Over-Achieving Capitalist of the Week: Wells Fargo

I normally don't talk about personal information, but I feel the need to talk about the latest credit card offer I received. My home mortgage is through Wells Fargo Home Mortgage services. Just today, I received a credit card offer from Wells Fargo that offered to give me rebates on my mortgage based upon the purchases I make with their card.

Below, are the bullet points of the offer:

• Earn a 1% rebate towards your home mortgage by making purchases* with the card.
• Earn a 2% rebate when using your card at gas, drugstore and grocery store purchases*.
• No annual fee.
• 0% APR for the first year, then 12.15% to 25.99% APR after.

* - Purchases minus returns/credits

So I called Wells Fargo to inquire where exactly the rebate comes from and they gave me an example, which did not make sense. Then I asked for another example, and it started to make sense. So, in return, I game them an example to see if my understanding was correct.

If I use the card for one year making only grocery store, gas station or drugstore purchases totally $5,000 but paying off the balance each month, then I will receive NO rebate towards my mortgage. However, if I carry a balance for a year totallying $5,000 of grocery/gas/drugstore purchases, then I'll get $100 towards the princple in my mortgage. Basically, I need to spend (worst case scenario of 25% APR) $6,250 plus late charges to get $100 off on my mortgage.

Wells Fargo was one of those institutions that received bail out money from the tax payers and has since paid it back. With the Fed keeping interest rates so low, the banks are still not making money like they used to so now they turn back towards their customers. Bank of America wanted to introduce a $5 monthly for using your debit card like a debit card. Wells Fargo wants you to carry a huge balance with high interest for a paltry return.

If I had known I would be insulted with an offer like this, I would not have chosen Wells Fargo as my mortgager. If you get offers like this in the mail from any bank, do yourself a favor and just shred them.