Wells Fargo recently launched the Signify Business Cash Card as part of a broader overhaul of the company’s credit card portfolio. This is more or less the business version of the already-existing Active Cash card. On its own, the Signify earns unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases, something that would undoubtedly be appealing to some folks. However, if you combine it with an Autograph or Autograph Journey card, you can turn that cash back into Wells Fargo Rewards points at a rate of 1 cent each, allowing you to transfer them to travel partners for even greater value.
Wells Fargo Signify Business Cash Welcome Offer
| Card Offer |
|---|
$500 Cash Back ⓘ Non-Affiliate $500 after $5,000 spend in first 3 months.No 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. |
Wells Fargo Signify Business Cash Review
Cards that earn 2x everywhere are fairly rare within the world of transferable points currencies. Cards that earn 2x everywhere with no cap and no annual fee is an even shorter list: the Citi Double Cash, Wells Fargo Active Cash and the Signify Business Cash. The Signify holds the unique distinction of being the sole business card among the group that doubles your fun regardless of where you go, making this a potentially desirable component of a multi-card Wells Fargo wallet. Keep in mind that, unlike the Active Cash, the Signify doesn’t offer cellphone insurance.
- Annual Fee: $0
- Authorized User Annual Fee: Free
- Foreign Transaction Fee: 3%
- What points are worth: On its own, rewards earned from the Signify Business Cash can only be cashed out for 1 cent each. When combined with the Autograph or Autograph Journey cards, they can be converted to Wells Fargo Rewards points and transferred to a variety of travel partners. When transferable, our Reasonable Redemption Values pegs the value of Wells Fargo points at 1.4 cents each.
- Best Use for Points: If you have either the Autograph or Autograph Journey cards, Wells Fargo Points can be directly transferred to five airlines at a 1:1 ratio. Airline partners are limited, but offer decent options, including Avianca LifeMiles, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, and the various Avios programs. The only hotel partner is Choice Privileges, which is a particularly good value given that the transfer ratio is 1-2 (as opposed to 1-1 via Amex or Capital One). Cardholders can also use rewards for cash back at a rate of 1 cent per point.
- Earning Categories:
- 2x everywhere with no cap
- Perks:
- None worth mentioning
- Who’s this card for? Folks who want a no-fee 2% business cashback card and/or who can use it as the 2x workhorse of a multi-card Wells Fargo wallet.
- Is the Wells Fargo Signify Cash a keeper? This could be a rewarding card to have, given the uncapped 2x earning with no annual fee. However, remember that in order to transfer to partners, you’ll also need one of the Autograph cards. Assuming you have one, there’s no reason that the card isn’t a keeper.
Wells Fargo Signify Cash Pros and Cons
Pros
- 2x earning on all purchases
- No annual fee
- If paired with an Autograph or Autograph Journey card, it unlocks a variety of travel partners, including transfers to Choice Privileges at double the rate of Amex or Capital One
- Points can be redeemed for cash at 1 cent each if you don’t want to get another card, making this a 2% cashback card
Cons
- Needs a partner card to transfer points to travel partners
- No bonus categories
- Welcome offer is fairly modest
- Currently, Wells Fargo only has six direct transfer partners. It’s supposed to add more in short order, but that pales in comparison to the selection offered by other transferable currencies.
Wells Fargo Transfer Partners
| Rewards Program | Wells Fargo Transfer Ratio | Best Uses |
|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus Avios | 1 to 1 | Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Aer Lingus rather than British Airways, Qatar, or Iberia. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| Air France KLM Flying Blue | 1 to 1 | Monthly Air France Promo Awards often represent very good value. Air France miles can be used to book Sky Team awards, including Delta awards. Air France often offers very good business class award pricing between the US and Europe & Israel. |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1 to 1 | Avianca LifeMiles can be great for Star Alliance awards. They offer reasonable award prices and no fuel surcharges on awards. They also offer shorthaul awards within the US (for flying United, for example) for as few as 7,500 miles one-way. Best of all, their mixed-cabin pricing can lead to fantastic first-class award prices. See this post for details. |
| British Airways Avios | 1 to 1 | While flights on British Airways itself often incur outrageously high fuel surcharges, many BA partners charge low or no fuel surcharges. Excellent value can often be had in redeeming BA points for short distance flights outside the US. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| Choice | 1 to 2 | Choice Privileges points seem to be randomly valuable within the US, but dependably valuable internationally in expensive locations such as Scandinavia and Japan. Points can sometimes offer great value when used towards participating Preferred Hotels of the World. |
| Finnair Plus+ | 1 to 1 via BA | Finnair points are now "Avios" and points can be moved to/from other Avios programs. Finnair uses zone based award charts rather than distance based. As a result, Finnair sometimes has better (and sometimes worse) pricing than other Avios programs. |
| Iberia Avios | 1 to 1 | On their own flights, Iberia offers low award prices and a very reasonable 25 Euro cancellation fee. Partner awards can offer good value under some circumstances as well, but these are usually nonrefundable. Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Iberia rather than British Airways, Aer Lingus, or Qatar. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| Qatar Privilege Club Avios | 1 to 1 via BA | Qatar has reasonable award prices for flying Qatar itself. Points are now transferable 1 to 1 to British Airways (and from there to Aer Lingus or Iberia). It is now also possible to book JetBlue flights with Qatar Avios. |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1 to 1 | Virgin Atlantic offers a few excellent sweet spot awards. See: Best uses for Virgin Atlantic points (Sweet Spot Spotlight). |
Related Cards
| 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 |
20K points ⓘ Non-Affiliate 20K after $1,000 spend in first 3 months.No 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: 3X travel & transit, gas, phone plans (wireless and landline) and streaming services Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Wells. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Cell phone protection ($25 deductible, $600 max per claim) ✦ Transfer points to select airline & hotel programs |
Wells Fargo Application Tips
- 1/6 Rule: Officially, Wells Fargo states that it may not approve you for a new credit card if you've opened one with the bank within the last six months. In practice, both seem inconsistently applied, especially for those with a Wells Fargo bank account. Business and consumer cards operate on separate tracks regarding those velocity limits.
- Velocity Limits: Wells will allow you to earn a welcome offer on the same card every 48 months, with one exception: you can earn the welcome bonus on Choice Privileges cards every 15 months.
- Card Limits: Wells Fargo doesn't have a limit on the amount of cards that you can have, but it does place limits on the total amount of credit that they will issue you across all cards. Because of this, reconsideration can sometimes be successful by moving credit from one existing card to the new card that you want.
- Application Status: Call (800) 967-9521 to check your application status
- Reconsideration: If denied, call (800) 967-9521 and ask for your application to be reconsidered.
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I have a Wells Fargo CC for my personal use. I just formed a one-person LLC business for consulting and want to get a business credit card. Looks like the Signify might be a good choice. However, since my business was just formed and has no credit history (no consulting contracts or income…yet), how will that impact my ability to get the card? Will WF use my personal credit rating, as the owner of the LLC?
Great summary! Has anyone been able to get this card without a prior relationship with Wells Fargo? Online you need an account to apply and some data points suggest you need an account for at least 60 days.
Is it possible to transfer rewards from this account to the other Signify card (the one that earns reward points; there are probably a few people who were automatically product-changed to it from the old business rewards card)? Because that card can cash out rewards at $2500 for 200,000 points, an effective 1.25x boost on cash redemptions (if you can earn 200k).
The answer to my question is yes.
Thanks Tim, here is the application strategy I had in mind. Would this work?
1: Get the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card for the 60K points sign up bonus.
2: Keep that CC for a year, and then downgrade to the no AF CC since you can still transfer points to partners with the no AF CC.
3: Get the Wells Fargo Signify Business Cash Card for the $500 bonus (50K points once transferred to the above card).
I believe that WF has a time limit on SUBs. Not certain but I think it’s once every 15 months. You might want to investigate WF’s terms and conditions. Hope this helps.
My understanding is that this 15 month limit is per card, not across all cards. See for example the data point at the end of https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/comments/tktpbj/wells_fargo_sub_eligibility_15_month_wait/ .
That said, WF absolutely could be clearer about all of this!
Data point: confirmed with WF that this card will NOT report to the credit bureau. In the past WF has been reported to report business card onto personal credit report. This new business card does not. Planning on getting it.
Thanks Tim for reporting this back.
Only quibble would be since reps are notoriously unreliable about these sorts of things, I’d only call it a “data point” once actual cardholders have the card for a full cycle or two and are still not showing it on their CRs.
The rep originally said it would report. I asked for her to confirm. Then she read me a verbatim from a TC language that this would not report. She then apologized for giving me the wrong info first time around.
Thanks Tim. Very interesting clarification…unusual that this would be included in the T&Cs, but much more reassuring for sure.
Trust but verify… Never trust the reps..
was it confirmed somewhere it is transferrable points with the autograph card?
“Wells Fargo recently rolled out the ability to transfer points to airline and hotel partners in coordination with the launch of the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card. However, rewards earned from the Wells Fargo Signify Business Cash card will not be eligible to transfer to partners.” from fortue article
TPG article states the exact opposite. Points can be transferred to the Autograph. I’ve seen a few comments to various articles stating that the person was able to transfer points to the Autograph. Perhaps more data points are needed.
This is not correct. We’ve confirmed directly with Wells Fargo that Signify points do transfer.
+1. Contra this article and TPG below, there’s a commenter on Doctor of Credit who actually has the card and has an Autograph branded personal card who cannot transfer.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/wells-fargo-signify-business-credit-cards/#comment-1838596
Yes, we confirmed it directly with Wells Fargo.
I have the autograph and the Signify biz and see no way to transfer.
Are they linked to same ID and account holder?
Thanks Tim.
My understanding is that Autograph points transfer to Signature cards for purposes of Wells Fargo flight travel redemptions.
I assume, then, that if this card’s earnings could transfer to an Autograph’s pool, then by the transitive property they could also transfer to a Signature pool. However, I’ve seen no data points or references to this. Can you (or someone else) confirm? TIA.
The card comes with Priority Pass Standard, which is a pay as you go version. Roughly half off non-member access fees.
Now, what about the Signify Elite? It exists but is not yet born.