Compare the Features and Benefits of Amazon Prime Visa and
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card

As much as we love rewards credit cards with transferable bank points, for heavy Amazon or Whole Foods shoppers, it’s hard to deny that 5% cash back on all of these purchases with the Prime Visa (as long as you have an eligible Amazon Prime membership!) is pretty awesome.

I know some people that do absolutely all of their grocery shopping at Whole Foods and as much shopping as possible at Amazon. If this is you, the Prime Visa credit card is probably a no brainer, especially with no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and a wide range of consumer protections like extended warranty, purchase protection (which covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account) and trip protections, although note that the trip protections aren’t nearly as rich as on many travel specific credit cards.

As a reminder, you’ll earn an unlimited 5% back at Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, and on Chase Travel purchases with an eligible Prime membership and an unlimited 2% back at gas stations, restaurants, and on local transit and commuting (including rideshare).

You’ll earn ah unlimited 1% back on all other purchases, so you may want to combo this card with a card that earns 2% back on categories not bonused on this card.

Wells Fargo is a giant of retail banks, but it’s had a relatively small presence in the market for travel rewards credit cards, until now. With the recent introduction of the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey, it joints American Express, Chase, Capital One and Citi in the exclusive club of cards that offer rewards that can be transferred to airline miles or hotel points.

Why is this important? Most credit cards offer you about one cent in value per point redeemed, so saving up $100,000 points typically results in $1,000 worth of cash back, gift cards or travel reservations. But when you’re able to transfer your rewards to airline miles or hotel points, you could earn rewards worth far more. For example, you could transfer your Wells Fargo rewards points to miles with the Spanish carrier Iberia. You can then redeem as few as 68,000 Iberia Miles (it calls their points “Avios”), for a round-trip, business class ticket to Spain from Boston, New York or Washington D.C. Such a ticket would easily be worth at least $4,000, and few would rather have $1,000 worth of gift cards instead a business class ticket to Europe.

To compete against credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Capital One Venture and the Citi Strata Premier, Wells Fargo created a card that’s especially rewarding for travel purchases.

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey offers 5x points on hotel purchases, 4x points on airline tickets and 3x points for dining and for all other travel purchases. This allows frequent travelers to earn more bonus points from this card than they could from any of its competitors. And unlike other bonus offers for travel purchases, you don’t have to use any particular travel agency – you are free to purchase your airline and hotel reservations directly, which is how most experienced travelers prefer to do it.

With a $95 annual fee, it’s an accessible card, but even that number overstates its true cost. This card is made for travelers, so it’s really easy to get the $50 annual air travel statement credit after you purchase your first ticket of at least $50. This brings the net cost of this card down to $45, which is far below it’s competitors.

So who is the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card for?

This card makes sense for those who make a significant amount of travel purchases, and want to be rewarded as much as possible. Earning 5x at any hotel and 4x on any airline is great for so-called free agents who make decisions based on price and schedule, rather than loyalty to a particular brand. This is also a card for those who appreciate the value of having a credit card with strong travel insurance policies. For example, with trip cancellation and trip interruption protection, you’ll never incur a loss if you have to cancel a trip due to covered reasons, ranging from illness to jury duty.

And finally, this is an ideal travel rewards card for those who already have a banking relationship with Wells Fargo. When you have a credit card issued by the same bank where you have checking, savings or other accounts, you’re able to manage everything in one place, and payments are instantly credited.