Wells Fargo Warns 5% Abusers – Era of 5x Comes to an End

Wells Fargo Cash Back credit card offers 5% cash back on grocery, gas, and drugstore purchases for the first 6 months, a veritable gold mine for manufacturing spend. Milesperday and numerous Flyertalk posters report that Wells Fargo is sending out a warning letter to cardholders who have been abusing the card to cease the abuse or be shut down.

…We want to let you know that we recently reviewed your credit card account and found an unusual volume of purchases and/or payments made using this card. This type of activity may indicate misuse of the Wells Fargo credit card rewards program, and if it continues beyond receipt of this notice we will close your account and your rewards balance will be forfeited…

wells fargo 5% warning

Image from milesperday.com

At the very least, it makes sense to stop using the card until all previous rewards get paid out. More sensibly, it’s probably not worth abusing at all since there’ll always be a doubt whether or not you’ll get the rewards. Hard to know how much is considered ‘safe.’

There have been rumors for a while that Wells Fargo plans to soon remove the 5% card entirely, probably to replace it with the new Cash Wise 1.5% card which is coming in June.

The Wells Fargo 5% card was really the last hold-out among credit cards that allowed users to manufacture unlimited amounts of spend at 5x rewards. Some people took this quite seriously manufacturing millions of dollars worth within those 6 months.

We still have the Old Blue Cash card which offers 5% cashback at grocery stores,drugstores, and gas stations, but it’s been capped at $50,000. And the TD 5% card is no longer available. The era of unlimited 5x comes to an end.

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HonestPerson
HonestPerson (@guest_567719)
March 8, 2018 04:26

Glad this got shutdown on these jackasses. Hopefully the IRS got involved also… Stupid Well’s Fargo.

Jonathan
Jonathan (@guest_570794)
March 16, 2018 03:01

Sad that the Karma of WF opening unauthorized CC & Depository accounts was only $185M fine from CFPB

Missjenniferd1
Missjenniferd1 (@guest_608678)
June 25, 2018 14:24

+1

Steve
Steve (@guest_453080)
August 4, 2017 06:52

WF sent me that letter and then the department they force you to speak told me they believed I was only using the card to get the 5% rewards. NO SH*T! Done with WF.

Missjenniferd1
Missjenniferd1 (@guest_608677)
June 25, 2018 14:23

+1 for real! Offer a card with rewards and then say you were just trying to get rewards?!?! I mean it was on offer that they had rewards, and now they’re mad we used it for rewards!?! Wasnt that the whole point?!?!?

Jim
Jim (@guest_283003)
August 11, 2016 01:00

Any new cards with something similar to 5% cash back? I heard bb&t is next best bet but only for 3 months.

Jason
Jason (@guest_276807)
July 18, 2016 11:20

Is that seriously talk that using the card or any other cards to spend millions a month while the limit is only maybe less than 10K on the card? 5% of 1 million a month is 50K right? Isn’t that better than the wall-street guy?

Lela
Lela (@guest_264790)
June 2, 2016 15:52

Does anyone else have orphaned points (credit card closed) that wants to try to open a new credit card and get your rewards account connected to it? Anyone want to go on this points rescue mission? 2 Rewards Dept representatives explained that people sometimes do this when switching account types- close one account, rewards go into a hold mode, open a second account, old rewards account somehow gets re-attached to new account.

I’m debating as I’m under 5/24 at the end of June and it would mean one fewer Chase card for me.
Also considering a CFPB complaint.

Lela
Lela (@guest_264788)
June 2, 2016 15:46

For me:
May 11th- letter sent
May 16th- letter received, quit all MS, made 2 gas purchases; I made a bad guess and left my rewards points in my account, wanting to use them for flights in the future.
May 26th- account closed AND ALL REWARDS “FORFEITED,” rewards balance says 0
June 1- Phoned Executive Office (3 representatives), Rewards Dept (2 reps) and Credit Card Services (1 rep)- no appeal avenues, stonewalled, got squat.

Per Flyertalk, I am not the only one. I am just less apt to let it go cuz I do not have any history of making money off this deal like most- I left all my money in the rewards and didn’t hit it hard, so I am looking at a fiscal loss, and massive loss of time.

ANYONE WHO GOT THE LETTER, IF YOUR ACCOUNT IS NOT YET CLOSED, TAKE YER REWARDS MONEY FAST. Anyone else that has been MSing this card, I would still advise taking all of your rewards out now. The T&C say they can cancel you at any time and forfeit your rewards.

Big K
Big K (@guest_263914)
May 31, 2016 10:51

I played chicken with them-got cancelled!!

john
john (@guest_264333)
June 1, 2016 15:15

What I am hearing is that anyone that got the letter is getting cancelled right now

matt
matt (@guest_259909)
May 17, 2016 23:29

I could just as easily use a competitor’s card. I mean, this is the fee for getting us to sign up with them!

Marathon man
Marathon man (@guest_259737)
May 17, 2016 14:38

My thinking is this:

They obviously know what ms is (because so many screwballs have widely publicized it) but they cant legally stop the practice of buying gcs and paying your bills, but they can shut down any client for any reason but kinda have to have one internally.

So they are using this as a scare tactic to lessen the loss they also cannot prevent people from doing as according to their own tcs, and to make it so if they think you didnt listen to them, they can now more easily shut you down and suffer no more people claiming against them in sm claims court

That said, I have written this MS song:

Madonna – Material Girl Lyrics |

Some cards dis me
Some cards bug me
I think they’re ok
If they don’t give me proper credit
I just walk away

They can beg a sign up and they can plead
But they can’t give free flights (that’s right)
‘Cause the 5x card with the cold hard cash back
Was once always Mister Right

‘Cause we are living in a 2x world
And I am a MS-erial girl
You know that we are living in a 2x world
And I am a MS-erial girl

Some cards you take a chance
Some cards do the shut down dance
That’s all right with bloggerswithcreditcardlinks
If they can’t raise my miles balance then I
Have to let them be

Some banks try and some banks lie but
I don’t let them play (no way)
Only banks who let me save my cash back pennies
Make my rainy day

‘Cause we’re living in a 2x world
And I am a MS-erial girl
You know that we are living in a 2x world
And I am a MS-erial girl
Living in a 2x world
And I am a MS-erial girl
You know that we are living in a 2x world
And I am a MS-erial girl

Living in a 2x world (MS-erial)
Living in a 2x world
Living in a 2x world (MS-erial)
Living in a 2x world

Banks may come and Banks may go
And that’s all right you see
Experience has made me rich
And now they’re after me

‘Cause everybody’s living in a 2x world
And I am a MS-erial girl
You know that we are living in a 2x world
And I am a MS-erial girl
Living in a 2x world
And I am a MS-erial girl
You know that we are living in a 2x world
And I am a MS-erial girl

A 2x, a 2x, a 2x, a Capital One world

Living in a 2x world (MS-erial)
Living in a 2x world
Living in a 2x world (MS-erial)
Living in a 2x world

Living in a 2x world (MS-erial)
Living in a 2x world
Living in a 2x world (MS-erial)
Living in a 2x world

Flirt562
Flirt562 (@guest_259925)
May 18, 2016 00:50

Luv it!!!!!

ed
ed (@guest_260067)
May 18, 2016 12:16

Awesome! Thanks for lightening this bad news up a little. And I agree with “because so many screwballs have widely publicized it”. Indeed.

Mel
Mel (@guest_269051)
June 20, 2016 09:11

awesome song @Marathonman

Jason
Jason (@guest_393666)
April 21, 2017 23:04

Duuuuuuuuuuude! That song rocks!

Missjenniferd1
Missjenniferd1 (@guest_608676)
June 25, 2018 14:19

OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!

Jon
Jon (@guest_259688)
May 17, 2016 12:06

Spending millions is crazy, though if I had the means I would be tempted. I paired the 5% back with the Redbird and made a nice chunk of change. Six months went by fast.