We have seen increased signup bonuses on a few credit cards this week:

• Wells Fargo Propel Amex has increased the signup bonus from 30,000 to 50,000 points.  Propel Amex is one of the best rewards cards, especially if you are not interested in redeeming points for airline miles or hotel points but rather choose fixed value travel rewards.  When you have another non-fee card Wells Fargo Visa Signature, you can transfer the points earned on Propel Amex to the Visa Signature and increase the points value from 1 cent to 1.5 cents per point.  In this way the 50K signup bonus of Propel Amex will be worth $750 in fixed value travel rewards.  Propel Amex is also a card to keep after the first year, as it returns 3x points (= 4.5% travel rewards if you have Wells Fargo Visa Signature) on travel, dining, gasoline, and streaming services.
• Chase Freedom Unlimited has been offering 15,000 points as signup bonus online for quite a while.  Now if you go to a Chase branch, you can apply for this card and receive a different signup bonus: 3x points on everything in the first year, up to $20,000 in purchase.  Note that as the card regularly earns 1.5x points, the maximum additional points considered as the signup bonus will be 30,000 points (when you spend $20K in the first year).  When you have a premium Ultimate Rewards card such as Sapphire Reserve (based on fixed value redemption or miles transfer) or Sapphire Preferred (based on miles transfer), these additional points will be worth $450 in our book.  In addition, Freedom Unlimited pairs really well with Sapphire Reserve, as it returns higher rewards for general spending, while you will use Sapphire Reserve for dining, travel, and foreign purchases.
• Chase Sapphire Preferred has a new signup bonus: 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 within 3 months of new account opening; however, the annual fee is NOT waived for the first year.  The previous signup bonus was 50K with the first year annual fee waiver.  As we value the additional 10K points at $150, more than the $95 annual fee, the new bonus is slightly better.

We finally review the relaunched Wells Fargo Propel Amex, which drops the annual fees and expands bonus categories.  When you also have Wells Fargo Visa Signature, Propel Amex is a powerhouse for bonus category rewards (travel & gas & dining & streaming) and poses a great challenge to some of our favorite credit cards.

The Facts

• Annual Fee: none
• Signup Bonus: 30,000 points after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening.  This bonus is not available if you have had received signup bonus or introductory APR(s) or fees from any Wells Fargo credit card within the last 15 months.  In addition, you will only be approved for one Wells Fargo credit card every 6 months.  Historical best bonus of this card: 30K since introduced in 2018.
• Application Landing Page
• Rewards: 3x travel, gas, dining and select streaming services, and 1x everywhere else.  For streaming services that qualify for 3x bonus, please see wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/propel/streaming.
• Best Use of Wells Fargo Go Far Rewards points: Normally, Wells Fargo points can be redeemed for cash, merchandise gift cards, travel, etc., up to 1 cent per point.  However, if you have Wells Fargo Visa Signature which carries $0 annual fee and offers 5x points on gas, groceries, and drugstores for 6 months of new account opening, you points may be redeemed for airfare through Wells Fargo's booking portal at a fixed rate of 1.5 cents per point (cpp) or even 1.75 cpp if your annual spending on the Visa Signature exceeds $50,000.
• Amex CONNECT Benefits: (1) Amex Offers - you receive savings in form of statement credit at select merchants when using your card; you need to add the certain offer(s) to your card before you receive savings.  (2) Hotel privileges and savings.  (3) Taste from American Express - savings or benefits at 400+ restaurants worldwide.  (4) Entertainment Access.  (5) Amex Essentials (digital magazine).  Please visit https://www.americanexpress.com/us/network/wellsfargo/ for details of the Amex CONNECT program. 
• Other Benefits: (1) Waive foreign transaction fees.  (2) Embedded EVM chip with the "Chip & PIN" technology which has much better acceptance worldwide than the previous "Chip & Signature" technology.
• Consumer Protection: In general, Propel Amex offers mediocre consumer travel and purchase protection.  However, it is one of the very few credit cards that offers Cellphone Protection - you will be reimbursed up to $600 per claim with a $25 deductible when your cellphone is damaged or stolen.  You don't need to purchase your cellphone with the card, but rather enjoy the coverage as long as you pay your cellphone bills with the card.
• History: After a not-so-successful run of the two Propel Amex cards (Propel 360 Amex with a $45 annual fee & Propel World Amex with a $175 annual fee) for nearly four years, Wells Fargo decided to make another attempt to earn more customers with the updated Propel Amex in July 2018, by dropping the annual fees all together and expanding the 3x bonus categories substantially.  This was a positive and generous change as part of the general effort to win back customers after Wells Fargo's infamous account fraud scandal.

The Math
Because Wells Fargo Go Far Rewards program does not allow points to be transferred to frequent traveler miles/points, the value of this Amex heavily depends on whether you have another Well Fargo card (Visa Signature) to achieve the redemption value of 1.5 cpp (or even 1.75 cpp when annual spending exceeds $50K).  Let's first look at how difficult it is to achieve 1.75 cpp value.  If you spend $50K on the Visa Signature, you essentially lose $50,000 x (2% - 1.75%) = $125 per year, compared to the 2% cashback you can easily earn with quite a few non-fee cards (such as Citi Double Cash).  In the meantime, you gain an additional (1.75 - 1.5)% x 3 = 0.75% on the 3x bonus categories with Propel Amex.  Thus, you will need to spend at least $16.7K on the 3x categories to offset the $125 you lose on general purchases, as $16.7K x 0.75% = $125.  To hit the maximum 1.75 cpp value and still come out ahead, you will need to spend $50K on non-bonus categories with Visa Signature and $16.7K on 3x categories with Propel Amex, which is nevertheless a very tough requirement.  The bottom line is that 1.75cpp value looks amazing on paper but is not easily achieved in reality.  So let's use the more realistic 1.5 cpp value in our analysis.  

With the Visa Signature in your drawer, Propel Amex is able to cover a wide range of 3x bonus categories: airfare, non-airfare travel, dining, gas, and streaming, with a return rate of 4.5% rewards.  The return rate for general spending at 1.5% is not bad either.  However, we still recommend a 2% cashback card for general spending instead.
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Wells Fargo Propel Amex vs. Citi ThankYou Premier: First of all, Citi ThankYou Premier carries a $95 annual fee while Wells Fargo Propel Amex has none.  Currently, points in the two programs have similar values in our book (assuming you have Wells Fargo Visa Signature).  Propel Amex returns 3x points on travel & gas & dining & streaming, while ThankYou Premier returns 3x points on travel & gas and 2x dining & entertainment.  Obviously, while the old Propel World Amex failed to match ThankYou Premier, the updated Propel Amex actually leaves ThankYou Premier in the dust with regards to bonus categories.  The most important difference between the two, however, is how the 1.5 cpp value is achieved: on Propel Amex, you redeem for airfare at a fixed rate of 1.5 cpp when you also have Wells Fargo Visa Signature; on ThankYou Premier, this value could only be achieved when you transfer ThankYou points to miles of airline partners, usually for premium cabin awards tickets.

Wells Fargo Propel Amex vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR): The updated Propel Amex nows poses a great challenge to our favorite CSR.  First of all, even considering the $300 annual travel credits, CSR's effective annual fee is still $150.  Secondly, Propel Amex offers two additional 3x categories - gas & streaming.  Looks like on paper, Propel Amex has CSR beaten up pretty badly.  However, CSR's $150 effective annual fee gets you quite some nice perks such as airport lounge access, luxury hotel privileges, primary rental car coverage, and better consumer travel and purchase protection.  In addition, while Ultimate Rewards points earned from CSR might be redeemed for airfare at the same fixed value of 1.5 cpp, they might also be transferred to miles of airline partners, recommended for premium cabin awards tickets.  Lastly, getting Propel Amex to hit the magical 1.5 cpp does require having another Wells Fargo card.  If you haven't had Wells Fargo Visa Signature, it is recommended to get Propel Amex first with the signup bonus, start using it for 3x categories, and open Visa Signature six months later to activate the 1.5 cpp value.

Wells Fargo Propel Amex vs. US Bank Altitude Rewards: Unlike Citi ThankYou or Chase Ultimate Rewards programs, US Bank Altitude Rewards doesn't have a miles transfer feature.  So a comparison between Wells Fargo Propel Amex and US Bank Altitude Rewards Visa is much easier, as both have the fixed 1.5 cpp value for airfare redemption.  Altitude Rewards has an effective annual fee is $75 after considering the annual $325 travel credits and offers some premium perks such as airport lounge access, luxury hotel privileges, primary rental car insurance, and GoGo inflight internet.  When it comes to rewards, Altitude Rewards returns 3x points on travel & mobile payment services, while Propel Amex returns 3x travel & gas & dining & streaming - we think Propel Amex has better rewards for most consumers.  So if you don't need the travel perks from Altitude Rewards or you have received similar perks from other cards, Propel Amex will be a better card, as long as you also have Wells Fargo Visa Signature.

The Conclusion
With the relaunch of Propel Amex, which drops the annual fees all together and expands bonus categories substantially, Wells Fargo tries very hard to earn customers.  We welcome the positive changes.  When you have Wells Fargo Visa Signature to increase points value to 1.5~1.75 cpp, Propel Amex is a powerhouse for a wide range of bonus categories and poses a serious challenge to some of our favorite cards such as Chase Sapphire Reserve and US Bank Altitude Rewards.

We have three new reviews up this weekend.  The first one is American Express EveryDay & EveryDay Preferred.  We wanted to write about them when they came out in March but there were some uncertainty about whether the monthly bonus applies to bonus categories, which prevented us from presenting the most accurate information.  Now the uncertainty has been cleared and we think the dual EveryDay is the most important and exciting product Amex has brought to us in the past few years.  We especially love EveryDay Preferred, which has the potential of beating some of our absolute favorite - Amex SPG, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and Amex Premier Rewards Gold, and we gladly have it replace Amex PR Gold on our Top List.  We have also updated our featured review on the best two-card combos and recommend the "Preferred Combo", EveryDay Preferred + Sapphire Preferred, which covers five most important bonus categories and 30 transfer partners all together.

Barclays has just made a great card Barclays Arrival, which has been on our Top List, even better with several enhancements and a new name Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard.

We never reviewed Wells Fargo credit cards before since we thought they were not as competitive or interesting as other products we review.  However, in our first Wells Fargo review ever, we praised Wells Fargo for its great work for bringing us these two new cards - Propel 365 and Propel World Amex.  Note that Propel World Amex also comes with an excellent 40,000 points offer when you open a new account and spend $3,000 within 3 months.  The $175 annual fee is waived for the first year and you may also take advantage of the $100 airline incidental credit.  Since it has been reported that you can redeem Wells Fargo Rewards points for airfare at 1.5 cents per point, the total signup bonus for the new Propel World is up to $700 ($600 for airfare plus $100 airline incidental)!

Landing Page for Propel World 40K offer