Best Wells Fargo credit cards for July 2024

For people who want the opportunity to earn cash rewards on all of their purchases, the Wells Fargo Active Cash is the ideal choice. This card offers one of the highest flat cash rewards rates available, allowing you to earn on all types of purchases without needing to track bonus categories. 

One of the more recent additions to the Wells Fargo card portfolio is the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card. This card earns high rewards rates on both travel and in one of the average person’s key everyday spending categories: restaurants. However, while you can earn and redeem points on qualifying travel purchases, Wells Fargo’s limited travel partners may hold back your redemption value. 

The Wells Fargo Reflect is the issuer’s flagship balance transfer card, offering one of the longest intro APR offers on the market. An additional benefit is that this intro APR offer also applies to purchases, making the card a versatile debt management tool.

Wells Fargo’s offers co-branded cards with Hotels.com and Choice Privileges, which gives you additional options alongside the issuer’s general travel rewards card, which lets you earn and redeem points with any hotel brand (including at a higher rewards rate when you book via the Wells Fargo travel portal). 

Since many cardholders are eager to earn rewards, a key criteria for a card’s inclusion in our list is whether it offers impressive rewards value. This includes a 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 calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories, as well as how closely those categories match the average person’s spending habits. In other words: Does the card earn rewards at a high rate in the most popular spending categories?

We use consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to get a reliable third-party measure of people’s spending habits. The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2021 was $66,928 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.  

This includes the following spending by category:

• Groceries: $5,200
• Dining out: $3,000
• Entertainment: $2,500
• Gas: $2,100
• Apparel and services: $1,700

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 23 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 cards in its primary category.

The better these values, the higher its score will be, making it more worthy of inclusion in our list and increasing its potential ranking.

We also rate all cards based on how their ongoing average APR compares to the average APR you’ll find other cards in their primary category. However, the impact of an especially high or low APR on a card’s overall score depends on its primary category.

For rewards-earning cards, this factor has only a minor influence on the card’s score and whether the card is included in our list, since rewards card users generally try to avoid carrying a balance. That said, rewards-earning cards may get a solid boost in score and be more worthy of inclusion in our list if they also offer an intro APR on balance transfers or new purchases, since such offers aren’t always present on these cards.

More important to these cards’ scores and their inclusion in our list is how their annual fees influence their 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. However, if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score and a spot in our list even if it carries a high annual fee. After all, the highest rewards rates and most valuable perks are often found on cards with annual fees.

Interest rates and intro APR offers play a much larger role in a card’s score and whether it’s included in our list when the card is designed specifically for users looking to save on interest charges, such as dedicated balance transfer or low-interest cards. 

Other fees considered include cash advance and late payment fees, along with penalty APRs. 

Along with rewards value and cost, we consider other factors that could give cards great long-term value, like flexible rewards redemption and especially unique and valuable perks.

We rate rewards-earning cards based on the restrictions they impose on earning and redeeming rewards and consider this when deciding on a card’s inclusion in our list. 

These restrictions could include only allowing users to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requiring users to meet a certain earning threshold before they can redeem rewards. We also examine whether points are worth less when you opt for some redemption options over others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also evaluate each card’s perks based on their value, usefulness and uniqueness. Cards that offer top-tier benefits like airport lounge access or travel credits are likely to stand out, but we also aim to highlight cards that offer valuable under-the-radar perks, like cellphone protection or one-off credits for everyday expenses like dining and streaming services.

In general, you’ll need a good to excellent credit score to qualify for a Wells Fargo credit card. We recommend having a credit score of 670 to 850 for the Active Cash, Reflect and Autograph cards.

• You may not qualify for a credit card if you’ve opened a Wells Fargo credit card in the past six months.
• You are not eligible for intro APRs or sign-up bonuses on a Wells Fargo card if you earned a bonus or introductory APR on another Wells Fargo card within the past 15 months.

Yes, Wells Fargo has a pre-selection tool that doesn’t require a hard credit pull — so customers can check if can determine their eligibility for a Wells Fargo credit card without affecting their credit score.

• Wells Fargo Active Cash Card
• Wells Fargo Reflect Card
• Wells Fargo Autograph Card 
• Bilt World Elite Mastercard