Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card

Dining, travel, gas stations, transit, streaming services and phone plans, all at 3x, all unlimited. Nearly every other bonus-category card in this catalog gives you one or two: Chase Freedom Unlimited pays 3% on dining and drugstores; Capital One Savor covers four; U.S. Bank Cash+ gives you two chosen categories with a $2,000 quarterly cap.

Breadth changes the arithmetic. A card with one 5% category needs you to spend heavily in that category; a card with six 3x categories catches ordinary spending across a normal month without any planning. Phone plans and streaming in particular are recurring charges most people never think of as rewardable — they just autopay, every month, at 1x on almost any other card.

3x points versus 2% cash isn't a straight comparison, because points and cents aren't the same unit — redemption value depends on the program. But on the categories it covers, 3x clearly outruns 2%, and outside them it drops to 1x, which is half.

So the test is what share of your spending lands in those six categories. For a household that drives, commutes, eats out, and pays for a phone and streaming, it's often most of a month's discretionary spending. For someone whose costs are rent, groceries and childcare, it's not — and groceries are conspicuously absent from the list.

APR is the standard Wells Fargo three-tier structure: 18.49%, 24.49% or 28.49% variable.

Dining, travel, fuel, transit, streaming and phone plans all earn 3x. No other card here — with or without an annual fee — spreads its top rate across six categories; Citi Strata Premier covers five at 3x and charges $95 for it.

The unusual inclusions are the ones to notice. Transit and phone plans are recurring monthly costs that most rewards cards treat as ordinary spending, and putting them in the bonus band means the card earns on bills rather than only on discretionary purchases.

The six categories carry no quarterly allowance and nothing to activate, on a card that costs nothing to hold. That combination of breadth, no cap and no fee is the reason to look at it rather than any individual rate.

The APR comes as three published tiers — 18.49%, 24.49% or 28.49% — rather than a range. Points rather than cash back is the other consideration: what they are worth on redemption is not a figure this catalog verifies, so compare against a 2% cash card with that uncertainty in mind.

Dining, travel, fuel, transit, streaming and phone plans all earn 3x. No other card here — with or without an annual fee — spreads its top rate across six categories; Citi Strata Premier covers five at 3x and charges $95 for it.

The unusual inclusions are the ones to notice. Transit and phone plans are recurring monthly costs that most rewards cards treat as ordinary spending, and putting them in the bonus band means the card earns on bills rather than only on discretionary purchases.

The six categories carry no quarterly allowance and nothing to activate, on a card that costs nothing to hold. That combination of breadth, no cap and no fee is the reason to look at it rather than any individual rate.

The APR comes as three published tiers — 18.49%, 24.49% or 28.49% — rather than a range. Points rather than cash back is the other consideration: what they are worth on redemption is not a figure this catalog verifies, so compare against a 2% cash card with that uncertainty in mind.