Wells Fargo Active Cash® Review

Overview

The Wells Fargo Active Cash® is a points-earning card from Wells Fargo, running on the Visa network. The Wells Fargo Active Cash® keeps things simple, earning a flat 2x on every purchase with no categories to track or quarterly activations. There is no annual fee, which means every dollar of rewards is pure profit. New cardholders can earn $200 cash rewards bonus after $500 in 3 months.

It is built for simplicity. There are no categories to track, no quarterly activations, and no annual fee, which makes it one of the easier cards to set and forget while still earning a respectable flat rate.

Our 4.0 out of 5 rating

Each score weighs the rewards rate, value after the annual fee, welcome offer, points flexibility, and perks, with every point valued at a flat 1 cent. This is our editorial assessment to help you compare cards, not a guarantee of approval or of the value you will get.

Rewards: how it earns

The Wells Fargo Active Cash® earns a flat 2x on every purchase. On a typical $29,160 of annual spending that comes to about $583 back a year, with nothing to track or activate.

Every point and mile above is valued at a flat 1 cent, the same honest standard we use for every card. Run your own spending through the calculator to see what this card would actually return for you.

Pros and cons

The welcome bonus

The current welcome offer is $200 cash rewards bonus, earned after you spend $500 in 3 months. Valued honestly at a flat 1 cent per point, that is worth about $200. The spending requirement works out to roughly $166 per month, so make sure it fits your normal budget rather than pushing you to overspend. Stacking the welcome offer on top of a typical year of rewards and accounting for no annual fee, the first year is worth roughly $783.

Is the annual fee worth it?

The Wells Fargo Active Cash® has no annual fee, so there is no break-even math to worry about. Every dollar of rewards is profit, and you can keep it open for free, which also helps the average age of your credit over time.

Benefits and protections

Beyond the rewards, the perks and protections worth knowing about include:

• $200 cash rewards bonus after $500 spend in first 3 months
• Cell phone protection up to $600 (when you pay your monthly bill with this card)
• Visa Signature Concierge service
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Travel and emergency assistance services
• Zero liability protection

Statement credits

This card does not come with recurring statement credits. Its value is in the rewards rate and welcome offer.

Ecosystem and transfer partners

The Wells Fargo Active Cash® earns Go Far Rewards, one of the more valuable currencies in rewards because of where the points can go. On its own it earns flexible points, but paired with a premium Wells Fargo card you can pool them together and unlock 1 to 1 transfers to 8 airline and hotel partners: Air France/KLM Flying Blue, Avianca LifeMiles, British Airways, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, JetBlue TrueBlue, Choice Privileges, and Aer Lingus. As an earner, its job is to rack up points cheaply that you move to a hub card before transferring. The sweet spots are usually premium-cabin flights and high-end hotel nights, where a single point can be worth well more than the 1 cent we value it at here.

Who should get it, and who should skip it

It is best for anyone who wants the simplest possible setup: one flat rate on everything, no categories to track, and no annual fee to earn back.

Skip it if you have heavy, predictable spending in one category, where a card with a higher bonus rate there would simply earn you more.

How it compares

If the Wells Fargo Active Cash® is not quite the right fit, these related cards are worth weighing against it:

Frequently asked questions