How TPG’s data can help you pick your next credit card

Here at The Points Guy, we pride ourselves on delivering first-class content to help you pick the best credit card — whether it's your first foray into points and miles or if you're adding yet another card to your wallet. Our advice often comes from our firsthand experiences, but we also leverage extensive, proprietary data to help in your decision-making process.

Here's a snapshot of how TPG collects data — and how we use it to help you select a new credit card.

What type of data you'll see

As you're browsing our editorial content and marketplace pages, you'll see a variety of numerical elements that provide insight into the credit cards we recommend. This may be data from our annual report on the best airlines in the U.S. or survey results from our newsletter audience of more than 1 million readers. (You can subscribe here to join one of our mailing lists.)

In each case, you'll see a clear breakdown of how our expert editorial team members and data analytics associates collected and analyzed the data. And, unless we're quoting a reader directly and linking to the original (public) source of the quote, we always use aggregated data that can't be used to personally identify anyone.

How this is useful in your credit card journey

There are many factors that can (and should) influence your choice of which credit cards make sense for you. From top welcome offers to earning rates on your everyday spending to travel perks that make your trips more rewarding and less stressful, there's a lot to consider.

While everyone's situation is different, data can help level the playing field by delivering objective calculations.

For example, if you live in a city where two different airlines operate hubs, you may have to decide between cobranded cards from those airlines. In this case, the data from our best airlines report can highlight which carrier is more reliable or has a better-valued loyalty program.

Likewise, if you're considering a travel credit card, learning that a large portion of TPG's newsletter audience uses transferable currencies to maximize their rewards can help give you the confidence to get your first card with one of these programs.

In all cases, the data we display on our pages should be just one part of your decision-making process as you pick your first (or next) credit card to spend smarter and travel better.