Wells Fargo Attune Card review 2024: Bonus cash-back categories galore
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BLUEPRINT
Published 6:13 a.m. UTC June 27, 2024
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Wells Fargo’s new credit card blitz continues with a contribution to the no-annual-fee card market that has cash-back enthusiasts all abuzz.
The Wells Fargo Attune℠ Card * The information for the Wells Fargo Attune℠ Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. earns very generous cash rewards in a long lineup of purchase categories typically neglected by other rewards cards, ranging from pet stores to toy shops to tarot readings (seriously). Our Wells Fargo Attune Card review spells out who should consider adding this card to their deck (most folks, basically) and who can skip it.
Wells Fargo Attune Card basics
- Annual fee: $0.
- Welcome bonus: $100 cash rewards bonus after spending $500 in purchases in the first three months of account opening.
- Rewards: 4% cash rewards on fitness and wellness, like gym memberships, exercise classes, salons and spas, on select sports, recreation, and entertainment including live shows and sporting events, gardening and floral stores, as well as pet supplies, boarding and grooming and on purchases like public transit, EV charging stations, and select thrift stores and 1% cash rewards on other purchases.
- APR: 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months from date of account opening, then a variable APR of 20.24%, 25.24%, or 29.99% applies to purchases and balance transfers. There is an intro balance transfer fee of either $5 or 3% of the amount of each balance transfer, whichever is greater, for 120 days from account opening. After that, up to 5% for each balance transfer, with a minimum of $5.
- Recommended credit score: Good to excellent.
- Does the card offer preapproval? No
- Other benefits: Protection against cellphone theft or damage, secondary rental car insurance, flexible cash rewards.
Wells Fargo Attune Card review
The Wells Fargo Attune Card earns its enhanced cash-back rate in three general purchase categories: self-care, select sports, recreation and entertainment and impactful purchases. This rather vague branding makes the card seem like a niche cash-back product with little allure for the everyday shopper.
But those attuned to fine print will marvel at the dozens of purchase subcategories that earn at the card’s highest and unlimited cash-back rate and make it well worth a second look. Some of the more notable bonus cash-back categories include:
- Amusement parks.
- Artist’s supply and craft shops.
- Beauty and barber shops.
- Digital goods media (books, movies, digital artwork/images, music).
- Gym memberships and fitness studios.
- Hobby, toy and game shops.
- Local and suburban commuter passenger transportation, including ferries.
- Nurseries and lawn and garden supply stores.
- Pet shops, pet foods and supplies stores.
- Sporting and recreational camps.
- Sporting goods stores.
- Ticket agencies and theatrical producers.
- Tourist attractions and exhibits.
- Trailer parks and campgrounds.
Note that those account for less than a third of the different purchase types that earn at the card’s bonus rate. By comparison, the best cash-back cards on the market top out at five or so bonus cash-back categories.
This everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to credit card rewards is a good fit for anyone with a hobby, child or furbaby they spend a sizable amount of money on without being properly rewarded by their current cash-back card. That said, while the Wells Fargo Attune Card can maximize the cash rewards you earn on your fitness regimen, grooming expenses and recreational or creative pursuits, it doesn’t cover all your spending bases.
Purchases made with the Attune card in big-ticket spending categories — like groceries, restaurants and gas — earn a low base rewards rate. The lack of enhanced bonus rates in traditional purchase categories makes the Attune card best suited for use in combination with other rewards cards and a poor fit for credit card monogamists. Financial minimalists who roll with the Attune as their sole credit card will miss out on the slightly better earning opportunities available with more mainstream cash-back cards.
Pros
- Huge range of enhanced cash-back categories: The Attune card’s highest cash-back rate applies to nearly 50 merchant categories, which is extremely rare (if not unprecedented) in the U.S. credit card market.
- Niche earning opportunities: Purchases in many of the card’s enhanced cash-back categories — like beauty shops, massage parlors and camera supply stores — typically earn at a low base rate with other credit cards.
- Flexible rewards: If you have either the Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card or the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card * The information for the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. , you can convert the Attune card’s cash rewards into Wells Fargo Rewards points and use your rewards for travel or transfer to loyalty partners.
Cons
- Underwhelming welcome offer: Though the Attune card’s welcome bonus has a philanthropic component, its overall value is smaller than welcome bonuses from many competing no-annual-fee cards.
- Low flat and everyday earning rates: The card’s “everything else” earning rate is so-so and applies to everyday categories like groceries, restaurants or gas.
- Foreign transaction fees: This fee of 3% of each transaction converted to U.S. dollars dulls the luster of the Attune card’s high cash-back rates in certain purchase categories that would otherwise be clutch when traveling overseas, like tourist attractions and passenger railways.
Wells Fargo Attune Card rewards
The Attune card’s welcome offer has two components. New cardholders can earn a $100 cash rewards bonus after spending $500 in purchases in the first three months of account opening. While that’s better than no bonus at all, other no-annual-fee credit cards have welcome offers worth twice as much for the same spending requirement.
If you qualify for the bonus, Wells Fargo will also donate $50 to Capital Link, a nonprofit that equips community-based health centers with solar power backup systems, ensuring that they can continue to provide critical services during power outages.
But the card’s biggest selling point is its cash rewards: Earn 4% cash rewards on fitness and wellness, like gym memberships, exercise classes, salons and spas, on select sports, recreation, and entertainment including live shows and sporting events, gardening and floral stores, as well as pet supplies, boarding and grooming and on purchases like public transit, EV charging stations, and select thrift stores and 1% cash rewards on other purchases.
The card’s bonus categories are so diverse that almost everyone is sure to find at least a few interesting categories.
Using government data and other publicly available information, we estimate that a U.S. household in the market for this card has around $29,525 in annual expenses that can be charged to a credit card. Here’s how that sample household’s rewards could break down:
| SPENDING CATEGORY | SPENDING AMOUNT | CASH-BACK RATE | CASH-BACK EARNED |
|---|---|---|---|
Entertainment
| $1,606
| 4%
| $64.24
|
Public transit
| $845
| 4%
| $33.80
|
Athletic apparel
| $408.45
| 4%
| $16.34
|
Streaming services
| $648
| 4%
| $25.92
|
Other
| $26,017.55
| 1%
| $260.18
|
TOTAL
| $29,525
| $400.48
|
Allocating these annual expenses to the Attune card would earn this household over $400 in annual cash rewards. While that’s a nice chunk of change, it’s a bit lower than our projected annual cash-back hauls for some of the Attune card’s competitors.
Wells Fargo Attune Card APR
New Attune cardholders can take advantage of the 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months from date of account opening, then a variable APR of 20.24%, 25.24%, or 29.99% applies to purchases and balance transfers. There is an intro balance transfer fee of either $5 or 3% of the amount of each balance transfer, whichever is greater, for 120 days from account opening. After that, up to 5% for each balance transfer, with a minimum of $5.
While this is a decent deal for anyone who plans to buy an expensive item in the near future and wants to pay it off gradually, there are plenty of other 0% APR credit card offers for a longer period of time.
Wells Fargo Attune Card perks
Like most no-annual-fee cards, the Attune card doesn’t have many extra perks aside from its noteworthy cash-back rates, but there are a few features worth looking at.
- Cellphone protection: If you use the Attune card to pay your wireless bill, you’ll be reimbursed up to $600 for your cellphone’s repair or replacement in the event that it’s stolen or its functionality is damaged. Claims can be made twice in a 12-month period and are subject to a $25 deductible.
- Rental car insurance: If you pay for a rental car with the Attune card and decline the rental company’s collision loss/damage insurance, the coverage reimburses you for covered accidents and theft of the rental car for periods of up to 15 consecutive days in the U.S. and 31 consecutive days in most other countries. Coverage is secondary for rentals in the U.S. and primary for rentals abroad.
- Potential for transferable rewards: If you also have the Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card or Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card * The information for the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. , you can convert the Attune card’s cash rewards into Wells Fargo Rewards points. This is significant given that these points are transferable to six airline and hotel loyalty programs, some of which offer very favorable value for your points.
How the Wells Fargo Attune Card compares with other cash-back cards
Wells Fargo Attune Card vs. Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card
One of the Attune card’s weaknesses is that it has a low base rate on purchases compared to some of its competitors. If your spending is spread out pretty evenly across a bunch of purchase categories and you prefer the simplicity of owning only one credit card, then a card with a higher flat rate may be a better fit for you than the Attune.
Though it doesn’t have any enhanced cash-rewards categories, the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card does earn an unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases, making it a solid solo credit card option.
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Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card
Wells Fargo Attune Card vs. Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express
Although the Attune card offers enhanced cash-rewards rates in tons of peripheral purchase categories, it earns at only its base rate for some of the most critical categories in the average budget, including groceries and gas. So anyone who’s considering applying for the Attune card should first ensure they’re already maximizing their potential cash rewards for essential purchases.
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express (terms apply, rates & fees) is a worthy rival to the Attune card because it earns 3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and online retail purchases in the U.S. (on up to $6,000 in each category per year, then 1%), and 1% cash back on other purchases. Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or for eligible items at Amazon.com checkout. According to our spending data, the spending cap on groceries at U.S. supermarkets comfortably exceeds most households’ yearly grocery, gas and online shopping budgets.
If you don’t mind having more than one credit card, strategically using both the Attune and Blue Cash Everyday cards can help you maximize your cash rewards across as much of your spending as possible. The combined bonus cash-rewards categories for the two cards are ultimately so complementary that they might become one of the most popular credit card combinations.
Wells Fargo Attune Card vs. Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card * The information for the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Unlike the Attune card, the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card * The information for the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. is one of the rare cash-back unicorns that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, making it a great fit for people who love cash back and spend a significant amount of time abroad. What’s more, the SavorOne has a respectable bonus cash-back rate in two major everyday spending categories — grocery stores and dining— making it a better fit for foodies than the Attune card, which earns the base cash-back rate in those categories.
However, the SavorOne’s rewards rate on entertainment and select streaming services falls short of the Attune card’s rewards in comparable categories. As with the Blue Cash Everyday Card, those who want to earn as many cash rewards as possible might choose to strategically use both the SavorOne and the Attune cards. But if you prefer not to juggle multiple cards, you’ll likely earn more cash back with the SavorOne.
The Wells Fargo Attune Card is right for you if:
- You are a devoted gardener, dance mom/dad, pet parent, etc. who shells out a lot of money in one or more of the Attune card’s many bonus categories.
- You already have a card that earns Wells Fargo Rewards points and you’d like to convert the Attune’s cash rewards into rewards and scale their value.
- You don’t mind using the Attune card in tandem with an everyday spending card.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Wells Fargo typically expects applicants for its no-annual-fee rewards credit cards to have credit scores of about 700 or more. This is in line with the average FICO Score, which was 717 as of October 2023.
Even if you have a strong credit score and high annual income, we recommend thoroughly considering your approval prospects before applying for the Attune card, particularly if you’ve applied for multiple credit products in the past year or so.
Wells Fargo’s credit card application rules prohibit you from opening more than one Wells Fargo-branded credit card every six months. But you can open multiple Wells Fargo credit cards if you wait six months between applications.
It’s not always easy to predict the rewards a credit card purchase will earn, and it does involve a degree of trial and error. A business you patronize might seem to match up with one of the qualifying merchant categories that earn at the Attune card’s bonus rate, but it may end up being oddly coded.
For instance, while the Attune card includes bowling alleys among the many merchant categories that qualify for its bonus rate, your local bowling/pizza establishment may actually be categorized as a restaurant, which earns at the card’s more modest base cash-rewards rate.
The only surefire way to know what rewards rate you’ll get is by buying something from a business and checking your credit card statement later to see what merchant category code the purchase was assigned.
A merchant category code (MCC) is a four-digit number that categorizes your credit card purchases and identifies the type of business where each card purchase is made. Credit card issuers use a purchase’s MCC to determine how much the purchase earns in rewards.
For rates and fees for the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express please visit this page.
*The information for the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card and Wells Fargo Attune℠ Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.
