How Perqt values a card

The sum of every benefit on the card that carries a dollar value in our catalog, annualized. A $250 credit granted twice a year counts as $500. A monthly $20 credit counts as $240.

Duplicate listings of the same benefit are collapsed to one, keeping the higher stated value. Application-fee credits that renew every four years (Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, NEXUS) are divided by four.

This is the issuer's number, not ours. It is context.

A benefit can be genuinely valuable and still not be money. Four kinds of benefit are shown on the card, described in their own terms, and left out of every dollar total:

• Coverage limits. Cell-phone protection, trip cancellation, and rental car damage carry a ceiling — “up to $600 in coverage” — that pays only against an actual claim. A ceiling is not a credit, so it is never added up.
• Counted entitlements. Guest passes, lounge visits, and companion certificates are tracked per use. Perqt states the entitlement (“4 guest passes per year”) and credits dollars only once a use is recorded. Elite status is different: it is recognized automatically while the card is in your wallet, and Perqt may estimate what a tier is worth using its own valuation methodology — when it can't support a reliable estimate, the status is shown without a dollar value.
• Earning rates. 3x dining or 2% back is not a benefit — it is a multiplier on spend, and it is measured as points value instead. Counting it twice is the most common way card value gets inflated online.
• Perqt estimates. Where a perk has no issuer-stated dollar figure, we either publish the method we used or publish nothing. We do not average, and we do not borrow another site's number.

Perqt's catalog also records, per benefit, whether the wording has been confirmed against the issuer's own terms. Benefits still being confirmed are never described as issuer-verified, and Ask Perqt says so when it quotes one.

Published Value minus every benefit that requires the cardholder to do something before it pays. A benefit is excluded when its published terms require any of:

• Booking through a specific travel portal or partner.
• Enrollment, activation, or registration.
• A minimum stay, minimum spend, or per-booking cap.
• Use on a monthly or quarterly schedule that expires unused.
• A limited-time or select-partner restriction.

Excluded does not mean worthless. It means the money is conditional, and Perqt will not count conditional money as if it were guaranteed.

Credits you actually redeemed plus the estimated dollar value of points earned on your linked spend, measured against the full annual fee. It is computed only from your own connected accounts, and it is the only one of the three numbers that is about you.

Points and miles use fixed, industry-blended valuations that are identical for every Perqt member — we never inflate a program's value to make a card look better.

A welcome bonus is a one-time event, so it is always counted separately from the recurring annual value — never blended in. Its dollar figure follows a strict order: the issuer's own stated value first; if the issuer states none, a Perqt estimate (the fixed bonus amount × our fixed cents-per-point valuation), always marked with ~; and if the offer is variable or 'as high as' wording, no dollar figure at all — we show the bonus terms and refuse to price an amount the issuer won't commit to.

A hotel or airline card advertises a headline earn rate that stacks several separate things together. The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant is the clearest example: the issuer says up to 21x points on Marriott stays — 6x from the card, up to 10x from Marriott simply for being a member, and up to 5x more from the 50% member bonus that comes with the Platinum Elite status the card gives you.

Perqt credits the card only with what the card actually causes: the card's own multiplier plus the member bonus that comes from the status the card grants — 11x in that example, not 21x. The up-to-10x member base is earned with any form of payment, so counting it toward the card would inflate the card's value. We still show that line, labeled as earned regardless of the card, so the full picture is visible.

The status bonus is counted exactly once — in your points earnings, on stays at that brand's own properties. It is never also added to the estimated value of the elite status itself. This applies to any card that grants you the status, not only a co-branded one: if a premium card gives you Hilton Gold, that card earns the Hilton bonus on your Hilton spend. Every card follows this same method; only the numbers differ, and each one comes from that program's own published terms.

Benefit terms, fees, earning rates, and welcome offers are sourced from issuer pages and refreshed continuously. Where an issuer's own page and a partner page disagree, we use the issuer.

Stated benefit value is not realized value. Always confirm final terms with the issuer before applying.