Wells Fargo Business Platinum Card Review

Wells Fargo mathletes worked overtime designing this card, which gives you a choice between earning points or cash back at different rates, with different reward booster and bonus opportunities and different redemption options. We sort it all out below. You’re welcome.

Get out your abacus, kids! We thought this was going to be a simple flat-rate cashback card. It’s not. The Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card lets you choose between earning a flat 1.5% cash back on every purchase (no categories or caps), or 1 point per $1 spent. But wait. To sweeten the points option, Wells throws in 1,000 bonus points every billing cycle where you spend $1,000 on qualifying purchases, making it a 2% rewards rate on $1,000 of spending per month. Alas, the most bonus points you can earn monthly is 1,000, and you only get that bonus if you spend $1,000. Spend less? No bonus. Spend more? No extra bonus.

The basics: Cash Back option: Earn 1.5% cash back on qualifying purchases. Reward Points option: Earn 1 point on every $1 spent and receive 1,000 bonus points every billing cycle when you spend at least $1,000 on qualifying purchases. 0% introductory rate on purchases for first nine months. New customer offer: Earn a one-time $300 cash back bonus (or 30,000 bonus points) when you spend $3,000 in the first three months of account open date.

Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued) pros and cons

Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued) cashback rewards spending categories

The following table shows the cashback rewards rate per $1 spent in the six most common spending categories. The “Bonus Rate” refers to the amount you can earn in excess of the card’s standard rewards rate.

Some cashback cards limit the spending amount eligible for the bonus rate (a.k.a. the “Spend Cap”). Once you hit that cap (e.g. $1,500 spending in a particular category during a defined time period), the rewards rate on future purchases in that category reverts to the lower “Default Rate.”

What we like

Is it a cashback card or a points card? You decide! Wells offers the choice between earning cashback or points on your spending.

First looks can be deceiving: 1.5% cash back is certainly better than earning 1 point for every $1 spent. Or is it? The Wells Fargo Business Platinum card provides several opportunities to pad your points.

We’ll math this out with all the available bonuses and boosters: In the cashback program, if you spend $1,000 each month (no more or less), you’ll earn $180 cashback in one year. That same $1,000 a month on the points plan makes you eligible for 1,000 bonus points a month for a grand total of 24,000 points. At the $1-per-point valuation, that comes to $240 in value per year.

Don’t stop there, player. There’s more value to be had if you redeem points through Wells Fargo’s Earn More Mall rewards website — as in 10% of the redemption amount in bonus points added to your account. That’s an extra $24 if you redeem the 24,000 points you racked up in the previous bullet point. After all that 😅 , you’ve eked out a 2.2% rewards rate on your $12,000 in annual spending.

Oh hey, you get a 5% discount on certain retail gift cards purchased through the Business Rewards redemption site.

That was a lot, so let’s all take a moment to regroup.

Two introductory goodies are worth planning ahead for: Spend $3,000 in the first three months for a one-time $300 bonus (or 30,000 bonus points if you go the point route).

Another intro offering: A 0% introductory rate on purchases for the first nine months.

Charges no foreign transaction fees, providing a break from the typical 3% fee some cards tack on.

Employee cards — up to 99 of them — are available for no additional fee, as with most business credit cards.

Includes Zero Liability protection, fraud monitoring, alerts and Visa Purchase Security on eligible purchases to replace, repair or reimburse you for lost/stolen/accidentally trashed goods.

What we don't like

You’ve got to choose your rewards setup at sign-up, and no do-overs! Switching to a different rewards option isn’t allowed.

Although earning bonus points is an attractive feature, be aware that the 1,000 extra monthly points kick in only in months where you spend $1,000 or more. Businesses with smaller expenditures — or much higher monthly spends — would be better off with the 1.5% cashback option because ...

Another limitation of the points system: Only 1,000 bonus points are on the table each month, no more. If you buy, say, $1,500 worth of purchases in a month, you'll still only get 1,000 bonus points (1 point per $1) max. And if you come up short and spend less — $999, for example — then no bonus points for you!

There’s an option to trade in the points you earn for cash back — either as an account credit or physical check. But the reward value is lower than what you get in the cashback program (1% versus 1.5%).

Note the rewards lag time: Cashback earnings are automatically credited to your account (or an eligible checking or savings account) just quarterly (March, June, September and December). Points, at least, are redeemable right away. Sorta …

On the points plan, bonus points are calculated and awarded based on what the card owner earns during the current billing cycle. Any points racked up on employee cards, however, take at least one statement cycle to be paid out.

Points expire on Nov. 30 three years after they were earned.

Cash advances will cost you 4% of the amount ($10 minimum, $175 maximum). And balance transfers? Beats us! The fine print says to “refer to specific offer details.” Oh wait, we found it (finally). A footnote on the card’s offer page says there’s a 4% fee ($10 minimum) per transfer.

Talk about inconvenient. Only current Wells Fargo customers with a Wells savings or checking account that’s been open for at least a year can apply for this card online. If you don’t meet that criteria you’ll need to change out of your PJs and make an appointment with a Wells Fargo branch rep.

Big businesses need not apply: The lender’s eligibility rules state that this Wells Fargo business Visa is for companies with annual sales of up to $2 million and 100 or fewer employees.

The bottom line

Is the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued) the best rewards card for your wallet? The answer depends entirely on your spending patterns. Let the numbers speak for themselves: Use the investor.com Cashback Credit Card Calculator to see which credit card pays back the highest rewards based on how much you spend each month.

Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued) fine print

For our next book club gathering, please read the Wells Fargo Business Platinum credit card customer agreement and be prepared to discuss the points rewards program.

Does the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued) charge an annual fee?

No, there is no annual fee for the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued).

Does the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued) offer a welcome bonus?

Yes, the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued) has a welcome bonus of $300.

How much cash back can I earn with the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued)?

The average business that spends $2580 per month will earn $464.40 in cash back per year using the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued). For comparison, the average annual rewards payout from the business credit cards in the investor.com database is $483.97, and $464.40 is the median.

These calculations are based on average consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the reward payout rates from the providers we track. Of course, you’re so much more than an average data point (aka “consumer unit,” in BLS parlance). The amount you can earn in cashback rewards using the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued) depends entirely on your unique spending habits.

Find out exactly how much you’ll rake in with the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card (Discontinued) by tailoring the spending inputs in the calculator above.

Methodology

The results of the investor.com Credit Card Rewards Calculator are based on the monthly spending amounts you enter and the annual dollar value of the rewards each credit card program pays per $1 spent. Credit card companies often express this payout amount as a percentage (e.g., 1.5% of every dollar spent) or on a points basis (e.g. ,1.5 points for every dollar spent). We converted all of them to a dollar amount (“Cash Back Per Year”) to make comparing offers easier.

To calculate the amount of cash back you could earn per year, we factored in:

• Spend category inputs: The default dollar values for each “Spend Category” in the Best Cashback Credit Cards tool — gas, groceries, travel, restaurant, entertainment, pharmacy, other — are based on average American spending data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We also include additional spend categories (such as streaming services, online shopping, utilities, transit, Amazon and more) to help you see which rewards cards are most closely aligned with your actual spending patterns. We encourage you to customize the monthly spend inputs for the most accurate results.
• Tiered rewards rates: If a rewards credit card pays higher cashback rates on certain spending categories (also called “Bonus Rewards”), that difference is reflected in the total “Cash Back Per Year” tally.
• Rewards spending caps: Some cards impose category- or time-based limits (monthly, quarterly, annually) that affect the amount of rewards you can earn. For example, a card may pay 3% cash back on groceries on up to $1,000 of spending each quarter, then revert to the base/default rewards rate until the following quarter. We accounted for bonus spending caps and timeframe in the calculations.
• Default rewards rates: Purchases that exceed a spending cap are usually subject to a lower default rewards rate (e.g., 1% or 1.5%). We mathed that out too.
• Annual fees: If a rewards card charges an annual fee, we deducted that amount from the “Cash Back Per Year” total to provide a true accounting of a card’s annual rewards payout.

What’s not included in the “Cash Back Per Year” total is the cash value of any sign-up/introductory bonus. We highlight any Welcome Bonus separately. While sign-up bonuses can be the most lucrative part of getting a new cashback rewards credit card, not everyone will want or be able to do what it takes to earn the extra cash. (It usually requires spending a certain amount in a specified time period after the card is activated.)

Read next

• Best Cashback Credit Cards
• Best Business Cashback Credit Cards
• What Is Credit? (And Why It Matters)
• Best High-Yield Savings Accounts
• Find a Financial Advisor
• Our Complete Coverage of Credit Cards

About the Editorial Team