Wells Fargo Platinum Visa Card Review

This card is perfect for someone who wants to get rid of high-interest debt by transferring it to this card and take a year and a half to pay it off interest-free. Alternatively, this card could be a great financing tool for large purchases, like appliances or furniture. Just be prepared to pay off your balance transfers or purchases before the long introductory rate offer ends.

• Long 0% purchase and balance transfer APR offer: Credit card introductory APR offers typically last about a year. It’s also not common for cards to offer no interest on purchases and balance transfers. However, this card offers new cardholders 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases for a whopping 18 months, which makes it one of the best (and longest) deals on available right now. As a result, this is a superb card for cutting costs in more than one way.
• Several useful cardholder perks: This card is advertised as a low-interest card, not a travel or cash-back card, so it makes sense that there aren’t many benefits attached to it. However, this card still comes with a few practical perks, like cell phone and travel accident insurance. More on this below.

• Limited time to make interest-free balance transfers: The 0% balance transfer APR offer only applies to balances transferred within the first 120 (about four months) after opening this card. The balance transfer fee will also rise to 5% from 3% after 120 days, too. This is still a good offer, just make your desired transfers ASAP to get the most value from this deal.
• Standard APRs may be high: Like all promotional offers, this one won’t last forever. Once 18 months is up, your interest rate will revert to the ongoing interest rates. Depending on your credit, the ongoing APRs for this range from 17.74% to 27.24%, so carrying balances later will cost you.
• No Rewards: Some cards that tout interest-free balance transfers also let you earn cash back for each dollar you spend, but the Wells Fargo Platinum Visa Card doesn’t have a rewards program of any kind. We think that’s just fine, as this card is intended to help you save on interest costs, not rack up rewards. Just keep this in mind for when the introductory APRs end. If you want rewards later, you’ll need another card. 

This card includes a couple of perks that are above and beyond standard card benefits: 

• Travel accident insurance: This policy will pay you or your beneficiaries up to $150,000 in the event of accidental injury or death while traveling. You must pay for the full passenger fare on a common carrier with your Wells Fargo credit card to qualify for this benefit.
• Cellphone insurance protection: This card comes with cell phone protection worth up to $600 per claim and up to $1,200 per year, minus a $25 deductible. You need to pay your cell phone bill with your credit card to qualify for this perk, but it can be a lifesaver if your phone is stolen or damaged. 

• Access to budgeting and financial planning tools
• Travel and emergency assistance services
• Secondary rental car insurance
• Roadside assistance

Wells Fargo has received less than stellar customer service ratings from third party companies. For example, J.D. Power ranked Wells Fargo 9th out of 11 major card issuers in their 2018 Credit Card Satisfaction Study. The issuer scored 777 of a possible 1,000 points in the survey, which the industry average was 801.

On the upside, Wells Fargo’s mobile app scored 4.5 out of 5 possible stars on Google Play and 4.8 out of 5 stars on iTunes. The Wells Fargo app also ranked fifth in J.D. Power’s 2019 U.S. Credit Card Mobile App Satisfaction Study, scoring 872 out 1,000 points. For the sake of comparison, the industry average score in this study was also 872.

Another plus? Wells Fargo gives you free access to your FICO score through Wells Fargo Online. 

Wells Fargo offers cardholders industry-standard security features, like alerts to help monitor account activity and catch fraud, and two-step verification to keep hackers out of your account. Carrying this card also qualifies you for emergency cash disbursement and speedy card replacement if your credit card is lost or stolen. 

In addition to standard penalty fees (which you can easily avoid), there are two main fees to watch for when using this card: A balance transfer fee, which will rise from 3% to 5% ($5 minimum) after the first 120 days, and a 3% foreign transaction fee.