NerdWallet's award winners are chosen through a rigorous evaluation process involving 37 writers and editors. NerdWallet's ratings formulas for credit cards, for example, consider the type of card being reviewed (such as cash back, travel, or balance transfer) and the card's rates, fees, rewards, and other features. For more info, see our methodologies.

Our team of nerdy experts is composed of writers and editors — based all across the country — who have a combined 450 years of journalistic experience reviewing and writing about personal finance products for consumers.

Yes. Writers and editors use comprehensive scoring formulas that assess each financial product’s key features, weighting them according to their importance to consumers.

Nope. Editorial team members are solely responsible for creating all product reviews and ratings, and these assessments reflect their opinions alone. Only products that meet the editorial team’s standards appear in our Best-Of Awards lists, meaning no company can “buy” an award.

Our Best-Of Awards are given annually to the top financial products on the market. Our other “best” articles may:

• be longer than our Best-Of Awards list
• offer additional consumer choices
• get updated as products change or are discontinued and as new products emerge

This year's Best-Of-Awards list winners were chosen in mid-October 2025.