About & methodology

What CardShortlist is

CardShortlist is an independent credit card comparison tool. We are not a bank, card issuer, or licensed financial advisor, and nothing on this site is financial advice. Treat it as a starting point for your own research. We are operated by CardShortlist. Some outbound apply links are affiliate links; see the disclosure in the footer of every page.

How recommendations are scored

Card matches are ranked by a fixed, deterministic formula, not a machine-learning model, so the same inputs always produce the same ranking and every score can be explained. Each card earns points out of 100 across four factors based on the answers you give in the quiz:

• Reward fit (up to 40 pts): how well the card's reward rates match the categories you actually spend in, weighted by how much of your spend goes to each category.
• Priority match (up to 30 pts): how well the card serves what you told us matters most (travel, cashback, lounge access, low fees, and so on), weighted by the order you ranked them.
• Fee affordability (up to 15 pts): the card's effective annual fee (after any spend-based waiver) relative to your spend level.
• Welcome bonus & perks (up to 10 pts): the value of welcome offers plus a small bonus for perks like insurance, concierge, or golf access.

Cards you likely wouldn't qualify for (based on the income, employment, or credit score band you gave us) are shown separately as reach cards rather than silently excluded or scored as if you qualified.

How card data is sourced and kept current

Every card's fees, rewards, and eligibility figures are researched against issuer pages and cross-checked against independent sources before publishing. Each card record carries a lastVerified date and is flagged for re-review after a fixed staleness window. Where a figure couldn't be fully corroborated, we say so directly on the card page rather than presenting an estimate as confirmed fact.

A note on “Kiran Ledger”

“Kiran Ledger” is a pen name used for editorial work on this site, not a claim of a verified individual. We don't run any social media accounts under that name. If you find a profile, post, or account elsewhere using it, it isn't linked to or run by us.

Corrections & contact

Spot something outdated or wrong? Email [email protected] with the card name and what you found. We check every report and correct the card record if it's wrong.