How the recommendation engine works
Most "best card" lists are the same ranking for everyone. ChurnLogic is different: it's a rules engine that evaluates the entire catalog against your specific situation and issuer rules, then returns one answer, the best card for you to apply for right now, with the reasoning shown.
What it reads
- • Every card you hold and its exact open date
- • Your goals and rewards focus (travel, cashback, specific loyalty programs)
- • Your credit score band and annual-fee tolerance
- • The full card catalog: bonuses, fees, issuers, and each card's rules
The rules it applies to every card
For each candidate card, the engine checks the gauntlet of issuer rules and marks the card recommended, eligible, or blocked, with the specific reason and the date any block clears:
Counts your personal cards opened in the trailing 24 calendar months and knows the exact date each one drops off. Chase cards are blocked while you're at 5/24, with the drop date shown.
Per-issuer spacing between applications (Chase, Amex, Citi, Capital One, Barclays, and more), so you're not flagged for applying too fast at one bank.
How long since you last held (or earned the bonus on) this specific card or its family, so you don't burn an application on a bonus you can't receive.
Cards you already have are filtered out of the 'apply' list and moved into your portfolio view.
Cards whose approval odds are poor for your score band are flagged rather than recommended.
How it ranks what's left
Among the cards you're actually eligible for, the engine scores each on fit to your goals and estimated value, using conservative cents-per-point valuations for each rewards program. It shows both the estimated signup-bonus value and the net first-year value after subtracting the annual fee, so a flashy bonus attached to a $550 fee is compared honestly against a smaller bonus with no fee. The single highest-value eligible card becomes your "next card," with the rest as ranked alternatives.
Honest by design
The ranking is on fit and value to you, never on what pays us. A card that earns ChurnLogic no commission can and does outrank one that does. Values are estimates, and issuer rules are community-observed conventions that can change; the engine is a planning tool, not a guarantee. See our advertiser disclosure.
See your personalized ranking.
Get started freeNext: what happens after you apply.