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Which card is worth carrying

A comparison of fictional card archetypes that starts from how you actually pay, rather than from the rewards headline.

4 minutesYou'll need: Roughly what you spend where, and whether you carry a balanceNothing you type leaves your browser

Working sketchINPUT → RESULT
Rewards flow in while annual fees and carried-balance interest flow out.

Start here: replace the example figures with yours, read the main result, then change one number at a time to see what matters most.

Do you pay the statement in full each month?

This is the first-order question. Interest on a carried balance outruns almost any reward.

Where your credit stands

70%
$400

Stated perk values are discounted by how hard they are to use and by how reliably you say you'd use them. A credit you won't redeem is worth nothing.

Where the money goes — $3,400 a month on cards

Model cards, not offers. Every name and term below is fictional. Use the ranking to learn which structure fits; then compare current disclosures before applying for a real card.

For how you pay

The Rent-friendly rewards archetype — no annual fee, travel — comes out at $598 a year net of fees and interest on your figures.

3x on dining — you spend $300/mo there. earns on rent with no processor fee — most cards can't

rewards on your spend+$598

How the rest compare

  • Flat-rate cash back

    model · no annual fee

    flat 2% on everything — no categories to manage

    $0 fee · rate 18.0%–29.0% · 0% for 15 months

    $396a year, net

  • Category rewards

    model · no annual fee

    4x on groceries — you spend $450/mo there

    $325 fee · rate 20.0%–30.0%

    $347a year, net

  • Simple travel rewards

    model · travel

    flat 2x on everything — no categories to manage

    $95 fee · rate 20.0%–30.0%

    $327a year, net

  • Hotel-loyalist card

    model · co-brand

    6x on travel — you spend $150/mo there

    $95 fee · rate 20.0%–31.0%

    $312a year, net

0 hidden as out of reach at your credit standing, 1 over your fee ceiling.

What changes the answer

Paying in full each month is what makes rewards worth anything at all. After that, the deciding number is how reliably you'd actually use a card's credits: at 100% a premium fee often pays for itself, and at 40% it rarely does. Move that slider and watch the ranking rearrange.

Where you spend matters less than people expect. Category bonuses are capped, and for most households the gap between a good flat-rate card and a carefully optimized wallet is smaller than one month of interest.

The calculator deliberately has no application links. The CFPB comparison checklist and agreement database below are the bridge from these model structures to current real-world terms.

These calculators are educational estimates based on the numbers and assumptions you enter. Real results vary, and projections are not guarantees. Nothing here is personalized investment, tax, or legal advice.

See the assumptions behind this estimate

What the calculator assumes

  • If you carry a balance, the model charges each archetype's mid-range rate. A real lender sets your actual rate after reviewing an application.
  • Perk values are discounted twice: once for how hard a credit is to use, and again by the reliability figure you set. A credit you wouldn't redeem counts as nothing.
  • Points are valued conservatively, in cents. Skilled transfer-partner redemptions can beat these figures; most people's redemptions do not.
  • Rent only earns rewards on the handful of cards that accept it without a processor fee.

What it leaves out

  • Every card here is a fictional archetype, not a market product or live offer. The figures exist only to show how the trade-offs work.
  • Approval fit is an estimate and never a promise. Issuers weigh income, existing debt, and utilization alongside credit scores.
  • Nothing here is a referral, and no card on this page pays anything to Networthy.
Save this set of numbers

Give these figures a name and you can come back to them, or set up a second version to compare against. One saved set covers every calculator here, and all of it stays in this browser.

Useful next steps

The archetypes above are fictional, not a live offer feed. Use them to frame the trade-off, then verify any real card at the source.

Public resources only. Networthy has no financial relationship with these sources.

An estimate is a starting point. Test the assumption doing the most work, then take the next question in order.

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