Cards and Points makes money by selling credit cards. When you click on a link through our site, there’s a chance we’re getting paid. You should know this. And that’s why you see disclaimers like the one below on our site:
Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
So, let’s talk about that.
Yes, we monetize our content.
Every content creator is trying to make money off their content. Some do this through affiliate links. Some do this through sponsored posts. Others sell your information and access to you to marketers. Yet others have more creative ways of making money. Be highly skeptical of anyone promising something for free… they’re making money somehow.
Here’s how we make the majority of our money today:
- Direct reader contributions to our work.
- Credit card affiliate links.
- Affiliate links throughout our site to online stores, cash back portals, and other sites.
All of the above contribute meaningfully to our bottom line. We’re happy to be up-front about that.
Sometimes, affiliate programs want to pay us to steer you into a lesser welcome offer or product. When we know there’s something better, here’s what we do…
We put the readers first, every time.
In everything we publish, our guiding principle is to do right by the readers. After all, you are the reason we are creating this site. If our advertising partners drop us, we can find new one. If our readers drop us, there is no longer a reason for us to exist.
Publish the best public offer, regardless of our affiliate commissions. When we show you a new credit card sign-up bonus offer, it is the best offer we know about that is publicly available. And we’ll do this even if we give up an affiliate commission by sending you elsewhere.
Don’t publish content about bad products. Generally, content about bad products. Our editors and writers get contacted multiple times a day by PR agencies asking us to plug a subpar credit card or fintech app. Some of these contacts promise to compensate us generously for this sponsored content. But that doesn’t serve you, the reader. If there’s no reason for you to know about a product, we’re not going to waste your time.
If we know of a better product, we’ll tell you. Some credit card products get a lot of attention, but they just aren’t that great for most people. We avoid content on subpar products, but if we are constantly getting asked about a product, we’ll publish something on it. We’ll tell you what the credit card offers and we’ll show you alternatives that are better in most cases.
Keep content simple and concise. We optimize for humans, not search engines. And, when searching for a credit card, there are a handful of things you probably care about and a bunch you don’t. We make editorial decisions for simplicity and our content reflects that.
Cut the hype. The credit card rewards space is filled with creators who post pictures of themselves in luxury hotel suites or sipping champagne in first class cabins. This sells a lot of credit cards. You’re told, “Sign up for the Chase Sapphire Reserve and you can use your points for an overwater villa in the Maldives.” In most cases, subscribers sign up for credit cards, creators get paid, and cardmembers are stuck with a credit card with an annual fee that they don’t need.
Our promises to you
We appreciate the trust you put in us. And we earn that trust every time we publish a piece of content. Here are three specific promises we make to you to continue to earn your trust.
Always promote the best offers. If we are covering something like a credit card welcome bonus, we will always promote the best publicly available offer that we know about. Sometimes banks offer targeted offers to specific customers or through specific channels (like referral links through existing customers.) If we are aware that there is a better offer out there, we will let you know.
Be deliberate and objective. We make deliberate editorial choices about how we structure articles in order to stay objective. We like lists. We like cash rewards. We don’t like theoretical point valuations. Most of our articles are short and to the point.
Advertisers never get editorial control. When you come to Cards and Points, you get our opinions, our reviews, and our analysis. Advertisers don’t get a say in what we write, what we don’t write, or how and where content appears on our site.
