How we’ll evaluate credit cards

Education-first status

TopRates.ca provides educational information about Canadian credit cards. We do not currently have signed issuer affiliate relationships or card application links. No card is scored or ranked. Product information must be checked with the issuer before making a financial decision.

Evaluation criteria

Each card we feature will be scored on a transparent rubric. The criteria we plan to use:

• Effective rewards rate by spending category, net of annual fee, for representative Canadian household spend profiles
• Annual fee value — what perks (lounge access, travel insurance, free authorized users) need to be redeemed to break even on the fee
• Sign-up bonus value — bonus net of any spend-requirement gating, in the first cardholder year
• Insurance coverage — purchase protection, extended warranty, travel medical, trip cancellation, rental car
• Fees beyond the annual — foreign-transaction fees, cash advance, balance transfer, late payment, over-limit
• Approval requirements — minimum income, minimum credit score, who the card is realistically accessible to

Refresh schedule

Card terms (rates, fees, sign-up bonuses, insurance coverage) change frequently. For verified listings we’ll commit to a quarterly refresh of every featured card with a clear “last reviewed” date on each listing. We’ll also push out a same-day update if an issuer announces a major change (e.g. removing a category bonus).

What we won’t do

• List a card under a fake or generic name (“Major Canadian Bank Cash Back Plus”). All listings will be real, named, current cards from real issuers.
• Sell your application data to lead-buyers.

Who’s evaluating?

Today’s listings are unverified. When verified evaluations go live, they will be authored and reviewed by the editorial team at TopRates.ca (Webhub4u Inc.). Each listing will carry the standard editorial byline.