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For businesses just starting out or needing to rebuild business credit, the Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card offers decent cash back rewards and benefits for what it is. As is common with any secured credit card, there are better reward options with unsecured cards, but for those without the luxury of choice, this card from Wells Fargo provides a competitive option when stacked against its peers.

Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card

Regular APR

15.15% variable APR on purchases

Pros

No annual fee
1.5% cash back option
1 point per dollar reward option
$500 to $25,000 credit line
No foreign transaction fees

Cons

$25,000 limit is across all Wells Fargo cards for the business
High rates
High cash advance and transfer fees

Highlights

Cash Back option: Earn 1.5% cash back on every $1 spent
Reward Points option: Earn 1 point on every $1 spent and receive 1,000 bonus points when your company spend is $1,000 or more in any monthly billing period
$0 annual rewards program fee
$500 to $25,000 credit line
Zero liability protection
No foreign transaction fee
Chip technology
Employee cards at no additional cost

Introduction

Building a business isn't easy; it requires endless choices about how to manage your business—and who to do business with. Building business credit might be easier, but it takes time and capital and using this card to do it won't cut business owners much slack along those lines.

A secured card requires the account holder deposit a matched amount against the credit line as collateral. Unlike prepaid or debit cards, secured cards are credit cards and banks do report against these accounts to the credit bureaus, meaning the cards provide an excellent way to build (or rebuild) credit.

The Business Secured card from Wells Fargo offers rewards where many secured cards won't. Though competitive against secured cards, its 1.5% cash back reward can easily be outrun by unsecured cards. The card also offers the option to earn 1 point per dollar on every purchase, but this option is only a good fit for a small profile of cardholders. The choice of cash back versus rewards is a bit gimmicky and should be carefully measured against projected company spending with the card if rewards are a deciding factor.

For international business, the Business Secured card may be a solid option as it comes without foreign transaction fees. With no annual fee and a handful of convenient benefits like autopay, online account management, fraud monitoring, overdraft protection and $0 fraud liability, the card comes with the sort of features that should be expected with larger banks. It also comes with the fine print fees and details many out there have learned to expect from larger banks, too.

At A Glance

1.5% Cash back or 1 point per dollar rewards options
No annual fee
No foreign transaction fees
$500 to $25,000 credit line range
Cards for up to 10 employees
Custom card designs with Card Design Studio service

Rewards

Earning Rewards

Why Wells Fargo makes the rewards earning with this card so complicated is beyond us, but nevertheless, the ability to earn rewards at all on a secured card is somewhat unique.

The card offers the ability to earn 1.5% cash back per dollar spent on qualifying purchases or earn 1 point per dollar and receive 1,000 bonus points when the company spend is $1,000 or more in any monthly billing period. The cash back option is the best fit for most cardholders. Cardholders who plan to spend between $1,000 and $2,200 each month may benefit from choosing the points option—continue reading to understand why.

Redeeming Rewards

Earning 1,000 points from spending $1,000 in a month has a cash equivalent of $10. This, in addition to the 1,000 bonus points earned for the $1,000 in spending required to achieve the 1,000 point bonus, equals a cash equivalence of $20 when redeemed for statement credit at 1 cent per point. Add 10% for the online points redemption bonus and earn an extra $2. This is more than the $15 earned on the same spending via a 1.5% cash back reward.

But with just over double the minimum required spending for the bonus, 1.5% cash back yields a bigger reward. At $2,200 in spending each month, the 1.5% cash back will reward the same amount that the points system will. Anyone with guaranteed spending under $1,000 or over $2,200 each month should elect cash back rewards. Anyone with spending fixed between these figures will earn slightly more in rewards with the points system.

The above math values points at one cent per dollar. This can vary—both because Wells Fargo can elect at any time to change the entire rewards system in any way (including cancel it entirely without notice) and also because points can be redeemed for airline flights or merchandise. Deep in the fine print, there's a $24 redemption charge for airline tickets.

If we haven't made our opinion clear yet, allow us to spell it out: The points rewards system with this card has some major hidden details that could make redeeming rewards obnoxious.

Rewards Potential

The rewards potential offered by this card depends not only on how much business spending will be put on the card, but also on which rewards-earning structure is chosen.

If the business has $2,000 in purchases per month, it will be beneficial to elect to earn points instead of cash back. With this spending, 3,000 points per month will be earned. This results in annual earnings of 36,000 points which can be redeemed for $360.

A business with larger spending will benefit from earning 1.5% cash back instead of points. Monthly spending of $3,000 would result in annual cash back of $540.

The first step to maximizing rewards potential with this card is by figuring out monthly business spending and electing between earning points or cash back accordingly.

Other Card Benefits

No Foreign Transaction Fee: Make purchases in other countries without extra fees.
Up to 10 Employee Cards: Empower your employees to make purchases.
$0 Fraud Liability: Cardholders aren't responsible for unauthorized transactions.
Online Account Management: Manage account details and view spending online.
Automatic Payments: Automate monthly payments online.
Overdraft Protection: Use the card as overdraft protection for banking accounts.
Card Design Studio Service: Custom card skins.

Fine Print

Interest Rates

APR on purchases: 15.15% variable APR on purchases

Fees

Annual fee: $0
Balance transfer fee: -
Foreign transaction fee: None

How The Card Stacks Up

Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card* vs. Capital One® Spark® Classic for Business*

While the Spark Classic is not a secured card, it is a great card for businesses just starting out and should be considered for businesses with at least fair credit. The card offers unlimited 1% cash back rewards, no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. The card's extra benefits are mostly similar to the Business Secured.

While cash back rewards are sure to be slightly better with the Wells Fargo Business Secured, the Spark Classic offers a similar enough alternative that offers a few extra perks like being able to choose the monthly due date or employee account limits and manager settings. One bigger advantage the Capital One card has: credit limits range between $500 and $50,000—twice that of the Wells Fargo Business Secured.

Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card* vs.

For those in the right location, a similar secured business card is the BBVA Secured Visa Business. It's primarily important to know that the BBVA card is only available in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, California and New Mexico.

With 1.5 points earned per dollar on qualifying purchases, the BBVA card has a similar cash back rate but comes with a $40 annual fee after the first year. Secured credit lines with the BBVA start at $500 and increase incrementally in $100 amounts based on deposit.

Additional travel benefits range widely with the BBVA card where they won't with the Wells Fargo card. Auto rental damage waivers, emergency travel service and travel accident insurance are all included. For those in the right state, this card makes a great competitor to the Wells Fargo Business Secured.

Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card* vs. The Brex 30 Card

Though it's not a traditional credit card model in every way, the Brex 30 Card provides an interesting alternative to the Business Secured, specifically for tech companies. While the Brex 30 Card is a corporate card, it still may be an option for some businesses.

Brex uses a company's financial data and other factors to determine credit limits instead of using the traditional credit system. Brex doesn't charge fees or interest and makes money on transaction fees it charges merchants instead.

With Brex, rewards are significant from certain vendors and the partnership opportunities for small tech companies are fairly significant with serious discounts and offers on products like Amazon's AWS, Slack, Dropbox, Zoom and Quickbooks. The reward points system uses several categories but still has unlimited 1 point per dollar spent on all purchases and points are flexible and can be turned into statement credit or miles.

Though its marketing might seem a bit unorthodox, the Brex Card is a great option for those tech businesses that may not have a strong credit history yet but do have strong financial health and want to scale up.

Compare Wells Fargo Business Secured With Other Cards

Is The Card For You?

The Wells Fargo Business Secured, like any secured card, is designed for those looking to repair damaged credit or build credit from nothing. The 1.5% cash back reward option for this card is straightforward, unlike the card's other reward option: a complicated points system that likely won't be the most rewarding outside of certain spending habits.

The big bank conveniences like overdraft protection and automatic payments make the card great for those who will value and use them, and though it's always imperative that a potential account holder read the fine print.

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