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.

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.