstart your travel ambitions. You can combine these points with the cash rewards earned from the Wells Fargo Attune Card, making an excellent card combination that earns significant rates with various merchants.

According to Bankrate's latest valuations, Wells Fargo Rewards are worth around 1.0 cents per point. You can also combine and redeem points from both cards for travel or transfer them to Wells Fargo’s transfer partners, which can further boost the value of your Wells Fargo Attune Card.

If your strategy is focused primarily on earning cash back, you’ll find the Wells Fargo Active Cash Card an excellent partner for the Wells Fargo Attune. The Active Cash is one of the top flat-rate cash back cards, earning an unlimited 2 percent cash rewards on purchases. This ensures you’ll get a solid earning rate for anything that the wide net of the Wells Fargo Attune doesn’t cover.

Whether you choose sporting events, theme parks, concerts, or art, you’ll earn high cash rewards on purchases that focus on your enjoyment.

You'll earn top rates at wellness centers and on eligible fitness activities to keep your body, mind, and appearance in the best possible state.

This card provides some of the best reward rates for using transportation options that are more environmentally friendly than driving a car.

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2022 was $72,967 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

Some of the major spending categories that contribute towards the annual spend include:

• Groceries: $5,700
• Dining out: $3,600
• Entertainment: $2,400
• Gas: $3,100
• Apparel and services: $1,900

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 22 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value.

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. 

We break down these tiers as follows:

• Tier 1 has less than standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits. 
• Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges. 
• Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection. 
• Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs. 
• Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.

To have the best chance of approval, you’ll want to have good credit or better. A FICO Score of 740 or higher or a VantageScore of 661 or higher is considered a good credit score. If you aren’t sure, here’s how you can check your credit score.

While there is no limit on how many credit cards you can have, Wells Fargo generally allows you to open one card per six months. You’ll also need to wait 16 months after receiving a welcome offer to be eligible for another. However, personal and business cards are considered separate, meaning you can get one of each in that timeframe.

In keeping with the overall theme of planet-friendly transactions, the Wells Fargo Attune Card is made from recycled plastic.