I'm looking to get a credit card, and am prepared to balance such
variables as annual fee, APR, points, member discounts, etc.  My
credit history is fine and I am not a beginner creditee.
Can you find a credit card comparison website that Consumer Reports or
the Better Business Bureau would approve of?  In other words, NOT a
push site.  I'm looking to compare a wide range of cards from
different companies.

Payment will be contingent on the trustworthiness of the sites you
recommend (up to 3), not whether I use the websites or not.  If it
seems you, the answerer, has acted in good faith, I will certainly pay
and tip, whether or not the sites recommended help me.  However, push
sites won't be tolerated.

---

Request for Question Clarification by efn-ga on 19 Sep 2005 20:29 PDT

Hi katten,

A couple of questions:

Could you explain what you mean by "push site"?  Would a site that
appears to attempt to cover the market objectively but contains
advertising be acceptable?

In what country are you shopping?

Thanks,

--efn

---

Clarification of Question by katten-ga on 20 Sep 2005 05:59 PDT

A site that contains advertising for multiple major credit card
companies would be acceptable.  When I say "push site," I mean a site
that is sponsored by a single entity, or do not meet accepted
standards of journalism.  I understand that web sites are not News
Media and are not bound by ethics of journalism per se, but I am
looking for sites that aspire to that level of integrity.

I'm looking in the US only.

Good clarifying questions.  Thanks!

Hi katten,

Thanks for the clarification.  I have found some websites that I hope
will meet your needs.

My first choice would be the credit card section of Bankrate.com,
which I already knew from previous experience.  The site has a lot of
advertising, but it also has a lot of information, clearly presented,
once you get to a table.  You have to make a couple of selections to
get to a table.  I believe the information is current and objective.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/rate/cc_home.asp

Consumer Action surveys the credit card market and publishes a report
annually.  The last one was from July 2005.  The list of credit card
offers is less comprehensive than the one on Bankrate.com.

http://www.consumer-action.org:16080/English/CANews/2005_Credit_Card_Survey/

The Federal Reserve System surveys the credit card market and
publishes a report every six months.  The data on the Web is from
January 31, 2005, so it is unlikely to be as current as the data on
commercial sites, but still may be useful.  It's a single list, in
alphabetical order by issuer.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/shop/survey.htm


Additional Links

You asked for up to three sites and I have listed the top three above,
selected in accordance with your emphasis on objectivity and lack of
sales pressure.  Here I will mention some also-rans, in case they are
of any use.

MSN Money's Credit Card Analyzer seems to have reasonable coverage,
though not much information about the cards and no category for no
annual fee.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/banking/services/creditcard.asp

ABC Guides Credit Cards & Rates Finder has a lot of data you can sort
in a lot of ways.  The page design is not slick, and there are
animated ads in the tables.

http://www.abcguides.com/creditcards/

LowCards.com ranks card offers subjectively, which I consider a bit
suspicious for your purposes.  They have "Opinion" reviews that look
like they were written by a real person and discuss the relative
strong and weak points of the cards.  This site also supplies data to
Yahoo! Shopping.

http://lowcards.com/index.asp

Here's the page where they explain what they consider in ranking cards.

http://lowcards.com/disclosure.asp

The CardLocator service on CardWeb.com has the longest lists, probably
because they list variations on the same card (such as the Discover
Platinum Card and the Discover Platinum Clear Card) with the same
terms on separate lines.  It did not seem to have the cards with the
lowest rates on other lists.  For example, cards with no annual fee
start at an APR of 7.9% on Bankrate.com while the lowest on CardWeb is
8.49%.  CardLocator has a search feature where you can answer some
questions and it will find cards that fit your answers.  It had less
information in its tables than some of the other sites (five columns,
one of which is "Apply Online," compared to nine on the Federal
Reserve System list and ten on Bankrate.com).

http://www.cardweb.com/cardlocator/


I hope this information is helpful, and I wish you luck with your shopping.

--efn

Exactly what I was searching for.  Great answer!  Comprehensive,
unbiased, and clear.

Thank you very much for the rating, comments, and tip.

Great discussion! In my opinion, consumr reviews (by actual card
holders) offer the most objective ratings of credit cards. You can
peruse over 20K consumer reviews here:

http://www.cardratings.com/cardreviewfr.html

Good luck.

I fogot to mention that the Nov. '05 issue of Consumer Reports
Magazine has a good article that contains their ratings of the best
credit cards on the market. I think the article is avaible on their
website:

http://www.consumerreports.org