Update 4/5/24: Wells Fargo’s new set of partners are now up-and-running, with point transfers enabled on all five airlines as well as Choice Privileges. Hopefully, as Wells has promised, we’ll see additional partners begin to be added in relatively short order.
Original post follows.
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The new Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa card is live and open for online applications. The card comes with travel transfer partners, a competitive welcome offer, earnings of up to 5x in certain categories and more. This is a very interesting addition to the transferable points space, especially for a card with a $95 annual fee.
Welcome Offer
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
60K points ⓘ Non-Affiliate 60K after $4,000 spend in first 3 months.$95 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Earning rate: 5X hotels ✦ 4X airlines ✦ 3X restaurants & other travel ✦ 1X everywhere else Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Wells. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: $50 annual statement credit with $50 minimum airline purchase ✦ Trip cancellation / interruption protection ✦ Cell phone protection ($25 deductible, $1000 max per claim) ✦ Transfer points to select airline & hotel programs |
Key Card Details
- $95 annual fee
- $50 airfare statement credit each year
- Earning rates (all unlimited):
- 5x – hotels
- 4x – airlines
- 3x – dining
- 3x – other travel
- 1x – all other transactions
- Travel-related protection benefits (trip cancellation/interruption, reimbursement for lost luggage, travel accident insurance, etc.)
- No foreign transaction fees
Transfer Partners
The Autograph Journey has been launched with a fairly limited set of transfer partners:
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- British Airway Executive Club Avios
- Aer Lingus AerClub Avios
- Iberia Plus Avios
- Avianca LifeMiles
- Choice Privileges
The airline partners transfer at a 1:1 ratio, while Choice Privileges has the same transfer ratio as Citi ThankYou points – a 1:2 rate. Wells Fargo says that more partners will be added throughout the year, but they haven’t disclosed what those will be, presumably because a contract hasn’t been signed.
Combine Points From Other Wells Fargo Cards
Wells Fargo cardholders of non-cobranded cards can combine earnings on those cards with points earned on the Autograph Journey card. That makes it similar to the Citi Premier/Double Cash combo in that the Wells Fargo Active Cash card earns 2% on all purchases. Holding both the Autograph Journey and Active Cash cards means you can earn 3x-5x in select categories and 2x everywhere else.
As for the existing Wells Fargo Autograph (non-Journey) card, that’s still be available with no annual fee but with an enhancement: you’ll can now transfer those points to travel partners even if you don’t have the Autograph Journey card. There’s only a few cards out there that earn transferable points with no annual fee and no requirement that you have a premium travel card in order to transfer them, so being able to earn 3x transferable points on travel & transit, gas, phone plans (wireless and landline) and streaming services is a welcome development.
Quick Thoughts
Wow, this is a surprisingly competitive card from Wells Fargo. The list of transfer partners isn’t exactly inspiring – especially considering most of those are among the most promiscuous transfer partners – but it’s a good start and the 1:2 transfer ratio to Choice is to be welcomed. Fingers crossed that the fact that Wells Fargo issues the Bilt credit card and their points are transferable to Hyatt and American Airlines, that the Autograph Journey card will earn points that become transferable to one or both in the future.
The $50 airfare statement credit appears to be set up in a generous way too. This isn’t restrictive in the way that Amex airline fee credits are because, in addition to charges like checked baggage fees, it will be valid for regular airfare purchases (including taxes and fees). I imagine that a significant number of people who apply for this card will spend at least $50 with airlines each year – even if that’s just for taxes and fees on award flights – so that would make the net annual fee an effective $45.
Considering the card earns an unlimited 5x on hotels, 4x with airlines and 3x on dining and other travel, it will rival transferable points cards with a similar annual fee like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Citi Premier and Capital One Venture Rewards cards. What makes the Autograph Journey card particularly enticing is that you won’t be required to book through the Wells Fargo travel portal in order to earn 5x on hotels and 4x on airfare – you can book directly with hotels and airlines to earn that rate.
Overall, this will be a very compelling card to add to your credit card lineup and is likely to prove to be extremely popular with people who spend a lot – or can spend a lot – on transactions coding as hotels. Due to the fact that bonus point earnings will be unlimited, I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually either see some kind of cap introduced or a wave of shutdowns once Wells Fargo discovers quite how popular this card will be with some cardholders.
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Im wondering how to get the manufactured spend for the SUB without gift card purchases? And Im not even sure they will allow tax payments to meet the $4k spend.
Why wouldn’t they allow tax payments
The terms are ambiguous. I know for a fact they dont count gift cards. Ive been burned on this on another card. Im asking if anyone has a DP for using tax payments.
For those who are new to the hobby, I’d like to offer thoughts counter to those of Scott (below).
Each blog covering the travel/rewards hobby has its own focus. The thing about Frequent Miler is that it is the one site that will educate you on the skills you need to effectively pursue the hobby. No other public site really does this . . . at least as comprehensively as FM does. Other sites focus on trip review or avgeek news or whatever. But, if you want to get trained up, you’re in the right spot.
Having followed FM for years and seeing choices they’ve made about content, you can trust them. Any suggestions that their content is questionable is unfounded and wrong-headed and offensive. To be clear, I’ve sharply disagreed with them on certain topics. For example, the reworked Amex Delta cards. But, I don’t doubt for a second that they truly believe in their position . . . and their best of intentions for readers.
Over time, you can survey a range of hobby blogs and I think you’ll come to the same conclusion. Happy trails.
Sad to see the 4/5 update. It’s been a good run, but there are lots of travel and points bloggers and I’m sure I’ll find someone who’s not shilling for a criminal operation. I’d rather give my clicks, views and use of referral links to them.
For anyone who feels similarly, a few minutes filtering through my list of blogger links found several who review credit cards but who don’t mention WF. They’re out there.
To Greg, Nick, Stephen, Tim, and Carrie, thank you for the past service. I found it interesting and useful, but it’s no fun anymore when I’m pushed WF articles.
lmao
If other points & miles blogs aren’t writing about Wells Fargo cards, it’s because they’re not earning affiliate commission from them, not because they have any qualms about Wells Fargo’s business practices. We write about deals, cards, etc. that our readers could find useful regardless of whether we’ll earn any commission, so I wouldn’t count on those other sites necessarily being more ethical than you’re imagining them to be.
Scott, so noted. To be true to yourself, you must never visit FM again. Ever. If you do, you’re a hypocrite. Pure and simple.
Maybe someday you can report back and relate your experience with the bloggers who’ve never written about a bank that has been in legal trouble. Thank you for your service in advance.
When I applied, a popup showed up saying I’d get 10,000 more miles because I’m a Premier Checking customer. Nice unexpected bonus.
+1
Does anyone know if business wells fargo points would transfer to this Autograph card?
Yes, they do. I applied yesterday and when I went online this morning it errored out and wouldn’t let me transfer. However, by the afternoon I was able to transfer the points from the business to the autograph journey. So after the account is opened it takes about 24-36 hours before you can transfer points from the business card to the autograph journey.
That’s awesome! How do you link the business card to the personal Autogragh card? Does it show up automatically?
For me, all of my accounts, personal and business, use one username so it automatically showed up. During the first login it even asked me if I wanted to transfer points between accounts.
“extremely popular with people who spend a lot – or can spend a lot – on transactions coding as hotels”
This sentence has me feeling really stupid… What’s the secret? Or is it a secret? Anyone willing to share what Stephen is referring to?
What codes as hotels that isn’t an actual stay?
Feel like I just typed a kids riddle, lolol.
If it’s not a secret, you’d know already by Googling. If it is a secret, then nobody is telling you on a public forum.
The no fee Autograph is lookin real nice, great starter travel card
That being said, if you don’t spend a lot on Hotel and Airfare, no AF Autograph wins!
.. except for the SUB.
Ready for my next card and considering this. Any way to know if they give an instant card number? Have a significant purchase to make over the next week.
No they don’t. If you already have an account you may be able to add it to your digital wallet
I was instantly approved and no they do not provide an instant account number. In my case, they allowed me to add the card to PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay with a reduced credit limit (60% of actual credit limit). I have used the card without issue so far using Apple Pay and PayPal. However, you can’t add the card to Apple Pay on a Mac computer because that requires you to enter the 3 digit security code on the back which without card in hand is impossible. However, you can load the autograph journey from the Wells Fargo app to the Apple wallet on the iPhone easily.
Thanks!
All the big banks act like, well, big banks. But even at that it’s hard to understand giving WF *any* ink after the sh** they pulled on customers and signing them up for products without their consent. I will *NEVER* trust WF again. There are too many other good opportunities in the points game without dealing with those crooks.
Yes. WF is a criminal organization pretending to be a legitimate business.
to be fair there are a lot of corporate criminal organizations doing much worse…that are praised as heroes. some you probably use.
On the various blogs, there’s a lot of poo-pooing of this card due to the weak list of transfer partners. AF and BA are my primary targets and it suits my needs. But, certainly, additional transfer partners (a la Bilt) will be added and its attractiveness will broaden.
One can argue that Wells is not adding anything new. Been there, done that. What unique value is Wells adding? Some of us book a lot of non-network hotels. And, some of those hotels are not on the 10X portals. They’re only on FHR at 5X, LHRC at 3X, etc. The Autograph Journey gives 5X on direct bookings. And, the card gives 5X on the Visa Signature hotel platform, which affords FHR-like benefits. Not a perfect match but good enough.
In the end, this card can be a niche tool for some people. Not everyone but some.
My wife (P2) has a Wells Fargo Active Cash. If I pick up this card, do we know yet whether she’d be able to transfer her WF points to me, so that I could transfer to travel partners?
Thanks Stephen,
Brian and I asked below about whether these WF points would be transferable back and forth to the classic WF Visa Signature card, with the 50% (or higher) Wells Fargo travel airfare bonus.
Do you (or anyone else) have confirmation that points will or will not transfer back and forth with this legacy product? TIA!
Points will be transferable between all WF points-earning credit cards. Some have suggested that Active Cash earnings will be transferable but we all need to see data points.
I hope this is true, because this will be a good bonus for us old WF card holders.
I transferred my Active Cash earnings to WF Visa Signature, it works.
Thanks Justin, good to hear!
I’m guessing it’s no issue transferring to 3d parties either, as with Signature points.
I don’t know I’m afraid; I don’t think we have a Wells Fargo rep who we can ask about this kind of thing. With the card now being available for applications online, hopefully we’ll have some data points soon.
Future is bright with Wells, all in on Wells.
Unfortunate that there’s no trip delay coverage, given the travel focus of the card.
Lost luggage reimbursement also doesn’t cover a damaged bag, nor does it cover items you purchase while a bag is delayed. Your bag has to be completely lost.
Also rental car insurance is secondary so it won’t be a direct replacement for the CSP. A bit surprising since Bilt has primary CDW which I’ve used and it was fully managed by WF