Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card Review: Earn Valuable Transferrable Points

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card is a good choice if you’re looking for a travel credit card. It stacks up to many of the top travel credit cards in terms of rewards and benefits for a modest $95 annual fee. You’ll get elevated points on hotel, airline, restaurant and other travel purchases. Plus, there’s a $50 annual statement credit when you make your first airline purchase of $50 or more.

You can also transfer points to four airline and one hotel loyalty programs. This is a small list, but Wells Fargo suggests that additional partners will be added later this year. The additional partners would put this card in the same league as some of the best travel cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card and Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

Although you won’t get an intro APR on purchases or balance transfers with this card, you can’t go wrong by choosing it as a travel credit card for your wallet.

→ Looking for better travel benefits? See our list of best travel credit cards

• Annual fee: $95
• Sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in purchases in the first 3 months – that’s $600 toward your next trip.
• Rewards: Earn unlimited 5X points on hotels, 4X points on airlines, 3X points on other travel and restaurants, and 1X points on other purchases.
• Intro purchase APR: None
• APR: 20.74%, 25.74%, or 29.74% Variable APR
• Balance transfer fee: 3% for 120 days from account opening, then up to 5%, min: $5.
• Other benefits: Travel accident insurance, Lost luggage reimbursement, Trip cancellation and interruption protection, Auto rental collision damage waiver, Travel and emergency services assistance, Roadside dispatch, Emergency cash disbursement and card replacement, Zero liability protection, Visa Signature® Concierge service, Visa Signature® Luxury Hotel Collection and My Wells Fargo Deals
• Recommended credit: Good / Excellent

• Generous sign-up bonus

  The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card offers a valuable sign-up bonus. Earn 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in purchases in the first 3 months – that’s $600 toward your next trip. This is a great way to start earning points towards travel quickly.

  This is similar to sign-up bonuses on top travel cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card and Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. You’ll need to spend about $1,333 each month to get the sign-up bonus.

• Annual statement credit

  The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card offers an annual $50 annual statement credit that automatically applies to your first airline purchase of $50 or more. The credit covers a wide variety of airline purchases, since it applies to any purchase that falls under airline and airline carriers. That includes airline tickets (though it doesn’t include charter flights and private jets).

  This is similar to what you’ll see with the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card, which offers up to $50 in statement credits each account anniversary year when you book hotel stays through Chase Travel.

  But, if you’re not looking for airline savings you might consider the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, which offers up to a $120 statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®.

• High rewards rate on restaurant and travel purchases

  The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card is a great choice if you’re a frequent traveler because you’ll get accelerated rewards focused on travel purchases:

  • 5X points on hotels
  • 4X points on airlines
  • 3X points on restaurants and other travel (timeshares, rental cars, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites and campgrounds)
  • 1X points on other purchases

  You’ll get rewards on travel purchases booked through the platform of your choice. These are much broader categories for travel than what you’ll see with most travel cards. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card requires you to book through Chase Travel℠ to get 5X back on travel purchases and the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card requires you to book through Capital One Travel to get 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars.

  If you aren’t a frequent traveler and are looking for rewards in other popular spending categories you should opt for the Wells Fargo Autograph^℠ Card. You’ll Earn unlimited 3X points on restaurants, travel, gas stations, transit, popular streaming services and phone plans. Plus earn 1X points on other purchases.

• Points are easy to redeem

  Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card rewards are extremely flexible and there are plenty of redemption options to choose from. You can redeem points as statement credits for any qualifying travel purchase with no restrictions or blackout dates. Plus, points can be redeemed for cash back at around 1 cent per point.

  Here are all of the ways you can redeem rewards:

  • Travel: Redeem rewards for flights, car rentals and hotel stays.
  • Cash back: Cash can be redeemed as a deposit or credit to a qualifying redemption account, as a paper check or as a cash withdrawal from a Wells Fargo ATM.
  • Redeem points to your account: Rewards can be redeemed as a credit to a qualified Wells Fargo mortgage, loan or credit product.
  • Redeem points for purchases: Cover eligible purchases you’ve already made with a statement credit. You must have enough rewards to redeem for the entire amount of the transaction.
  • Pay with rewards: Use your rewards to make purchases when you check out with participating merchants.
  • Automatic redemption: Select a designated amount to be redeemed toward an eligible redemption account or through a paper check. Automatic redemptions are available in $25 cash rewards or 2,500-point increments.
  • Gift cards
  • Merchandise: Search for deals from hundreds of retailers.
  • Charitable donations: Redeem your Wells Fargo Rewards to support disaster relief through the American Red Cross.
  • Gift points: Gift your rewards to a rewards account owned by another program customer.
  Learn more about the Wells Fargo Rewards program.

• Transfer points to loyalty partners

  In April 2024, Wells Fargo introduced Points Transfer. This allows you to transfer points earned with your Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card as miles, points or credits to participating partner loyalty programs. So far, this includes a few partners, but more are expected to be added. Current partners are:

  • AerClub (1:1 ratio)
  • Air France‑KLM Flying Blue (1:1 ratio)
  • Avianca Lifemiles (1:1 ratio)
  • British Airways Executive Club (1:1 ratio)
  • Choice Privileges® (1:2 ratio)
  • Iberia Plus (1:1 ratio)

  Transferring points to a travel partner can typically earn you the highest redemption rate. For example, with the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card, Chase Ultimate Rewards® points are worth around 1.25 cents each when redeemed through the Chase Travel portal, but are worth around 2 cents per point when transferred strategically to a Chase travel partner.

  Chase Ultimate Rewards® currently offers a much longer list of travel transfer partners at about 11 airline partners and three hotel partners, including two major U.S. airlines. If Wells Fargo substantially expands their travel transfer partner list, the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card could join the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card as one of the top travel rewards cards.

• Solid list of travel benefits

  The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card offers a few additional travel benefits you won’t get with the no-annual-fee Wells Fargo Autograph^℠ Card including travel accident insurance, lost luggage reimbursement and trip cancellation and interruption protection. These benefits are in-line with what you’ll get with top travel cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card, but this card offers high cellphone protection which many other cards don’t offer.

  • Travel accident insurance: Protection of up to $1,000,000 when you purchase your airline ticket with your card.
  • Lost luggage reimbursement: Up to $3,000 in reimbursement for lost luggage.
  • Trip cancellation and interruption protection: Use your card to pay for your trip and get reimbursed up to $15,000 for lodging, flights and activities if your trip is canceled for a covered reason.
  • Cellphone protection: Get up to $1,000 of cellphone protection against damage, theft or unintended separation. Subject to a $25 deduction. (The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card only offers up to $600 of cellphone protection).
  • Auto rental collision damage waiver: Covers theft, damage, valid loss-of-use charges, administrative fees and eligible towing charges for a car rented with your card.
  • Travel and emergency services assistance: Get help for medical and medical emergencies while traveling, as well as other travel mishaps like lost luggage.
  • Roadside dispatch®: Access to a 24/7 on-demand referral dispatch network that provides emergency roadside assistance, towing or locksmith service.
  • Emergency cash disbursement and card replacement: Emergency cash advance or a card replacement within one to three business days after issuer approval.
  • Zero liability protection: Ensures that you won’t be held responsible for unauthorized transactions.

• No intro APR on purchases or balance transfers

  The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card isn’t the best choice for financing a large purchase or transferring a balance. There’s no intro APR period on purchases or balance transfers, meaning you’ll start paying interest right away on unpaid balances.

  If you’re looking for an intro APR on purchases, the Wells Fargo Autograph^℠ Card is a better choice because it offers a 0% intro APR for 12 months from account opening on purchases. Then, a 19.74%, 24.74%, or 29.74% Variable APR applies. Or, there are cards with even longer intro APRs on purchases and balance transfers.

Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card vs. Wells Fargo Autograph^℠ Card

The Wells Fargo Autograph^℠ Card and Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card have a lot of similarities. The big difference is that the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card is primarily centered around travel purchases, while the Wells Fargo Autograph^℠ Card allows you to earn points on a variety of categories including restaurants, gas stations, transit, streaming services, phone plans and travel. The Wells Fargo Autograph^℠ Card comes with a $0 annual fee and Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card has a $95 annual fee.

Since there’s a $0 annual fee you won’t get the higher sign-up bonus, annual statement credit and additional travel benefits you’ll get with the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card. But you’ll get an intro APR on purchases, which could help you finance an upcoming trip.

Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card is one of the best travel rewards credit cards. Similar to the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card, there’s a $95 annual fee and the card comes with excellent travel benefits. The rewards structure is similar, but you can earn rewards on a few more categories with the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card. You’ll get 5X on travel through Chase Travel, 3X on dining, streaming services and online groceries and 2X on other travel purchases. Both cards offer a $50 annual statement credit.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards®, which are one of the most popular rewards programs for frequent travelers. Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card points are much more valuable because you can transfer them to 14+ airline and hotel partners. Rewards are also worth 25% more when you redeem them through the Chase Travel portal.

Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is another travel credit card with a $95 annual fee (see rates & fees). Redemption options are similar to the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card. There’s a large range of 15+ travel transfer partners, and you’ll get a TSA PreCheck®/Global Entry credit. While the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card offers only 1 point on purchases outside of rewards categories, you’ll get 2 Miles per dollar on every purchase you make with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. This makes it a better choice for everyday purchases.

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey^℠ Card is comparable to some of the top travel credit cards with low annual fees. It has excellent travel protections and a high sign-up bonus. Plus, it has plenty of redemption options to choose from.

Although it only offers a few travel transfer partners, there are more to come that will increase the value of the card.