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 cash-back card that happens to offer a balance transfer promotion as a secondary benefit, for example, would be rated as a cash-back 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 7 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 six rubrics:

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

Best rewards credit cards evaluation methodology

The rewards credit 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, perks, fees, interest, 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: