No bank decides where it appears on this site. Here is the exact process we use to rank every credit card, loan, and insurance product — in plain language, with nothing hidden.
Every product on RandWise goes through the same four-step process before it ever appears on the site. We don't make exceptions, and we don't let any institution skip ahead of this process in exchange for advertising spend.
We pull pricing directly from each provider's official website and disclosure documents — not press releases or marketing pages.
We calculate annual value using typical South African spending patterns: groceries, fuel, data, and school fees.
Every product is scored on the same weighted criteria below — applied consistently, regardless of partnership status.
Fees and terms change. We re-check every listed product at least once a month and update rankings when anything shifts.
For credit cards specifically, we weight five factors. The exact weighting differs slightly for loans and insurance, but the principle is identical: cost to the consumer carries more weight than any single reward feature.
| Factor | Weight | What We're Measuring |
|---|---|---|
| Total annual cost | 35% | Monthly fee × 12, plus typical transactional fees |
| Real rewards value | 25% | What the rewards are actually worth in rand for typical spending, not the advertised maximum |
| Accessibility | 15% | Minimum income requirement and how easily an average applicant qualifies |
| Fee transparency | 15% | How clearly the provider discloses fees versus burying them in fine print |
| Reader feedback | 10% | Verified reader experiences and satisfaction reported to us directly |
A card with an exciting rewards programme is worthless if the fees outweigh what you earn back. We've found that South Africans are far more likely to overpay due to a flashy rewards pitch than to underpay because a card lacked rewards. Weighting cost highest protects readers from the most common and most expensive mistake.
No provider can pay to be ranked higher, featured as "Editor's Pick," or moved up the comparison table. Our scoring formula determines position — nothing else.
If a card or loan product scores poorly, we say so — even for institutions we have a referral relationship with. Our credibility is worth more than any single commission.
If we haven't been able to re-verify a product's current pricing within the last 60 days, we flag it on the page rather than leave a silently outdated ranking live.
Every verdict on this site is written by us, based on our own calculations — not copied from a bank's marketing copy or another comparison site.
RandWise earns referral commissions when readers apply for certain financial products through links on this site. This is how we keep the content free. Our editorial scoring process above happens completely independently of which providers we have commercial relationships with — see our Editorial Standards page for the firewall between our editorial and business teams.
Compare every major South African credit card side by side using this exact methodology.
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