Wells Fargo Rewards And Cash Back Cards
It is generally accepted that there are two types of credit card users; those who pay their balance in full, and those who carry a balance each month. For those who avoid interest charges by paying their total balance each month, earning credit card rewards makes perfect sense, while cardholders that carry a balance should always be seeking the best interest rates. The Wells Fargo Rewards and Cash Back Visa cards try to play both sides of this game by offering some rewards points as well as an introductory financing offer.
New applicants will receive a 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers for a very short six months. Many other 0% APR credit cards offer intro periods of up to 21 months, and most offer these rates for at least 12 months. During the introductory period, balance transfers will be assessed a fee of 3%, which rises to 5% after it expires. The standard interest rate is equal to the Prime Rate plus 7.9% to 19.9%, depending on the applicant’s credit worthiness.
In addition to the introductory financing offer, Wells Fargo is also granting Rewards card customers one point in their rewards program for each dollar spent. Wells Fargo Cash Back cardholders receive a one cent rebate on each dollar spent. Since their rewards points are only worth .77 cents each as cash back or in other forms, the cash back card is clearly the superior product. However, many cash back credit cards currently offer a minimum of 1% cash back while also providing cash back sign up bonuses, making this a less than ideal option for those who want to profit from their rewards cards.
To be charitable, these cards offer modest introductory financing and some rewards, which would be preferable to a card offering neither. Existing customers of Wells Fargo Bank may also enjoy managing all of their accounts from a single location.
These card’s introductory financing offer is not particularly generous. Other competing cards offer from 12-21 months of 0% financing. For customers who are trying to pay off a balance, one of these other cards would be a better option. Applicants who are seeking credit card rewards should strongly consider other products as well, since even one cent back per dollar spent is a marginal reward rate, and .77 cents is sub-standard. There are numerous other products offering 1%-2% cash back on all spending, while others offer even higher rates of return on various categories of transactions. Finally, those who travel to foreign countries should be put off by the unjustified 3% foreign transaction fee. There are an increasing number of cards being offered that do not charge this fee.
It is difficult to understand why someone would want a card that offers both introductory financing and cash back rewards. Those who pay their balance in full have no use for financing, while those who focus on rewards are losing far more by carrying a balance. Even if one were to reconcile those two competing goals, these products still represent uncompetitive offers for both financing and rewards. There are simply much better credit card offers available elsewhere, and the best credit card offers put these cards to shame.
