How credit cards are valued and ranked

Every card in the comparison (60 US, 40 Canadian) is valued in dollars from the spending you enter, after fees. The headline is the gap between the first year and every year after, because that's what welcome bonuses hide.

What each number means

• Year 1: the welcome bonus (if your spending reaches it in time), a year of rewards (with any first-year boost), credits at the share you'd use, interest an intro APR saves on a balance you carry, minus foreign transaction fees and the first-year fee.
• Year 2+: a normal year of rewards, ongoing credits and any recurring anniversary bonus, minus foreign transaction fees and the full annual fee.
• 3 years: Year 1 plus two later years, plus any one-time anniversary bonus.
• Break-even: the first month in which value so far covers fees so far. Fees are charged in months 1, 13 and 25; rewards and credits build up each month; the bonus lands in the month your spending reaches it.
• Mostly first-year value: over 60% of the 3-year value comes in year 1, or nothing is left after it.

How rewards are worked out

Spending is applied quarter by quarter. Each dollar goes to the card's best rate first; spending above a cap falls to the next best rate, then the base rate. Rates that share a cap draw on one limit. "Pick a category" cards are given your best categories, and the page says so. Rotating categories count only in quarters the issuer has announced; other quarters earn the base rate, and what they could add is shown separately. Rates that need the issuer's travel site count only if you say you book there.

In short: Year 1 = bonus × v + rewards × v × first-year boost + Σ credits × use + intro APR savings − foreign fees − first-year fee; Year 2+ = rewards × v + Σ ongoing credits × use + anniversary bonus × v − foreign fees − annual fee, where v is the value of a point. All sums are in whole cents.

Points are shown in dollars, as estimates

Points and miles are converted to dollars with a value per point, chosen by how you redeem: cash or statement credit (the default, and the most conservative), the issuer's travel booking, or airline and hotel partners at a published valuation. A figure that depends on that choice is marked "~ est."; cash back is exact and carries no mark. Programs with no cash redemption, such as Aeroplan, use their lowest published value until you choose otherwise.

On the list, the "Value points as" slider runs from Cash (the default: every point at its cash or statement-credit value) to Max value (every point at its highest published value, usually from transferring to airline or hotel partners). Points cards are ranked on these estimates, so they can move when valuations change or when you move the slider; cash back cards don't. On a card's own page you can pick the redemption instead: cash, the issuer's travel booking, or transfer partners.

* No cash redemption: the lowest published value. Valuations are checked monthly; each program shows the date it was last checked in the data.

The five spending presets

Monthly spending by category, in the page's currency. "Use my numbers" replaces them with yours, and every figure recalculates.

How the order is decided

The default order is 3-year value on your spending. You can sort by Year 1, Year 2+, lowest fee, earliest break-even, or what a single category earns. Ties go to the lower annual fee, then no foreign transaction fee, then the earlier break-even, then fewer uncounted items, then issuer and name.

Cards whose published terms rule you out (not offered in your province, or an income minimum above the income you enter) are listed separately as "also consider", with the reason. A card part of whose value can't be worked out from published terms is listed but not ranked, rather than given a made-up number.

Affiliate payout never affects rank. Some Apply links may earn us a commission; the calculation and the order are the same whether or not a card pays us, and cards with no affiliate program are listed and ranked the same way. See the advertiser disclosure.

Where the terms come from

Each card's fees, rates, offer and credits are read by hand from the issuer's own page and dated; nothing is scraped, and competitor sites are never a source. Terms an issuer doesn't state are listed on the card's page as not confirmed and left out of the value. Welcome offers shown only after you apply are listed as not counted. When an issuer shows different offers to different visitors, the lowest one seen is counted.

A weekly check compares each issuer page with the last reading. A card shows "Terms may have changed" when its terms haven't been confirmed for 60 days or a person hasn't re-read them for 180.

What we don't do

We don't estimate approval odds or say you're pre-qualified: approval depends on your credit file and the issuer's rules. We show only requirements the issuer publishes. Insurance and lounge access are listed, not valued. Figures are estimates for information only, not financial advice; rates, fees and offers are set by the issuer and may change.

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