Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa Card Review: $150 Cash Rewards Bonus and 1.5% Cash Back

Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa Card

9

Overall

9.0/10

Strengths

• 1.5% cashback on purchases
• Generous welcome bonus with low purchase requirement
• No annual fee
• Cell phone insurance

Weaknesses

• No higher cashback tiers
• Cashback redemption requires WF account or access to WF ATM

If you're looking for a new cashback credit card and are considering the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa Card, you're considering a good credit card.

The Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa Card is appealing for three key reasons – unlimited 1.5% cash back credit card on all purchases, a $150 cash rewards bonus after just $500 in spend in the three months of account opening, and there's no annual fee.

A generous cash rewards rate (unlimited 1.5% cash back credit card on all purchases) and a nice bonus ($150) with a low purchase requirement ($150 after just $500) make for a good offer if you have good or excellent credit.

$150 Cash Reward Bonus

When it comes to new card bonuses, you'll see a lot of credit cards offering hundreds of dollars in points or other rewards but they all have high purchase requirements and they have higher annual fees.

For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card will give you 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points but you must spend $4,000 in the first three months. The card also has a $95 annual fee. So while you can get big bonuses, you have to spend quite a lot to reach the bonus plus pay an annual fee.

With the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa Card, you get $150 after just $500 in spend in the three months of account opening. And with this card there is $0 annual fee.

You redeem cash at a Wells Fargo ATM or you can get it deposited into a Wells Fargo savings or checking account. If you don't have a Wells Fargo checking account and fancy getting one, they often run rich new account promotions where you can get hundreds of dollars for setting up direct deposits.

Learn more about this card and others

>> Related: Need to find your Wells Fargo routing number?

1.5% Base Cashback Reward Structure

The bonus is nice but the real appeal is that this is a card that gives you unlimited 1.5% cash back credit card on all purchases without an annual fee. If you need a baseline card to put all of your non-tiered spending (where you get a higher percentage on another card, such as gasoline on a gas station card), 1.5% is the new standard. This 1.5% requires no activation of categories and there is no monthly limit.

Discover offers cards with higher bonus tiers like a 5% cashback but they require you to activate it each quarter and they limit you to, usually, $1,500 in purchases each quarter. So the 5% sounds like a big number but it gets limited somewhere.

Also, in the first 12 months, you actually earn 1.8% cash rewards on digital wallet purchases made through Google Pay or Apple Pay.

Additional Perks

Some additional perks of the card include:

• Up to $600 in cell phone protection – If you pay your monthly bill with this card, you are covered against damage or theft. (there is a $25 deductible and $600 maximum per claim) You don't even need to buy the phone with this card, you just need to pay the bill!
• Intro APR on purchases and qualifying balance transfers for 15 months
• Free access to your FICO credit score through Wells Fargo Online
• Zero liability protection – you are not responsible for unauthorized charges if you report them quickly

Go Far Rewards Program

Go Far Rewards is Wells Fargo's travel rewards program. You can earn rewards with the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa Card and redeem them for rewards on the platform. You can redeem them for travel, gift cards, merchandise and even some online auctions (these are often live events like concerts or sporting events or they are vacation packages).

Who Should Get This Card?

This card is ideal for someone who wants a cash back credit card but doesn't want to mess around with activating categories or making sure they are using the right card on the right purchase type. It's a solid “everyday” card where you know you're getting unlimited 1.5% cash back credit card on all purchases at a minimum.

If you have a Wells Fargo checking account, getting your cash back is easy because it can be deposited directly into your account. If you don't, it might be a hassle getting to a Wells Fargo ATM to get your cash but nothing's stopping you from opening an account there.

If you don't, the Everyday Checking account offers a $325 bonus that is fairly easy to get.

To get the bonus, you need to open an Everyday Checking account and receive a total of $1,000 or more in qualifying direct deposits into the new checking account within 90 days from account opening.

And to avoid the account's $10 maintenance fee, you need to do one of four things:

• $500 minimum daily balance
• $500 or more in total qualifying direct deposits
• Primary account owner is 17-24 years old. (When the primary account owner reaches the age of 25, age can no longer be used to avoid the monthly service fee.)
• Linked to a Wells Fargo Campus ATM or Campus Debit Card.

So the bar for avoiding the fee is low. The card itself has no annual fee.

Check the full details when you click through to the promotional page.

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