How we are paid
Two ways. The site carries third-party display advertising, which pays by impression and by click and is bought through ad networks rather than from us directly. And the “Apply now” links on card pages route through a redirect on this domain to the issuer's own application page; some of those links are or may become compensated referral links, meaning we could be paid if you apply or are approved through one. Every such link carries rel="nofollow sponsored".
We cannot tell you which specific links pay, because the arrangements change and some do not exist yet. Treat every application link on this site as though it pays us. That is the safest assumption and frequently the correct one.
What compensation affects
The standard version of this disclosure says compensation may affect which products appear and in what order. On this site that would not be true, so we will not print it. Here is what is actually the case:
- Ordering is not for sale. Every comparison list is sorted by a disclosed figure — the lowest rate, the lowest fee, the longest grace period — and the sort is named on the page. No list is hand-arranged and no issuer can pay to move up one.
- Inclusion is not for sale. A card has a page here when we could find it on its issuer's own site with a name, card art and a working application link. Nobody pays for that and nobody can pay to be removed from an unflattering comparison.
- The analysis is not for sale. What a card page says is generated from that card's disclosed figures against the whole corpus, under the rules set out in our methodology. A commercial relationship does not change a figure or soften a caveat.
- What compensation does affect: whether this site exists at all. Referral income and advertising are what pay for the hosting, the data work and the time. That is the material connection, and it is why this page is here.
We have not reviewed all available products
This site covers 783 cards from 240 issuers. There are more credit cards available in the United States than that. A card missing from this site has not been judged and found wanting — far more often we could not source it from the issuer's own site, or the issuer does not publish an application page we can link to. Do not read our coverage as a shortlist.
Opinions, and whose they are
The analysis, commentary and editorial choices here are ours alone. They have not been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any card issuer, advertiser, network or bank, and no issuer sees a page before it is published.
All card information is presented without warranty
Rates, fees and terms on this site come from two places: the disclosure an issuer publishes for a card, and the cardholder agreement it filed with the CFPB, read by an automated process with known limits. Both can be out of date, and the second can be wrong. We make no warranty that any figure here is accurate, complete or current. The disclosure the issuer puts in front of you at the point of application is the one that governs your account; read it before you apply.
The star rating is not for sale either
Cards that disclose enough carry a computed 1.0–5.0 cost rating. It is produced by a formula from disclosed figures, so there is no discretion in it for compensation to reach: no issuer can buy a score, raise one, or have one removed, and a paying issuer's card scores exactly what its disclosed terms earn. The components and weights are published at how we rate, and the editorial policy covers the separation in full. We publish no “best card” picks.
Advertising on the page
Display advertising is served by third parties and is labelled as advertising by the ad network. We do not choose the individual ads, and an ad appearing next to a card page is not an endorsement of that card by us, or of us by the advertiser. Ad vendors may set cookies; the cookie policy explains which and how to opt out.