How Forbes Advisor Rates Credit Cards

At Forbes Advisor we take our mission—to make smart financial decisions simple—seriously. Our editorial process is free of any outside influence from banks, financial institutions and anyone else. We rate cards based on who they might be useful for, and if the answer is “no one,” we will tell you so. We understand that your credit is a vital asset that needs to be protected and strive to give you the best possible information so you can make decisions that work for you.

This methodology is only applicable to Forbes Advisor Credit Cards content.

Forbes Advisor considers a variety of criteria when assigning credit cards a rating. Cards are graded based on numerous factors including:

	Annual Fees Why it’s important. Annual fees are one of the first costs that potential customers look at, and the price may be a dealbreaker for some cardholders. Annual fees may range from $0 to $695 or more—and the out-of-pocket cost puts every other card feature in perspective.
	Welcome Offers   Why it’s important. Welcome offers or bonuses are designed to catch someone’s attention and indeed they can be incredibly rewarding on some cards. Offers are not always provided in the form of bonuses: We also look at promotional 0% APRs on new purchases and balance transfers. Because the value of a welcome offer can be worth hundreds of dollars, it’s an important consideration.
	Ongoing Earning Rates   Why it’s important. Many customers use their credit cards specifically as a way to earn rewards on every purchase, so the rewards structure on a card is weighted heavily in our ratings and rankings. We consider the purchase categories, stated earnings rate and the type of earnings—such as cash back, points or miles.
	Value of Individual Points or Miles   Why it’s important. Not all rewards are created equally. Though cash back is easy to evaluate, points or miles can be more nebulous. We look at redemption options for you and assess the cash value of individual points or miles so that you can compare cards from an apples-to-apples standpoint.
	Included Travel or Merchant Credits   Why it’s important. Now more than ever, credit cards are building in statement credits, merchant offers or other cash-equivalent perks. In some cases, these can be worth hundreds of dollars. Potential cardholders will want to look into what these credits are, and if so, how to use them and what they’re worth as it can impact which cards are a good fit for their lifestyle.
	Additional Cardholder Benefits   Why it’s important. Not all cardholder benefits can be quantified easily in dollars, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable. Extra benefits like airport lounge access, free checked bags when flying or complimentary subscriptions to partnering programs will have different values based on how often you use them. Regardless, we compile this information to make it easy to find and ensure that prospective cardholders can understand whether they’re relevant to them.

Card features we expect cardholders to use the most often are weighted more heavily in our ratings. Altogether, the factors come together to provide a star rating for each individual card.

Forbes Advisor rates cards both as stand-alone products, as described above, and in order to rank and compare cards within a specific use case. The rating for a card may differ for a specific “Best” scenario to align with how a person looking for a card in that category may value certain card features. When examining reward-earning potential, we calculate rewards based on how much a typical cardholder would spend on the specified bonus categories using spending data from multiple government agencies.

For instance, a card that might be considered average for overall rewards could be the top card on a list of rewards cards with no annual fee. That’s because the card might offer limited features compared to premium cards with high annual fees but is a top choice when only compared to other no-annual-fee credit cards.

Best Cash-Back Credit Cards 2024

For cash-back cards the most important factor is, you guessed it, cash back. But all cash-back cards aren’t created equal, so we also consider:

• Fees such as balance transfer and foreign transaction fees
• Ease of maximizing rewards
• Travel and consumer protections
• Any promotional 0% APR or balance transfer offers

Best Travel Credit Cards 2024

For travel cards, we take a look at additional benefits the card offers relative to its annual fee. This might include:

• Baggage allowances
• Enhanced elite status
• Airport lounge access
• Rental car insurance
• Trip cancellation or delay protection

Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards 2024

Customers shopping for balance transfer credit cards will be interested in whether or not the card offers a 0% promotional APR on balance transfers. We also consider:

• Balance transfer fees
• Duration of the balance transfer offer, both to initiate transfers and the length the 0% rate applies
• Annual fees
• Ongoing rewards

Best Student Credit Cards 2024

Students have specific needs that student credit cards have rushed in to fill. Here’s what we look at to see who rises to the top of the class:

• How easy the card is to get
• Whether the card offers the opportunity to “graduate” to a full-featured card
• Any rewards offered
• Perks such as no foreign transaction fee or a 0% APR offer

Best Credit Cards for Secured Credit 2024

Secured credit cards can be useful for someone rebuilding their credit, but there’s a lot to consider. Here are some of the factors we evaluate on your behalf:

• Acceptable deposit amounts
• Annual fees
• APR
• Ability to have deposits refunded
• Any applicable rewards earning

Best Credit Cards for Bad Credit 2024

When someone has financial challenges the last thing they need is for a credit card to add additional headaches. We rate cards based on how much they will help you improve your credit. Criteria include:

• Whether a card is secured or unsecured
• APR
• Annual and other fees
• Reporting to all three credit bureaus
• Ability to graduate to a more robust card with steady payments

Best Business Credit Cards 2024

For the most part, business credit cards are evaluated similarly to personal credit cards, though everything is looked at from the viewpoint of a small business. Because of this, factors may be weighted differently:

• Annual fees
• Welcome offers and ongoing earning rates
• Built-in credits or benefits
• Any promotional 0% APR offers

How We Source Our Data for Best Lists

The 70th percentile of wage-earning households brings in $118,438 annually, and we estimate spending in each category from that number for cards requiring good or excellent credit. For cards requiring fair credit or below, we use the 50th percentile of a wage-earning household’s income, which is $95,450.

After we take net earnings (rewards minus annual fee) into account, we consider factors common across all credit cards such as interest rates and other fees.

The Forbes Advisor Credit Cards editorial team comprises one managing editor: Caroline Lupini, two lead editors: Clint Proctor and Toni Perkins-Southam, and two deputy editors: Meghan Hunter and Jerod Morales. The team also has one staff writer: Becky Pokora and two updates editors: Evan Coleman and Kelly-Ann Franklin. Our team has over 53 years of combined experience working with credit cards and travel rewards and is frequently called upon to provide commentary and insight. Our editors have been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Frommer’s and many other publications.

Every story is run through a process dedicated to eliminating errors. Articles go through two rounds of vigorous editing before even being considered for publication. Once an article has been reviewed by two separate editors, it’s sent to the Forbes Advisor compliance team. Next, the article is formatted for publication, then sent back to the compliance team to review again. After the article is ready for publication, the initial editor reviews the article once more prior to publishing.

In total, an article is reviewed at least five times before publication so you can be sure that the info you see on our site is correct.

Editorial Update Process

We review all of our top credit card content at least once every six months. Usually, articles are updated more often than that, because so many things can change. If an APR, welcome offer, balance transfer offer or feature of a card changes, we update any article that mentions that card as soon as possible.