How We Rate Credit Cards: The MoneyMint Score

What the MoneyMint Rating Is

The MoneyMint rating is a score out of 5, shown to one decimal place, that tells you how a credit card compares with the other cards of its kind. A 4.8 travel card is the strongest travel card in Canada on our formula; a 4.8 no-fee card is the strongest no-fee card. We rate within peer groups on purpose: readers looking for a student or no-fee card want to know which of those cards is best, not how it measures up against a $599 premium travel card built for a different budget.

On our “best” ranking pages, the cards often come from more than one group (a cash-back page can include both fee and no-fee cards). So that the stars always follow the order of the list, the ratings on those pages compare only the cards shown on that page: the highest-scoring card there gets 4.8, the others are scaled to it, and the label under each rating says what it’s compared with (for example, “among cash-back cards”). That’s why a card can show a different rating on a ranking page than on its own review, where it’s compared with its peer group.

We use eight peer groups: premium travel cards (annual fee of $300 or more), travel rewards cards, cash-back cards with an annual fee, no-fee rewards cards (including student cards), business cards, low-interest and no-rewards cards, U.S.-dollar cards, and secured cards. A card is placed in one group based on its fee, its rewards structure and what it is designed for.

Behind the rating sits the MoneyMint Score, a 0–100 number built from six weighted factors: ongoing rewards potential, insurance coverage, flexibility (redemption and network acceptance), welcome bonus value, fee value, and card perks. The full math is documented below. The rating is simply each card’s score divided by the highest score in its peer group, times five: the leading card in each group scores 4.8, a card with 80% of the leader’s score scores 3.8, and so on (we never show less than 1.0). We cap the scale at 4.8 rather than 5.0 because every card involves trade-offs and a perfect score would overstate what any one of them does. For low-interest, U.S.-dollar and secured cards, where rewards are beside the point, the underlying value is 70% purchase interest rate and 30% annual fee instead.

Two consequences worth knowing. Because welcome offers are part of the score, a rating can move by a few tenths when an issuer launches or ends a promotion. And because the rating is relative, adding a stronger card to a group nudges the others down slightly. The 0–100 score itself still powers our ranking tables and the Card Finder, where comparing across every card at once is the right tool.

It’s built to answer one specific question: for a reasonably typical Canadian spender, how much value does this card generate relative to its cost? It is not a personalized recommendation — the right card for your situation depends on your own spending habits, credit profile, and priorities, which is exactly what our Credit Card Finder tool is designed to help you work through. Treat the score as a starting point for comparison, not a final verdict, and always read the full card review before applying.

The Six Factors

We adapted this weighting structure from the published rewards–insurance–flexibility–bonus–fee–perks framework used by Hardbacon, one of the few Canadian personal-finance sites that discloses its scoring methodology rather than treating it as a black box. We think publishing the formula, not just the result, is the only honest way to run a rating system on a site that also earns affiliate revenue from some of the cards it rates.

How Each Factor Is Calculated

1. Ongoing Rewards Potential (40%)

We model a typical Canadian household’s monthly spending across five categories: groceries ($500), gas ($250), dining ($250), travel ($200), and everything else ($850) — a $2,050/month baseline, broadly reflective of average Canadian household spending patterns. For each category, we use the card’s stated reward rate in that category if the issuer publishes one; if not, we fall back to the card’s general “everyday purchases” rate where available. We then compute a spending-weighted average reward rate across the categories with data, and scale it against a 4% benchmark: a card earning a blended 4% or higher across this spending mix scores the full 100 on this factor; a card earning roughly 2% scores 50.

For cards that earn transferable points or miles rather than a stated cash percentage (Aeroplan, RBC Avion, American Express Membership Rewards, BMO Rewards, TD Rewards, Scotiabank Scene+, Marriott Bonvoy, and similar programs), we convert the card’s published points-per-dollar earn rate into an estimated cash-equivalent percentage, using MoneyMint’s own per-program cents-per-point valuations. For programs with a fixed cash value we use the program’s published redemption rate; for variable-value programs such as Aeroplan or Membership Rewards we estimate what a point is typically worth when redeemed well. We review these valuations at least twice a year and after any program devaluation. You can see every valuation we use, and convert your own balance, with our points value calculator. For example, a card earning 5 Aeroplan points per $1 on travel, which we value at roughly 2¢ per point, is treated as earning an estimated 10% cash-equivalent value in that category. We apply the same conversion to a card’s welcome bonus when it’s stated only in points, so cards with a points-only bonus aren’t scored as if they had no bonus at all. This is an editorial valuation, not a guarantee — actual value depends entirely on how you redeem, and our estimates change as loyalty programs adjust their award charts.

Cards that don’t publish any structured reward-rate data at all (some legacy and proprietary point programs describe rewards only in vague or points-based terms) get a placeholder score based on their Redemption Flexibility score instead, capped at 60. We do this so a total absence of rate data doesn’t accidentally read as “average”, while still not unfairly zeroing out a card just because it doesn’t quote a percentage.

Foreign transaction fees. Most Canadian credit cards add a fee of about 2.5% to purchases made in a foreign currency, whether you’re travelling or shopping online with a foreign retailer. We assume $200 of the $2,050 monthly baseline (about $2,400 a year) is spent in a foreign currency. A card that charges no foreign transaction fee is credited with the 2.5% it saves on that spending — about $60 a year — which is added to its modelled rewards value. Cards that charge the standard fee get no credit, and U.S.-dollar cards are rated separately on interest rate and fees. If you spend much more than this abroad, a card with no foreign transaction fee is worth proportionally more to you than its score suggests.

2. Insurance Coverage (15%)

We count how many of six common insurance types are listed in the card’s stated benefits: trip cancellation/interruption, travel medical, baggage, rental car, purchase protection, and extended warranty. The count out of six becomes a percentage — four types listed scores 80%, for example.

3. Flexibility (15%)

Two things make up this component. Redemption (60% of it): straight cash back scores 5/5. Points that transfer to multiple airline or hotel partners score 4/5. Card-specific or proprietary point/cash currencies (a bank’s own rewards dollars, for instance) score 3/5. Rewards redeemable only through a single fixed travel portal score 2/5. Cards with no rewards program score 0/5. Network acceptance (40% of it): Visa and Mastercard score 5/5. American Express scores 3/5, because a meaningful number of Canadian merchants — including some large grocery chains and Costco — do not accept it. A card you cannot use at the store you shop at most is less flexible in practice, however good its rewards, and we think the score should say so.

4. Welcome Bonus Value (10%)

A welcome bonus is a one-time payment, and we deliberately keep its weight modest so that a limited-time promotion cannot swing a card’s permanent score by more than ten points. We use the dollar value of the card’s current welcome offer as stated in our review. If the issuer waives the annual fee for the first year, we add that fee to the bonus value, since a first-year rebate puts money in your pocket in the same way a statement credit does. The total is capped at $800 for scoring purposes — any offer worth more than $800 still scores the full 100, so one very large limited-time offer doesn’t structurally dominate the score for a card that’s otherwise unremarkable day-to-day. Cards with no stated bonus, or a points-only bonus we haven’t converted to a dollar estimate, are scored on the data we have; we do not invent a dollar value for a bonus an issuer states only in points.

5. Fee Value (10%)

A high fee isn’t bad if the card earns it back. So rather than penalising the fee on its own, we compare it with the rewards our standard spending model says the card would return in a year (including the foreign transaction fee credit described above). No annual fee scores 100. For a card with a fee, the score is 0 if the modelled rewards do not cover the fee at all, 100 if they cover it three times over or more, and in proportion between those two points. One exception: low-interest, secured and U.S.-dollar cards are not built to earn rewards, so judging them on rewards coverage would be unfair. For those, the fee is scored on a simple inverse scale — $0 scores 100, falling to 0 around $300.

6. Perks (10%)

We count how many of ten common premium perks are listed: airport lounge access, concierge service, entertainment credits, elite hotel/travel status, mobile device insurance, roadside assistance, NEXUS/Global Entry fee credit, hotel elite status, priority boarding/security, and general travel or dining statement credits.

Data Sources & Updates