Wells Fargo Business Elite Card® Review

With a choose-your-own-adventure style rewards structure and a $125 annual fee (waived first year), the Wells Fargo Business Elite Signature Card* offers solid benefits and reward-earning potential for the price. Just be mindful that it’s only available to businesses with more than $1,000,000 in annual sales.

The card allows account holders to choose how to earn rewards: As either 1.5% cash back or as 1 point per dollar with the opportunity to earn 5,000 bonus points each billing cycle for hitting a $10,000 spending threshold. With points redeemable for cash, gift cards, merchandise and airline tickets, there may be some advantage to the points system—especially considering online points redemptions earn an extra 10% in value. A number of caveats exist, however, like the fact that airline ticket redemptions involve a fee per-redemption.

Though the $125 annual fee is waived in the first year, there are other business cards that earn 1.5% cash back without an annual fee, so that alone isn’t impressing us. The list of benefits, like auto rental coverage, various travel insurances and extended warranty protections are about what we’d expect from a card with this sort of annual fee. The custom card designs, 200 employee cards and lack of foreign transaction fees are nice, too. The welcome bonus isn’t too shabby, either: $1,000 one-time cash back bonus or 100,000 bonus points after spending $25,000 in the first three months of account open date. The card is a decent choice, especially for those who know their average business expenses each month and can make their optimal choice between cash back or points.

• $125 annual fee (waived first year)
• Welcome bonus: $1,000 one-time cash back bonus or 100,000 bonus points after spending $25,000 in the first three months of account open date
• Earn 1.5% cash back or 1 point per dollar and a 5,000 point bonus for spending $10,000 in a billing cycle
• No foreign transaction fees
• Up to 200 additional employee cards at no extra cost
• Travel insurance and extended warranty protections

Earning Rewards

The Wells Fargo Business Elite Signature Card* earns either a flat rate 1.5% cash back or 1 point per dollar spent with the opportunity to earn an additional 5,000 bonus points each billing cycle at least $10,000 is spent on the card. These two options depend on the election made upon account opening. Points expire 60 months after the month in which they were earned. Points from a personal rewards account may be combined with those from a business rewards account.

The Business Elite Signature also offers a welcome bonus: $1,000 one-time cash back bonus or 100,000 bonus points after spending $25,000 in the first three months of account open date.

Redeeming Rewards

Cash-back rewards, if chosen, will be redeemed each quarter automatically as a statement credit or transferred into a Wells Fargo business checking or savings account. Cash back earned with employee cards will transfer the following quarter from the quarter in which it is earned.

Points rewards may be redeemed through the Business Card Rewards program for merchandise, gift cards, airline travel or cash back. Cash-back redemptions may have redemption minimum amounts and may be priced differently than cash-back rewards. Wells Fargo reserves the right to change the rewards program at any time, so any currently available deal may not be there in the future.

Rewards Potential

To determine the rewards potential of the Wells Fargo Business Elite Signature Card* we calculated what a sole proprietor or small business might spend in the bonus categories. Forbes Advisor uses data from various government agencies to determine both annual expenses and spending averages across various categories.

Based on the data, we calculated the following rewards potential for a small business with the following spending scenarios:

A business that spends $25,000 per year would earn $375 in cash back or at least 25,000 points. A business that spends $50,000 per year would earn $750 in cash back or at least 50,000 points. A business that spends $75,000 per year would earn $1,125 in cash back or at least 75,000 points. A business that spends $100,000 per year would earn $1,500 in cash back or at least 100,000 points.

• Travel Incidental Fee Reimbursement: Up to $100 per company per year in reimbursements for travel incidentals.
• Card Design Studio: Showcase company logos or designs on cards.
• Employee Cards: Up to 200 employee cards at no additional charge.
• $0 Liability Protection: Cardholders aren’t responsible for unauthorized charges.
• Extended Warranty Protection: Extend eligible manufacturer warranties up to one year when items are purchased on the card.
• Travel Accident Insurance: Up to $250,000 in coverage.
• Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Coverage: Up to $2,500 per ticket in coverage, including for weather.
• Trip Delay Reimbursement: Up to $300 per ticket delay coverage.
• Lost Luggage Coverage: Up to $3,000 per trip in baggage insurance.
• Auto Rental Insurance: Protection from collision and theft when a rental car is charged to the card.

Interest Rates

• Regular APR: 11.99% variable APR on purchases
• Purchase Intro APR: N/A
• Balance Transfer Intro APR: N/A

Fees

• Annual Fee: $125 annual fee (waived first year)
• Balance Transfer Fee: N/A
• Cash Advance: Either 4% of the amount of each advance or $10 minimum, whichever is greater
• Foreign Purchase Transaction Fee: None

Wells Fargo Business Elite Signature Card* vs. Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

The $0-annual-fee Ink Business Cash® Credit Card offers an alternative for those whose businesses may not meet the $1 million in annual sales requirement of the Wells Fargo Business Elite. With fewer, but still solid benefits and an entirely different cash-back rewards structure, the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card rewards bonus category spending with 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year and 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year. Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases.

The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card also offers 0% introductory APR on purchases for 12 months, then a standard APR of 18.49% - 24.49% variable applies for purchases and balance transfers. A balance transfer fee of either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater, applies. The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card offers purchase protection and some travel benefits, but not remotely close to the sort of benefits the Wells Fargo Business Elite Signature Card* does. For smaller business owners who want to leverage solid cash back, the Ink Business Cash makes more sense, but for bigger businesses, the Business Elite Signature may be a better choice.

Wells Fargo Business Elite Signature Card* vs. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

For those with the business income to qualify for the Wells Fargo Business Elite Signature card, the annual fee probably isn’t an issue. But if you’re going big, why not go really big? The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (Terms apply. See rates & fees) charges a $695 annual fee and provides the sort of prestige benefits you’d expect to see on a card with this high of an annual fee. We ranked it the Best Business Credit Card for Lounge Access for a reason, but that’s not the only heavy-hitting perk of this card.

Though there’s no similar requirement for $1 million in annual sales with the Amex Business Platinum, the card includes $189 in statement credits for CLEAR® Plus membership and other heavy-duty travel perks. It’s also extremely popular for its hefty welcome bonus: 150,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $20,000 in eligible purchases with the card within the first 3 months of card membership.

The ultimate difference here is that the Wells Fargo Business Elite Signature is a card for earning rewards while getting your work done when traveling. The Amex Business Platinum is the card for working in luxurious comfort while traveling.

Wells Fargo Business Elite Signature Card* vs. Bank of America® Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard® credit card

The Bank of America® Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard® credit card also earns 3 points per dollar spent on car, hotel or airline travel booked through the Bank of America® Travel Center and 1.5 points per dollar spent on all other purchases, all for a $0 annual fee. The Business Advantage Travel Rewards doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee and offers a 0% introductory APR on purchases for the first 9 billing cycles, then a 18.49% - 28.49% variable APR on purchases and balance transfers applies. A balance transfer fee of 4% of the amount of each transaction applies.

Though the Wells Fargo Business Elite Signature Card* markets itself as being for an elite customer, the Bank of America® Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard® credit card offers similar earning power with that $0 annual fee and has many of the same expansive travel benefits like trip cancellation insurance, accident insurance and lost baggage coverage. Keep in mind business owners should consider more than a comparison of perks when selecting a new card, as each company’s needs will be different.

To view rates and fees for The Business Platinum Card® from American Express please visit this page.