Useful explainers, but it is paid when you take the product it just recommended.
What it's really for A personal-finance publisher monetized by sign-ups. Explainers pull you in; partner products pay the bills.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its 'best' lists for credit cards, loans, and banking, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Its revenue is affiliate and lead-gen fees from the card issuers, lenders, and banks whose products fill its "best" lists.
Source →- Operating since
- 2009 (17 years)
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Affiliate and lead-gen fees from card issuers, lenders, and banks whose products it ranks.
- What they do
- Publishes ranked "best" lists and explainers for credit cards, loans, and banking, earning a fee when readers sign up.
- What to watch for
- It tends not to list cards, loans, or accounts that pay it no commission, so a genuinely better-for-you option that is not a partner may never show up in the "best" list.
- Composite score
- 2.10 / 5.00 → grade C-
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- A public company whose own filings disclose reliance on search traffic and an affiliate/lead-gen model tied to the financial products it ranks. Source: NerdWallet FY2025 10-K (SEC) →