Swimming in thousands of dollars of debt? If so, there’s a credit card that can throw you a life raft: The Wells Fargo Reflect® Card (rates and fees), with 0% intro APR for 21 months from account opening on purchases and qualifying balance transfers and a 17.49%, 23.99%, or 28.24% Variable APR that applies after.
That’s one of the longest intro APR runways you’ll find, which means this is one of the strongest tools for getting rid of debt interest-free. We’ve reviewed hundreds of credit cards, and this is my favorite tool for avoiding interest on debt, bar none.
Here’s what to know about the Wells Fargo Reflect® Card and who it’s right for.
How the Wells Fargo Reflect® Card helps you save on interest
The Wells Fargo Reflect® Card offers 0% intro APR for 21 months from account opening on purchases and qualifying balance transfers. After that, a 17.49%, 23.99%, or 28.24% Variable APR applies. That means this card only pays off if you clear your balance — or most of it — before the intro period ends.
You’ve got plenty of time to do just that, though. A 21-month 0% intro APR period is one of the longest you’ll find, after that, a 17.49%, 23.99%, or 28.24% Variable APR applies. That means you’ve got more time to pay off debt — which means lower monthly payments and a better chance at getting back to zero.
As of last year, the average American credit card debt was $6,715, according to Motley Fool Money research. If you owed exactly that much, a 21-month runway would let you make $336 monthly payments and get out from under without paying a cent in interest, even after factoring in a balance transfer fee. That’s the power of the Wells Fargo Reflect® Card.
What does a balance transfer to the Wells Fargo Reflect® Card actually cost?
The Wells Fargo Reflect® Card charges a one-time balance transfer fee of 5%, min: $5 — and for most people carrying a balance, that trade pays for itself fast.
Here’s the math: transferring the average $6,715 balance costs about $336 upfront with a 5% transfer fee. Compare that to leaving the same balance on a card with an average interest rate of 21% APR. Making the same $336 monthly payments mentioned above, you’d take four months longer to pay off your balance and pay $1,620 in total interest. That’s a difference of more than $1,200 saved between 21 months of interest and the one-time balance transfer fee on the Wells Fargo Reflect® Card.
How to know if the Wells Fargo Reflect® Card fits your payoff plan
The Wells Fargo Reflect® Card isn’t built for everyday spending once your debt is gone. It earns no rewards, has almost no notable perks, and charges a 3% foreign transaction fee. Transfers also have to be completed within 120 days of account opening to qualify for the intro APR, so this isn’t a card to open and sit on.
It does throw in one useful benefit for a no-annual-fee card: Pay your monthly cellphone bill with it, and you’re covered for up to $600 (minus a $25 deductible) if that phone is lost, stolen, or damaged. That’s a rare perk for a card like this, but it’s probably not a selling point on its own.
In short, the Wells Fargo Reflect® Card makes sense if you need a full 21 months to pay off your balance — and don’t care about earning rewards in the meantime. My advice: Get your debt paid off as soon as possible, then worry about earning rewards with another card. With that in mind, you can’t do much better than the Wells Fargo Reflect® Card.
Want to see how it stacks up? Check out our list of the best balance transfer cards available now to compare.