How NerdWallet Canada Evaluates Credit Cards

Our credit card evaluation philosophy

What’s helpful to know about our credit card evaluations:

Evaluations are based on proprietary formulas that take into account the value of a card’s benefits, the costs of carrying and using the card, the complexity of the card’s benefits structure and other factors that affect its usefulness to the consumer.

Different categories of cards are evaluated using different rubrics. The factors that make something a great cash-back card, for instance, are different from the factors that make for a great travel credit card. Therefore, you may see multiple cards on a best-of list that are scored using different rubrics.

Each card is evaluated according to its primary category. A low-rate card (15% APR and under) that happens to offer cash back, for example, would still be rated as a low-rate card.

NerdWallet’s business relationships have no effect on evaluations. Many of the credit cards described on our pages are offered by NerdWallet Canada partners, but the evaluations are determined only by the features of each card. Check out our editorial guidelines to learn more about how we remain objective in our evaluations.

Our 10 credit card scoring methodologies

Not all cards can be judged by the same metrics. So, get the most accurate credit card evaluation, we score each card using one of our ten rubrics:

Each card is run through its specific rubric and then weighted against a scale to determine a star rating.

Best points credit cards evaluation methodology

The rewards credit cards rubric considers rewards, perks, fees and interest when evaluating cards, using the following weighting:

Best cash-back cards evaluation methodology

The cash-back cards rubric considers rewards, perks, fees and interest when evaluating cards, using the following weighting:

Best low-rate credit cards evaluation methodology

The low-rate credit cards rubric considers rewards, perks, fees and interest when evaluating cards, using the following weighting:

Best secured credit cards evaluation methodology

The secured cards rubric considers rewards, perks, fees, interest and secured card specifics when evaluating cards, using the following weighting:

Best prepaid cards evaluation methodology

The prepaid cards rubric considers rewards, fees, interest and prepaid card specifics when evaluating cards, using the following weighting:

Best student cards evaluation methodology

The student cards rubric considers rewards, perks, fees and interest when evaluating cards, using the following weighting:

Best business cards evaluation methodology

The business cards rubric considers rewards, perks, fees and interest when evaluating cards, using the following weighting:

Best premium cards evaluation methodology

The premium cards rubric considers rewards, premium perks, fees and interest when evaluating cards, using the following weighting:

Best travel cards evaluation methodology

The travel cards rubric considers rewards, travel perks, fees and interest when evaluating cards, using the following weighting