Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card Review 2024

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card is a new travel credit card that has what it takes to compete with the top cards in this class. It has a generous welcome offer, earns rewards points at a high rate and, starting on April 4, 2024, the card will allow you to transfer rewards points to partner travel loyalty programs. If you’re looking for your next travel card, CNBC Select has the details you need to know to decide if the Autograph Journey card is right for you.
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card Learn More On Well’s Fargo’s secure site Rewards Earn 5X points on hotels; 4X points on airlines; 3X points on other travel; 3X points on dining. Plus earn 1X points on other purchases
Welcome bonus Earn 60,000 bonus rewards points when you spend $4,000 in purchases in the first three months.
Annual fee $95
Intro APR None
Regular APR 21.24%, 26.24%, or 29.99% variable based on your creditworthiness
Balance transfer fee Introductory fee of either $5 or 3% of the amount of each balance transfer, whichever is greater, for 120 days from account opening. After that, up to 5% for each balance transfer, with a minimum of $5.
Foreign transaction fee None Terms apply Pros Excellent rewards rate for hotel, airfare and travel
Strong welcome bonus
Access to transfer partners Cons Fewer transfer partners than comparable programs
Doesn’t have several key travel protections (trip delay, primary rental car coverage in the U.S.) Learn More View More
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card review
Welcome bonus
New Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa Card members can earn 60,000 rewards points after spending $4,000 on purchases with the card in the first three months of account opening. You can currently redeem Wells Fargo rewards points for one cent per point (though they’ll likely be worth more when you can transfer them to travel loyalty programs) which means the bonus is worth at least $600.
Benefits and perks
The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa Card has a $50 annual airline credit, which you’ll earn when you make an eligible purchase of at least $50. This easy-to-use benefit applies to anything from airfare to baggage fees. If you take the airline credit at face value, it makes the card’s effective annual fee $45 (down from $95). Cardholders will also appreciate this card’s travel protections, which include: Travel and emergency assistance
Rental car coverage (secondary in U.S.)
Lost baggage reimbursement
Roadside Dispatch
Trip cancellation and interruption protection
Travel accident insurance
Cell phone protection As a Visa Signature® card, you can use Visa Signature Concierge and book stays with the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection. The concierge services can help you get travel, entertainment and dinner reservations. And when you reserve a stay through the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection, you’ll receive benefits such as free breakfast for two, room upgrades (when available) and a $25 food and beverage credit.
How to earn and redeem rewards
Earning The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa Card is one of the most rewarding cards for booking hotels and flights. A nice convenience with this card is that you don’t need to book through a specific site or travel portal to earn the following high rates on your purchases: 5X points on hotels
4X points on airlines
3X points on all other travel
3X points on restaurants
1X points on all other purchases Redeeming You can redeem Wells Fargo Rewards in many ways, including gift cards, travel (booked through Wells Fargo), statement credit and ATM withdrawals. All of these redemptions provide a value of one cent per rewards point, so 10,000 points are worth $100. Once travel partner transfers go live on April 4, 2024, you’ll have an opportunity to dramatically boost the value and versatility of your Wells Fargo Rewards. The initial lineup of partners is: Choice Privileges®
Air France-KLM
Flying Blue
Avianca LifeMiles
British Airways Executive Club
AerClub
Iberia Plus Wells Fargo plans to announce new transfer partners, but this is a useful starting group. With these partners, you can book flights with every major airline alliance and most of the biggest U.S.-based airlines. If you’re interested in flights on domestic U.S. airlines, you can book American Airlines and Alaska Airlines flights through British Airways, with flights under 650 miles in distance for just 7,500 points and flights under 1,151 miles for just 9,000 points. You can reserve flights on United Airlines through Avianca for as little as 7,500 miles one-way. And if you want to book a flight on Delta, you can book through its partner Air France-KLM. Let’s say you want to visit Europe — you could transfer the 60,000 points you earn from the welcome bonus to Avianca and book a round-trip award from almost anywhere in the U.S. to your European destination. Avianca often charges fewer miles for certain trans-Atlantic flights, so you could have points left over after visiting Europe If you want to fly in style, Iberia offers one-way business-class awards from cities such as Chicago, Boston and New York to Spain for only 34,000 miles each way. That’s a great deal for a ticket that can easily cost more than $3,500.
Rates and fees
The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa Card charges a $95 annual fee. It has no foreign transaction fees and the standard APR is a variable 21.24%, 26.24%, or 29.99% based on your creditworthiness.
Card comparison
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Learn More On Chase’s secure site Rewards Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, and $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, plus more.
Welcome bonus Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
Annual fee $95
Intro APR None
Regular APR 21.49% – 28.49% variable on purchases and balance transfers
Balance transfer fee Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater
Foreign transaction fee None
Credit needed Excellent/Good
Terms apply. Read our Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card review.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is similar to the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa Card. Both cards have a $95 annual fee, travel protections and offer a variety of redemption options (including points transfers). However, the Sapphire Preferred stands out in a few ways. It has a more robust list of travel protections including, trip delay reimbursement, primary rental car insurance, purchase protection and extended warranty protection. Unless you need cell phone coverage, the Sapphire Preferred has a better set of built-in insurance benefits compared to the Autograph Journey. The Autograph Journey card earns more for most travel purchases, but the problem is Wells Fargo currently has a much smaller list of transfer partners. You can transfer the points you earn with Chase to 14 airlines and hotels including, Hyatt, Marriott, Southwest, Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic and United. As Wells Fargo adds more partners it may catch up, but right now Chase Ultimate Rewards points have a higher potential value and provide more versatility. Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card Learn More Rewards 5 Miles per dollar on hotel and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 2X miles per dollar on every other purchase
Welcome bonus Earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening
Annual fee $95
Intro APR N/A for purchases and balance transfers
Regular APR 19.99% – 29.99% variable
Balance transfer fee $0 at the Transfer APR, 4% of the amount of each transferred balance that posts to your account at a promotional APR that Capital One may offer to you
Foreign transaction fee None
Credit needed Excellent/Good See rates and fees, terms apply.
If you don’t spend much on travel or dining, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card can be more rewarding because it earns at least 2X miles on every purchase. That means you could earn double the rewards on any purchases that fall outside of the Autograph Journey’s bonus categories. Capital One has 18 travel partners and direct access to all of the programs partnered with Wells Fargo except for Aer Lingus and Iberia. However, both of those airlines are part of the Avios program and you can transfer your Capital One miles from British Airways to Aer Lingus and Iberia. The only clear advantage the Autograph Journey has in the points transfer department is a better 1:2 transfer ratio to Choice Hotels. Unless you base your travel plans around using Choice points, the Venture Rewards card may be a stronger option for consumers who don’t spend heavily on travel and dining.
Is the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card right for you?
It won’t be hard for anyone interested in travel to justify having and holding the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa Card. The points you’ll earn for hotel (5X) and airline (4X) purchases are stunningly high and apply to any purchase in those categories. Even if you didn’t earn bonus rewards points with hotels and airlines, you could make a strong case for getting this card because of the 3X points it earns for general travel and dining purchases. Plus, the $50 annual airline credit shouldn’t be hard to use and helps offset more than half of the card’s $95 annual fee. However, if you want to earn rewards on spending other than dining and travel, other cards might be a better fit. And while the Autograph Journey has many good insurance benefits, it’s missing a few key coverages such as primary rental car coverage.
Bottom line
The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa Card has come out of the gate running and already compares favorably to the top travel credit cards. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more rewarding option for hotel and airline purchases. Cardholders will also soon have access to transfer partners, and although the list of partners is smaller than comparable programs, it will grow from here.
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