Wells Fargo Propel Card Review

The Wells Fargo Propel American Express^® Card doesn’t get a lot of attention. It’s a credit card issued by Wells Fargo that runs on the Amex payment network, although it’s not subject to the Amex application rules. This credit card comes with no annual fee and a number of solid perks that make it worth considering. Here’s the full Wells Fargo Propel Card Review.

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Wells Fargo Propel Card Review

• Earn 20,000 Bonus Points when you use your new card to make $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months
• 3X U.S. gas stations
• 2X at US restaurants
• 1X on all purchases
• When you pay your monthly cell phone bill with your eligible Wells Fargo consumer credit card, you’ll get up to $600 of protection (subject to $25 deductible) against covered damage or theft
• Earn an annual bonus of 10% on non-bonus rewards points if you maintain a qualifying consumer Wells Fargo checking or savings account, or Portfolio by Wells Fargo^®program
• 0% Intro APR for 12 months on purchases and balance transfers
• Get free access to your FICO Score
• No annual fee

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Sign-up bonus

Earn 20,000 Bonus Points when you use your new card to make $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months

This card offers a 20,000 points sign-up bonus after only spending $1,000 in the first three months. This is a solid sign-up bonus for a no annual fee credit card.

The points can be redeemed at 1 cent per point for cash back/statement credits and for other things, such as gift cards through the Go Far Rewards portal. You can also use the points to book travel such as airfare and hotels at 1 cent per point but note that the Wells Fargo Visa Signature allows for airfare redemptions at 1.5 cents per point.

You also get five years to use your points before they expire.

Bonus earning

• 3X U.S. gas stations
• 2X at US restaurants
• 1X on all purchases

The Wells Fargo Propel card is one of the best credit cards for gas purchases since it earns 3X on US gas purchases. Again, for a no annual fee credit card, this is a solid bonus rate. The 2X on restaurants is okay but there are plenty of options for earning 2% on all purchases, so it’s not anything special.

Wells Fargo provides the following details for eligible gas and dining purchases:

Gas purchases include “gas stations or automated fuel dispensers” but don’t (typically) include “[g]as purchases at warehouse/membership clubs, grocery stores, car washes, auto repair stores and superstores that sell gasoline.”

Dining purchases include “eating places and restaurants, drinking places, or fast food restaurants” but don’t include “[c]aterers, bakeries, grocery stores and other miscellaneous places that serve food or operate restaurants on their premises are not considered eating places and restaurants.”

$600 cell phone protection

• When you pay your monthly cell phone bill with your eligible Wells Fargo consumer credit card, you’ll get up to $600 of protection (subject to $25 deductible) against covered damage or theft
• This benefit does not cover cell phones that are lost (i.e. disappear without explanation).

The $25 deductible is very low for this benefit (the Chase Ink Preferred has a $100 deductible per claim). To me, this benefit and the 3X on gas are two of the most valuable perks of the Wells Fargo Propel card.

Annual 10% bonus

• Earn an annual bonus of 10% on non-bonus rewards points if you maintain a qualifying consumer Wells Fargo checking or savings account, or Portfolio by Wells Fargo^®program
• The bonus will be posted to Your Rewards Account the 13th month after the date Your credit card account was opened and annually.

If you have an account with Wells Fargo, you’ll earn an additional 10% on non-bonus rewards. This means that your earning rates come out to 1.1X for all purchases, 2.1X for dining, and 3.1X for gas. It would be fantastic if they offered a full 10% on bonus categories but the small bump provided isn’t bad.

It might be a good idea to go ahead and open a Wells Fargo account because Wells Fargo credit cards can be tough to get approved for sometimes, especially if you have a number of recently opened accounts. By opening up an account with them, you might be increasing your odds of getting approved.

0% APR

• 0% Intro APR for 12 months on purchases and balance transfers

You’ll get one full year of 0% APR. You can find other no annual fee cards that offer longer 0% into APR periods but this is a nice benefit considering everything else you get with this card.

Free FICO score

• Get free access to your FICO Score

More and more cards are offering this now so it’s not exactly special but always nice to see.

No annual fee

The Wells Fargo Propel card has to be one of the better no annual fee credit cards out there. It’s strong 3X on gas, $600 cell-phone coverage benefit, and $200 sign-up bonus certainly make this card stand out among other no annual fee credit cards.

Protections

The Wells Fargo Propel card also comes with

• Car Rental Loss & Damage Insurance
• Common Carrier Lost Baggage Reimbursement
• Worldwide Travel Accident Insurance
• Retail Protection and Extended Warranty
• Extended Warranty
• Return Protection

You can read more about the benefits and protections here.

Final word

TheWells Fargo Propel American Express^® Card is a solid cash back credit card. It’s one of my favorite no annual fee credit cards with a decent sign-up bonus and if you have an account with Wells Fargo, earning 3.1X on gas purchases is very competitive. If I were looking for a way to maximize earnings on gas purchases I’d definitely consider the Propel.