Editorial policy

Every number on this site traces to an issuer’s own page with the date it was read, or to what you typed into a tool. Illustrative figures are labeled as such.

How the Wallet Score works

The Wallet Score is Julia’s own 1-to-100 test (method julia_wallet_score/3). Everyday and business cards are scored in four parts:

• Value (up to 55): the card is run on three spending panels of $30,000 a year ($60,000 for business cards): an everyday household, a food-focused one and a travel-focused one. For each panel: what the card earns at its rates, plus the statement credits a real person would use, minus the fee and any required membership. A stress case removes the largest credit and discounts points whose value moves; the final figure is three quarters the plain average and one quarter the stress average, then placed on a fixed scale.
• Freedom to redeem (up to 20): four tests of how easily rewards turn into something you want, from the issuer’s published rules.
• Ease (up to 15): starts at 15 and loses points for each burden the issuer’s terms impose (portals, expiring credits, enrollments).
• Protections (up to 10): two fixed claims, a damaged purchase and a cancelled trip, paid or not under the card’s benefit guide.

Credit-building cards and financing cards have their own parts (cost, access, reporting, growth and application; cost, payoff room, late rules and setup), shown on each card’s page.

The standard household

$30,000 a year: groceries $7,200, dining $3,000, gas $1,800, transit $600, flights $600, hotels $600, streaming $240, online shopping $1,800, warehouse clubs $1,800, everything else $12,360. The tools start from this split and let you change every line.

Point values

Points are valued at the issuer’s stated value for its simplest use, never at a valuation from another publication. Transfers to airline and hotel partners can be worth more or less; the tools let you set your own value, and say so.

What is left out

Welcome offers (a first-year event), airport lounge access, insurance and purchase protections beyond the two protection tests, interest charges, and any fixed-sunset promotion. The tools say what was left out for each card.

Re-checking

Issuer terms are re-checked automatically every week against the pages cited, and by hand before each video. When a term changes, the card page lists the change with the date it was found, and the corrections page records any error in a published figure.

Assumptions written by hand

Some cards have mechanics the tools cannot model without an assumption: a bonus category the cardholder chooses, rotating quarterly categories, store cards, or cards whose rate depends on how you pay. For those, the card page says which assumption the test used.