Editorial Ethics

No affiliate links. Ever.

We do not earn a commission when you apply for a card. We don't link to application pages with tracking codes. There is no "Apply now" button that pays us. This is the single most important rule on the site: we cannot be bribed into a better answer, because there is no bribe on offer.

If a recommendation appears, it appears because the math says so — and you can check the math yourself in every answer.

No invented reporters

Most credit card sites invent a friendly expert with a headshot and a bio. We don't. Everything here is published by one desk — the CCA Research Desk — and the brand stands behind it. We didn't replace fake people with fake departments.

The person behind the desk is real and named: Randy Petersen, founder of FlyerTalk and BoardingArea. He sets these standards and is accountable for what publishes under the byline.

What varies is the lens we work a question through, not the byline:

• Research — assembling the facts and the decision.
• Numbers — the math: points valuations, break-even, opportunity cost.
• Fine Print — the terms, read so you don't have to.

A lens is a method, not a face. We'd rather you trust the reasoning than the byline.

No sponsored answers

No advertiser pays to appear in an answer. No card issuer can buy a better placement in a comparison. If a card is the answer to a question, it's because the question led there — not the issuer's wallet.

Four ways to read the same facts

Every answer can be read four ways — straight, explained, optimized, and challenged. The facts don't change; the lens does. The "Challenge it" mode exists on purpose: the most popular card is often not the right one, and a good answer tells you what might be wrong with it.

Show the math

If we claim a card "pays for itself," we show the break-even. When the value of a point matters to an answer, we don't publish "the" value — we show a range (cash floor, realistic redemption, aspirational redemption) and say which one the answer uses. If we can't show the math, we don't make the claim.

How we cite

Every story ends with What we checked — a numbered list of the primary documents behind it, each one linked, each one with a note saying what we used it for. We cite primary sources only: issuer terms and benefit pages, regulators like the CFPB and the Federal Reserve, scoring companies, credit bureaus, and official statistical releases. We do not cite aggregator blogs, affiliate review sites, or each other.

Where a number comes from our own arithmetic — a break-even, an illustrative example, a valuation assumption — we say so in the sentence rather than dressing it up with a citation. The count in the byline is generated from the source list itself, so it can never claim more checking than we actually did. Outbound source links carry no tracking and earn us nothing.

Answer Engine responses are generated analysis, labelled as such, and are not a substitute for the issuer's current terms. If a linked document contradicts anything we published, the document wins.

Corrections

We get things wrong sometimes. When we do, we correct the article, note what changed, and date the correction. If you spot an error, tell us on the contact page.

What this costs us

The honest tradeoff: without affiliate revenue, growth is slower and there are no referral bonuses to fund the newsroom. We've decided that's the right price. The product is trust, and trust doesn't survive a commission on the answer.