Most card-recommendation sites answer this question in fine print. We'd rather answer it plainly, because how a site earns is the single best predictor of whose side it's on.
Today: almost nothing — by design
CardAdvisor currently runs as a self-funded project. We have no advertising, no affiliate commissions, and no paid placements on this site. No bank has paid us anything, and no recommendation you see here has ever earned us a rupee. The only thing we sell is merchandise — t-shirts priced near cost, which exist to spread the brand, not to make margin. Buying (or not buying) merch has no connection to anything we recommend.
Later: possibly affiliate links — with rules
To sustain the site we may eventually add affiliate application links, where an issuer pays a fixed fee if you're approved for a card after clicking through. If and when that happens, these commitments apply and this page will be updated:
- Every page with an affiliate link will say so, clearly, near the link — not in a footer.
- Commission status will have zero weight in rankings. The scoring engine has no input for it, and that won't change. Cards that pay us nothing will continue to outrank cards that do, whenever the math says so.
- Reviews will keep their "biggest concern" sections and keep telling you when to skip a card — including cards with affiliate links.
What we will never do
- Sell your details or call you. Our recommendation engine doesn't even collect your phone number, so there is nothing to sell and nobody to call. If you ever get a sales call "from CardAdvisor", it isn't us.
- Accept payment for a ranking, rating, or review verdict.
- Run sponsored content disguised as editorial. If something is ever paid for, it will be labelled.
- Tie rewards, merch, or giveaways to card applications. Giveaway entry never requires applying for anything.
Why publish this before earning anything?
Because the promises only mean something if they're made before the money shows up. This page is the baseline you can hold us to. If our funding model ever changes, the change will be documented here, dated, with the old text preserved.
Questions about any of this? Use the contact form — a human reads everything.