Credit Waypoint

How we compare cards

This page is the rulebook for every table on this site. If a guide disagrees with this page, this page wins until we fix the guide.

What “compare” means here

We do not pick a single “best card.” We ask a narrower question: for this vendor, on this kind of card, which product is the least-wrong place to put the charge?

A comparison on this site usually includes:

• The category the issuer says it will pay — and what that usually means in the real world
• Annual fee vs what you would have to spend to make the fee worth it
• Signup bonus and the deadline to earn it
• Credits that actually apply to operator bills vs credits that do not
• Foreign transaction fees, if the vendor bills abroad
• What happens when the category changes

We do not score cards with a secret 100-point formula. If we rank anything, we say what the rank is based on.

How the map works

Issuers do not pay bonuses on “Google Ads” as a brand name. They pay on a category. Networks attach a merchant code to a charge. The issuer then says “this code is 3x” or “this code is 1x.”

1. What you are buying
2. How that vendor usually codes
3. Which of your cards treats that code best
4. Whether a fee or bonus deadline should change the answer this month

The pictures on the homepage (Ink, Amex Business Gold, Spark) are examples, not advice and not a promise those cards will code that way for you.

What we will not do

Dates

Every offer table should show when we last checked it. If a page has no date, treat it as unfinished.

We update when an issuer changes a category, a fee, or a bonus — not on a fixed calendar. If you see a dead offer, email hello@creditwaypoint.com with the URL.

How we get paid

Credit Waypoint is an independent publisher. We may earn a commission if you apply for a card through a link on this site. That is an advertiser relationship. It does not decide which card sits on the map.

When a page has affiliate links, it will say so. Apply links should be marked as sponsored.

Sources

We start from the issuer’s own terms: fee, bonus rules, category list, expiration. We then note how operator vendors tend to code, from public reports and from our own bills. Those two things are not the same. Terms are the rule. Coding is the messy part. We will label which is which when we can.

Corrections

If a fee, multiplier, or deadline is wrong, write hello@creditwaypoint.com. Put the page URL in the subject. We correct the page. We do not argue with the receipt.

Not advice

Nothing on this site is credit, tax, or legal advice. Card approval is the issuer’s decision. Your statement is the only official record of how a charge coded.