We firmly believe our site is one of the best credit card related sites on the Web. The vast majority of other credit card related sites are strictly advertising based. Following are some of the reasons that our site enjoys such a consumer friendly national reputation.

* We are an independent organization that is not owned or governed by any bank or finanicial institution. Our primary consumer focus is rating credit cards and educating consumers about credit cards. We currently offer numerous "card reports" that rate cards in several categories. We believe our "card reports" section offers the most extensive and objective source of rating information in the country. One of our most unique reports is the cardholder reviews report, which allows consumers to rate cards based on personal experiences. We currently offer over 11,000 consumer reviews of 666 credit cards. New reveiws are added daily! We also offer consumer information for approximately 500 credit cards in 60 different categories, including a searchable database containing detailed card information. To the best of our knowledge, there is no other organization or company that offers more credit card consumer information.

* We list and rate all credit cards, regardless of whether a particular card advertises on our site. In fact, about 95% of the cards listed on our site are not advertisers (i.e. we do NOT earn ANY financial compensation from 95% of the cards on our site). Almost all other credit card related sites ONLY list cards that generate revenue (we only know of a few sites that list cards that do not generate revenue). These sites are typically only concerned with "making a quick buck".

Furthermore, cards that advertise on our site are not given preferential treatment (i.e. are not rated higher just because they advertise on our site). For example, the Plains Commerce Bank Visa, one of our cards that is advertised in our Poor Credit section, has received our lowest rating (1 star). Few sites offer such an objective view of their advertisers.

* We make every effort to make our site as consumer friendly as possible. We carefully screen commerical banner ads on our site. In fact, some of the banners ads on our site support various non-profit organizations at no cost to these organizations. We also do not allow "pop-under" ads. We strictly limit the size and location of all other ads.

* We carefully screen advertisers or sponsors. We don't hesitate to reject advertising requests that are not consumer friendly. For example, you will not see any ads on our site for any paid "credit card search services". These services are marketed to consumers that have a poor credit history. Such services usually charge around $30 just for helping consumers find a credit card (the "initial search results" are usually free, but there is a fee for "detailed search results"). Another drawback is that the credit cards associated with such services sometimes have unattractive terms. The fee for such services can be avoided by simply using the free resources on our site! Please let us know if you have any problems with our site sponsors. We also encourage you to post any negative experiences that you have with any of our sponsors (and non-sponsors alike) using our cardholder reviews report and our community message board (both are public forums). Finally, please carefully read all the terms and conditions of products and services offered by sponsors (and non-sponsors alike).

* We clearly distinguish all advertisements on our site. We do this in order to make sure that consumers are fully aware of who our advertisers are. We distinguish advertisers on our site by including the phrase Site Sponsor/Sponsor Link or Featured Card(s) beside each graphical or text ad. We would prefer to not have any ads on our site, but realize that we must have some form of revenue in order to exist "in the real world". We decided to allow advertisements on our site because we do not want to solicit donations from visitors to our site (as we have done in the past) and because we do not want to charge for our services, like some similar organizations do (see our About Us section for more info.).

* We alert consumers about important terms and conditions of cards that we list on our site. We highlight such terms by using a red font. We have not yet found another site that offers similar disclosures. We take pride in "exposing the fine print".

* We encourage consumers to contact us with any questions regarding credit cards, including comments regarding sponsors. In fact, we reward consumers for their feedback by randomly giving away free t-shirts to consumers that contact us! If we are unable to answer a given question, then we will refer the inquirer to other resources. We do our best to respond to all inquiries within 48 hours (often within 24 hours). Select inquiries on our message board are responded to by our board monitor. There are currently 11,000+ posts dating back to May of 2000 on our board!

* We are not another "fly by night" internet company. Consumers have been trusting us for unbiased credit card information since August 1998. While this may not sound like a long time in "normal human years", it is a long time when measured in "internet years"!

* We keep the content on our site as new and updated as possible. Our site is unique because we disclose when our credit card descriptions were last updated (month and year). We strive to update our "card reports" on a monthly basis. We are also very committed to expanding our existing content.

* We invest a large amount of our advertising revenue "back into our site". In addition to covering operational expenses, advertising revenue is used to expand the offerings of our site.

* We financially support charities by being a 2002 Soap Box Derby Sponsor. View race day photos of the CardRatings.com car! We have also donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and to the United Nations World Food Programme via The Hunger Site.