Wells Fargo Platinum Card Benefits Guide

If you’re trying to do the right thing for your finances, a good balance transfer card can be a great help in your quest. Whether you are trying to pay down debt or avoid using your own cash for large purchases, a no-to-low APR can get you well on the way to that goal.

One of the best balance transfer cards out there is the Wells Fargo Platinum Card. Not only can you get a 0 percent introductory APR, but the term also lasts up to 18 months for both purchases and balance transfers (the ongoing variable APR is 16.49 percent to 24.49 percent thereafter).

However, that’s not all there is to this card. Check out more Wells Fargo Platinum card benefits that might help you decide if this card is right for you.

What benefits does the Wells Fargo Platinum Card offer?

Card details:

• Rewards rate: This card does not offer rewards
• Welcome offer: None
• Annual fee: $0
• Purchase intro APR: 0 percent APR for 18 months from account opening
• Balance transfer intro APR: 0 percent APR for 18 months on qualifying balance transfers
• Regular APR: 16.49 percent to 24.49 percent variable APR

In addition to the Platinum card’s favorable introductory APR offer and other card perks and benefits, it helps to know that the Wells Fargo card is issued by an established bank with deep roots in the financial services industry.

Wells Fargo is currently the fourth largest bank in the U.S. It holds the oldest continuously operating bank charter in the U.S. However, it’s worth mentioning that the bank has been working to mend its reputation from a string of scandals in the past few years. So far, it has complied with orders to make things right for customers by doing things like issuing refunds, changing its internal operations and revamping its line of credit cards to be more competitive.

Whether or not this will make a huge difference to Wells’ customers remains to be seen, but it helps to know that plans are in the works for a comeback with existing and new customers. These small details can sometimes give you the confidence that your card issuer wants to preserve its reputation and, hopefully, do right by you as a valued cardholder in the years to come.

Intro APRs

The Wells Fargo Platinum card offers introductory APRs for new cardholders on both new purchases and balance transfers:

• 0% intro APR for 18 months from account opening on qualifying purchases
• 0% intro APR for 18 months on qualifying balance transfers

Both of these offers can help you pay off high-interest debt or finance large purchases over time. Even though there’s no interest on these offers, there is a balance transfer fee of 3 percent (minimum $5) for transfers made within 120 days of account opening. After that, the balance transfer fee goes up to 5 percent, and the $5 minimum stays in place.

If you end up using these offers responsibly, Wells Fargo may continue to send balance transfer offers to you as a Platinum cardholder. These prequalified offers from Wells Fargo could be for very low APRs and others could be for 0 percent for additional balance transfers, depending on prevailing market conditions, the bank’s credit portfolio at the time and your creditworthiness.

You can also be eligible for a credit limit increase with Wells Fargo as long as you keep low balances and maintain a healthy credit profile, especially regarding your credit utilization and on-time payments. It doesn’t hurt to maintain a Wells Fargo Bank account with larger balances, either.

The process to request a higher limit is relatively easy, can be done on the phone and can sometimes result in an instant decision and immediate credit limit increase.

See related: How to do a balance transfer with Wells Fargo

Cellphone protection

The Wells Fargo Platinum card offers some of the highest coverage you’ll find for cellphone protection—up to $600 in reimbursement for repair or replacement of your phone, minus a $25 deductible. However, this insurance only kicks in once you’ve exhausted other applicable options like homeowners’ or auto insurance or coverage you purchased through your cellphone carrier or manufacturer.

To activate cellphone protection, you must pay your phone bill with your Wells Fargo card each month. There are additional terms and limitations to this coverage, so read the fine print to make sure you can take advantage of this card benefit when you need it.

Credit education tools

Another benefit of being a Wells Fargo Platinum cardholder is having access to several credit education tools, including:

• Your FICO score
• Financial email series
• My Spending Report with Budget Watch

There’s also a tool where you can calculate your debt-to-income ratio, which can sometimes lead you to offers for other Wells Fargo credit cards or personal loans to consolidate your debt.

Additional card perks and benefits from the Wells Fargo Platinum Card

If you aren’t yet totally sold on the need for this card from the intro APR alone, it might help to consider additional perks that typically come with credit cards with an annual fee:

• Travel and emergency assistance services
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Roadside dispatch (pay-per-use roadside assistance program)
• Worldwide automatic common carrier travel accident insurance ($150,000 maximum)

Should you sign up for the Wells Fargo Platinum card?

If you’ve got special financial objectives like paying down high-interest debt or financing a large purchase (or a series of small ones) within the 18-month intro APR period offered by the card, it could make sense to apply.

If you are confident that you can use this offer to make progress on your financial goals, you could even be eligible for more balance transfer offers with Wells Fargo down the road. It’s also helpful that you can access credit education tools and extra card perks like cellphone insurance along with travel and emergency assistance insurance.

If, alas, you don’t really need a great balance transfer deal, you might just consider a rewards card that offers cash back or travel rewards. Be sure to check out our credit card review section in these categories to help narrow down your decision.