Wells Fargo Cash Wise Credit Card Review

Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa® Card is no longer available. You might find better choices by reviewing our list of the top cash back credit cards.

Full Review of Wells Fargo Cash Wise Credit Card

Pros

• Flat-rate cash-back rewards on all purchases

• Introductory 0% APR offer and cash bonus

• Cell phone protection

Cons

• Customer satisfaction with Wells Fargo credit cards is below average.

• Rewards not able to be redeemed continuously

Pros Explained

• Cash-back rewards rate for all purchases: The Wells Fargo Cash Wise card does not have the best rewards rates. However, its incentives are straightforward: cash rather than points, and without the limited categories of other more lucrative cards, or the need to register for rotating categories with spending limitations. Instead, you’ll get 1.5% cash back on every transaction you make. The card even provides an incentive to utilize an app to make transactions with it, at least initially. When you use the card using a qualifying mobile wallet, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, cash back returns are boosted to 1.8% for the first 12 months after creating an account.
• Initial 0% APR offer and cash bonus: The Wells Fargo Cash Wise card features an introductory 0% APR offer for purchases and debt transfers for 15 months from account setup. While that’s a pretty standard offer for a no-fee card, it still offers you more than a year to pay off high-interest credit card debt or finance a significant purchase without incurring interest charges. Similarly, other cards provide a higher initial bonus than the $150 offered by this one. However, those larger incentives often require significant expenditure, while the Wells Fargo Cash Wise requires just $500 in spending during the first three months of card membership, which should be manageable for practically any cardholder.
• Cell phone protection: If you pay your monthly phone bill using your Wells Fargo Cash Wise card, you’ll get up to $600 in cell phone protection, subject to a $25 deductible. Several other credit cards provide mobile phone protection, but the majority of them require an annual fee, making this a unique perk for a no-cost card. This coverage, although welcome, is not without limitations. While theft is covered, simple phone loss is not. And any acceptable damage must have an impact on the phone’s operation, which rules out repairs just for aesthetic reasons or owing to technical or software faults that did not result from physical damage. Finally, this is secondary coverage that comes in after you’ve received benefits from other insurance policies, such as house or vehicle insurance.

Cons Explained

• Customer satisfaction at Wells Fargo is below average: Most consumers seldom engage with their credit card company. However, when you need to do so, there is frequently a sense of urgency and even tension, and you want a fulfilling experience. According to the J.D. Power Credit Card Customer Satisfaction Study, that’s less probable with Wells Fargo than with practically any other card issuer. Wells Fargo scores ninth out of 12 card issuers in the 2020 poll, with a score that rates it among the least satisfactory firms for credit-card customer service.
• Rewards cannot be redeemed indefinitely: Many other credit cards enable you to redeem rewards after accumulating as little as one cent in your account—in other words, you may do it indefinitely. The Wells Fargo Cash Wise, on the other hand, is one of the cards that requires rewards to reach a particular threshold before they can be redeemed. Most cash redemption alternatives, like as deposits into a bank or savings account, are only redeemable in $25 increments, so you must accumulate enough rewards before redeeming them. While this isn’t a significant issue, it is an annoyance and a little disadvantage when compared to other cards.

The Wells Fargo Cash Wise credit card is ideal for consumers who want a straightforward card that delivers universal flat-rate cash back rewards without the need to monitor different rates on different transactions or register for time-limited bonus rates on certain categories. You’ll receive 1.5% cash back on every transaction, with no limit on how much you may earn.

This card is particularly worth considering if you do not have mobile phone insurance since it provides $600 in coverage if you pay your cell phone bill with the Wells Fargo Cash Wise. While there are certain limitations to the coverage, such as the fact that it only covers entire loss when the phone is stolen, it still gives some piece of mind regarding the most precious object most of us ever carry about with us.

With a 15-month 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases, the Wells-Fargo Cash Wise is also a good alternative if you want to pay off debt from another card or make some new purchases that will take some time to pay off. You’ll get 15 months to pay no interest on one or all of the above.

However, keep in mind that balance transfers often include a charge of at least 3% of the transferred amount. Also, when it comes to new purchases, don’t buy more than you can easily pay off by the end of the 0% APR term, or very soon after. When the deal ends, the usual APR kicks in, and the interest costs instantly begin to eat into the savings you’ve received.

Wells Fargo Cash Wise One-Time Offer

While many credit cards provide one-time promotions for new users, these promotions sometimes require spending hundreds of dollars to qualify. In contrast, the Wells Fargo Cash Wise card is among many that make its cash or points incentive simple to acquire, even for people with low spending habits.

If you spend $500 on purchases within the first three months of creating an account, you’ll get the card’s $150 bonus. Most individuals may achieve this objective just by using their card for necessities like petrol and food, sometimes even within the first month or two of using the card.

Rewards Earning Details

With the Wells Fargo Cash Wise card, you may receive limitless 1.5% cash back on all purchases. If you used your credit card $5,000 every year, you’d receive $75 in cash rewards, with no annual fee to offset those savings.

If you’re willing to put the card’s credentials into a mobile wallet, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, you may earn a greater rate at first. During your first year as a card member, you will get 1.8% cash back. For example, if you used Google Pay to pay for $5,000 in purchases in the first year, you’d receive $90 in rewards, which is $15 more than if you just used your card.

Rewards Redemption Details

The Wells Fargo Cash Wise card comes with a variety of redemption choices, including:

• Cash: Redeem your points for cash at Wells Fargo ATMs in increments of $20 with a Wells Fargo debit or ATM card.
• You may direct deposit your cash rewards to a Wells Fargo savings or checking account.
• Mortgage payments: If you have a mortgage with Wells Fargo, you may use your points as a credit on the principal amount of your mortgage.
• Donations to charity: Rewards may be given to certain charities.
• Redeem your points for either electronic or physical gift cards.
• Travel: Use GoFarRewards to redeem your cash points for travel arrangements such as flights or hotels. According to Wells-Fargo, there are no blackout dates.

It is important to note that incentives, such as those placed into a checking or savings account, may only be redeemed in $25 increments. This is in contrast to other credit cards, which effectively enable you to redeem your benefits on an ongoing basis.

How to Maximize Your Rewards

To get the most out of your card, use it to pay for as many costs as possible, including any areas where you don’t have another card with a greater points rate. If you use the card right away to pay for necessities like food, you should be able to easily spend the $500 necessary within three months to get the $150 one-time offer—representing a 30% return on that expenditure.

Sync your Apple Pay or Google Pay accounts with your Wells Fargo Cash Wise card if feasible to increase your cash benefits. You’ll receive 1.8% cash back on mobile-wallet transactions throughout your first year as a cardmember, a 0.3% advantage over using the card without a wallet. We predict that if you are the typical American customer and utilize a mobile wallet, you may earn more than $430 on this card within the first year of ownership. Assume you use this card to buy food, clothing, gas, entertainment, and personal care goods and services. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you’d spend around $16,000 in all of those areas over the course of a year.

Furthermore, suppose you take one vacation every year that costs $1,500 in total, including flights, accommodation, ground transportation, and other other expenditures.

You would earn $465 on this card in the first year, including 1.8% cash back (through the wallet) on all purchases plus the $150 first-year incentive. If you did not use the mobile wallet, you would forfeit $53 of the total, earning around $412 for the year. Without the bonus offer or the mobile-wallet boost in rewards, you’d still earn a good $263 in cash back for your yearly expenditure after the first year.

Wells Fargo Cash Wise’s Outstanding Benefits

The Wells Fargo Cash Wise card offers one outstanding perk for a card with no annual fee: mobile phone protection.

If you use your card to pay your mobile phone bill, you’ll receive up to $600 in theft or damage coverage, subject to a $25 deductible.

Standard Benefits

• Use your card to pay for your automobile rental and refuse the rental company’s insurance, and you’ll obtain supplementary coverage for theft or accident damage.
• As a cardholder, you have access to emergency travel services such as legal referrals, emergency transportation, translation services, and prescription help.
• Roadside aid: If you need towing or assistance changing a flat tire, you may acquire emergency roadside assistance. You must pay a price for any services offered, but there is no membership cost.
• Travel accident insurance: If you use your card to pay for your whole ticket on a common carrier, you’ll be covered for up to $150,000 in travel accidents.

Cardholder Experience

When shopping for a new credit card, take into account the issuer’s customer service. Unfortunately, Wells Fargo does not have a good reputation for customer service.

Wells Fargo scores eighth out of the 12 card issuers questioned in the 2020 J.D. Power Credit Card Customer Satisfaction Study. Its score of 800 is lower than the industry average of 810.

Customer assistance is accessible around the clock, seven days a week. You may reach customer service through its online portal or by dialing 1-800-642-4720.

Security Features

The security features offered by Wells Fargo are typical of most credit cards. It monitors your account for unusual behavior and sends you warnings if there are any fraudulent transactions. You have zero liability protection, which means you are not responsible for unlawful transactions.

Wells Fargo provides emergency card replacement and cash disbursement if your card is lost or stolen.

Our Verdict

The Wells Fargo Cash Wise card is a straightforward, flat-rate rewards card with an enticing mix of benefits for the first year you possess it. Those initial benefits include a $150 cash incentive for only $500 in spending, a 0.3% increase in rewards rate if you use a mobile wallet like Apple Pay or Google Pay, and a 15-month introductory 0% APR deal with a balance transfer charge.

There’s also the fascinating benefit of automatic coverage against mobile phone damage or theft if you charge your monthly carrier payment to the Wells Fargo Cash Wise card.

The 1.5% cash rewards rate is generally average for a no-fee rewards credit card, although there are certain cards that provide a greater rewards percentage. The Citi Double Cash card, for example, enables you to earn up to 2% cash back on every purchase: 1% cash back when you buy and an extra 1% cash back when you pay.

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