Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card: What We Know So Far

Who is the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card for?

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card is an accessible travel credit card that can be especially rewarding for frequent travelers who aren’t loyal to any particular hotel or airline brand.

Quick facts about the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card:

Wells Fargo just announced the newest travel credit. Here’s what we know so far about the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card:

Annual fee: 

$95

Earning rates:

• 5X points on hotels
• 4X points on airlines
• 3X points on other travel
• 3X points on dining
• 1X points for other purchases

Welcome offer: 

60,000 bonus rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months

Pros and cons

Pros: 

• 4X points on airline purchases and 5X on hotels is excellent and quite high for a travel credit card, especially one with a $95 annual fee
• No foreign transaction fees
• $50 annual statement credit for airfare purchases effectively cuts the annual fee in half

Cons:

• The list of transfer partners is nothing exceptional. Other $95 annual fee cards also transfer to these same partners.

Our initial opinion:

This card is intriguing for its high earning rates on airline and hotel purchases, but its network of transfer partners or other earning rates is nothing extraordinary. It could be a good option for points and miles beginners or points pros looking to accrue more points to redeem with an airline membership program they already use.

Initial thoughts on the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card:

Wells Fargo has entered the chat. 

With the release of its new card, the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card, the entry-level travel credit card sector got a little more competitive with the release of the new Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card. 

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card's $95 annual fee puts it firmly in competition with other banks’ travel credit cards at the same price point, most notably the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Capital One Venture Rewards Card, and the Citi Premier Card.  

Like the others, the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey earns credit card points that you can transfer to airline partners (and one hotel partner). While the network of partners isn’t particularly exciting—if you’ll have access to nearly the same partners by holding any one of the other cards—what is noteworthy about the Autograph Journey is its high earning rates on airline and hotel purchases. 

Will other $95-annual-fee travel credit cards begin to feel the heat and increase the earning rates on these purchases in the near future? Only time will tell. 

The card is available online and in Wells Fargo branches as of March 20, 2024, but it is not yet available through Going.com. 

Earning points with the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey:

The new Wells Fargo Autograph Journey stands out for its high earning rates on hotels and airlines. Most travel credit cards in the $95 annual fee range, notably the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card earn 2X points on travel-related purchases. The Capital One Venture Rewards card earns 2X miles per dollar on all purchases. 

Earning 5X points on hotel purchases is also significant. Usually, only hotel co-branded cards offer these elevated rates, and even then, only on their properties. The  Wells Fargo Autograph Journey allows you to earn 5X points on hotel purchases, regardless of the brand. This makes this card a good option for someone who stays in hotels often but is not a brand loyalist. 

Earning 3X points on other travel and dining purchases is fairly standard among travel credit cards. This point earning rate is in line with the American Express Green Card, which is the lowest-tier Amex travel credit card.

Here’s the full earning breakdown.

• 5X points on hotels
• 4X points on airlines
• 3X points on other travel
• 3X points on dining
• 1X points for other purchases

Redeeming points with the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey:

Wells Fargo is just entering the transferable credit card point space, launching on April 4. The initial list of Wells Fargo transfer partners includes:

• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Avianca lifemiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• AerClub
• Iberia Plus
• And Choice Privileges for hotels.

It’s worth noting that other credit card companies’ points also transfer to many of these transfer partners. The Wells Fargo Rewards Points would be more valuable if they have exclusive transfer rights to an airline, such as a domestic US airline or even a popular international airline. Exclusive transfer rights to one specific airline would make holding this points currency more valuable. 

It’s common for credit card points to transfer at a 1:1 ratio to most airline or hotel partners, meaning 1,000 credit card points become 1,000 airline miles. However, the transfer ratios for Wells Fargo Rewards Points have not been announced.

Welcome offer on the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey:

The welcome offer on the new card will be 60,000 bonus rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.

This is a decent welcome offer. Again, nothing exceptional or out of the ordinary here.

With this network of transfer partners, your welcome offer could get you:

• Close to a roundtrip, economy ticket to Osaka, Japan. A recent Going with Points deal highlighted transferring around 70K points to Avianca lifemiles:
• Two roundtrip economy tickets from Dallas to Miami. Transfer your miles to British Airways and book a partner flight on American Airlines for this redemption.
• One roundtrip, economy ticket to Paris on Air France Flying Blue. You’d likely have some points left over, too. 

Alternatives to the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card:

Not sure if the the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey is the right path for you? There are a few other options to consider:

Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred

There is also significant overlap between Chase transfer partners and Wells Fargo transfer partners; Chase has all but Avianca and Choice Privileges in its network. However, Chase transfer partners also include several domestic airlines like Southwest, United, and JetBlue. Chase also has Air Canada and Virgin Atlantic among its transfer partners, two valuable airline programs beloved by points and miles enthusiasts.

Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card vs. Wells Fargo Autograph

Also, its earning rates are somewhat different: earn Unlimited 3X points on restaurants, travel, gas stations, transit, popular streaming services, and phone plans. Frequent travelers will be better off with the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card.

Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Card

^{The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey and Wells Fargo Autograph cards are not currently available through Going.com or its partners. You can learn more about Wells Fargo credit cards at WellsFargo.com.}