Wells Fargo Platinum Visa Card

The Wells Fargo Platinum Visa card is a balance transfer card.  Balance transfer credit cards allow consumers to transfer existing credit card debt from other banks and issuers to this card.  The benefit is that the consumer no longer needs to pay interest on that debt during the introductory period.  A balance transfer card is different from a debt consolidation loan.

The Good

• 0% APR introductory offer for 18 months
• 0% on purchases
• Get up to $600 protection on your cell phone (subject to $25 deductible) against covered damage or theft when you pay your monthly cellular telephone bill with your Wells Fargo Platinum Visa® Card
• No annual fee
• FICO credit score for free

The Wells Fargo Platinum card offers a very good 18 months introductory offer at 0% which gives you extra time to work on paying down that debt.  Any purchases made during this time period are also at 0% interest.

While we typically recommend that borrowers paying down debt should not put any new purchase on their balance transfer card, there’s one purchase that actually make sense with Wells Fargo Platinum: your cell phone.  If you pay with this card, a $600 protection plan (subject to a $25 deductible if you use it) is included.  This is likely an expense that you are paying for through your cell phone carrier, and sometimes it’s as much as $15 per month.  Cancel this expense for additional savings.  And since this a VISA card, you actually get additional benefits, too, such as collision insurance for a rental call.  You can see the full list of benefits on the VISA website.

Wells Fargo also has an impressive suite of tools for customers that let you check your FICO score and budget your monthly expenses.

The Bad

• 3% transfer fee
• No cash rewards

Unfortunately, pretty much every card is going to charge you a balance transfer fee, and sometimes it’s as much as 5%. So 3% is reasonable and less than you would otherwise pay in interest.  It is the only way they can cover their costs to offer a balance transfer card.  It’s still a positive proposition for you, assuming that you can pay down debt during the introductory period.

Unlike the Discover IT card, the Wells Fargo Platinum Visa card does not offer cash rewards on purchases.  We think that’s ok because this should not be a card you are using to make a lot of new purchases on credit anyway.  Use your debit card or cash and reign in spending while you pay down your balance.

The Summary

The Wells Fargo Platinum card is an excellent option for consumers with good or excellent credit.  Any borrowers with a FICO score below  590 will likely be denied.

If you had $4,000 outstanding in debt at a 15% interest rate, you’d be paying $275 per month in interest.  Over the course of 18 months, that is $4,950 if you only pay the minimum payments.  This card has big potential for savings, and more importantly, can give you the breathing room to hopefully pay down much more than just the minimum payments on your path to debt free.

You may be asking yourself, “Why is this card called Platinum?”  The term “platinum” is often reserved for cards with nice perks but also an annual fee.  This card does not have an annual fee.  Wells Fargo has over 75 cards with the term “platinum” in the name.  So in this case, it’s just marketing.

Finally, remember that with any balance transfer card, you need to continue paying the monthly payments on your current card until the balance transfer is confirmed.  This can take up to three weeks.