Wells Fargo Reflect®

Wells Fargo Reflect and Chase Slate both offer 21 months at 0% intro APR, the longest in this catalog by three months over Citi Double Cash's 18. Both are no-fee. Neither pays meaningful rewards — Reflect's only cash back comes through My Wells Fargo Deals merchant offers, which is a browse-and-activate mechanism rather than an earning rate.

So the two cards are close substitutes and the decision falls to the go-to rate afterwards. Reflect quotes 17.49%, 23.99% or 28.24%; Slate quotes 18.24% to 28.24%. Reflect's lowest tier is lower, and its middle tier is a useful thing to see published — most issuers give you a range and let you find out where you landed.

21 months is long enough to clear most consumer balances if you divide the total by 21 and pay that every month from day one. It is also long enough that the deadline feels distant for the first year, which is the failure mode these cards are built around — the interest saved is real, but only for people who treat the window as a schedule rather than a reprieve.

Balance transfer fees aren't verified in our data and typically apply. On a large transfer that fee is a real cost against the interest saved, and it's worth calculating before assuming 0% means free.

Wells Fargo Reflect matches Chase Slate at 21 months of 0%, the longest introductory period of the 41 cards here. Where the two part company is the rate afterwards: Reflect quotes three fixed tiers - 17.49%, 23.99% or 28.24% - rather than a continuous range, so both its floor and its ceiling come in under Slate's 18.24% to 28.24%.

Three published tiers instead of a range is more useful than it sounds. You will land on one of three known numbers, and the best of them is under 18%, which beats the starting point of most rewards cards in this catalog.

This card has no traditional rewards programme. Cash back exists only through My Wells Fargo Deals, which is a merchant-offer channel: you activate an offer for a specific retailer and earn on that purchase. It is not a rate on your spending and should not be compared with one.

Treated as what it is - an interest-savings card with an unusually long runway - it is one of the two strongest options here for a balance. Treated as a cash-back card it will disappoint, because it is not one.

Wells Fargo Reflect matches Chase Slate at 21 months of 0%, the longest introductory period of the 41 cards here. Where the two part company is the rate afterwards: Reflect quotes three fixed tiers - 17.49%, 23.99% or 28.24% - rather than a continuous range, so both its floor and its ceiling come in under Slate's 18.24% to 28.24%.

Three published tiers instead of a range is more useful than it sounds. You will land on one of three known numbers, and the best of them is under 18%, which beats the starting point of most rewards cards in this catalog.

This card has no traditional rewards programme. Cash back exists only through My Wells Fargo Deals, which is a merchant-offer channel: you activate an offer for a specific retailer and earn on that purchase. It is not a rate on your spending and should not be compared with one.

Treated as what it is - an interest-savings card with an unusually long runway - it is one of the two strongest options here for a balance. Treated as a cash-back card it will disappoint, because it is not one.