How we evaluate Canadian credit cards

Our Canadian catalogue records annual fees, purchase and cash-advance rates, balance-transfer terms, rewards ranges, listed benefits, income requirements and provincial availability when the source supplies them. Missing values remain missing; they are not replaced with guessed terms.

SCFinance first estimates ongoing value in Canadian dollars for a published spending profile. It applies base and accelerated earn rates only to eligible spending, converts points through a program-specific cents-per-point valuation, and subtracts the annual fee, foreign-transaction costs and interest for balance-carrying profiles. The star rating is derived from the resulting rewards, fees, interest, perks, fit and data-confidence dimensions; it is not an approval prediction.

A raw multiplier is never compared directly with cash back. TD Rewards use the issuer's Expedia for TD benchmark of 200 points per $1. Scene+ uses its published 100 points per $1 benchmark. PC Optimum uses 10,000 points per $10. Programs with dynamic award pricing, including Aeroplan, use a conservative editorial base value plus a visible range and a lower confidence weight.

If the source does not identify the rewards program, the engine uses a deliberately conservative fallback and reduces the card's confidence score. It does not silently assign a premium travel value to unknown points.

Welcome bonuses are excluded from ongoing rankings until the bonus amount, required spend, expiry, annual-fee rebate and redemption value are structured. This prevents a temporary headline offer from making a weak long-term card look permanently better.

Quantified annual credits and lounge visits can contribute conservative expected value with a disclosed utilization assumption. Unquantified insurance, merchant offers and marketing claims receive no invented cash value.

A card must be available in the selected province and meet the category definition before it can rank. A points card that merely allows cash-credit redemptions is not classified as a cash-back card. Missing fees, rates, reward details, unidentified programs and stale source checks reduce confidence and therefore ranking value.

The complete eligible catalogue remains visible beneath each best-card shortlist so readers can audit what was considered, search by issuer and compare the estimated return, net annual value, annual fee and score.

The synchronization worker validates counts, Canadian availability and required provenance before replacing the catalogue. Database constraints prevent impossible polymorphic references, automated tests cover catalogue integrity and calculator math, and every published card page links readers back to the current issuer terms.

A score cannot know your approval odds, redemption preferences or future spending. Welcome offers and benefits can change between refreshes. Use the score to narrow the field, then compare the issuer disclosure for the cards that fit your situation.