Skip to content
COFFERCards. Points. Value.

Safety Stars

COFFER Safety Stars - how we rate

COFFER Safety Stars measure the costs and traps a card carries and how clearly its bank states them. They are worked out from the bank's own documents, line by line, and only after COFFER has read every document the bank publishes for the card. When a document changes, the card is re-read before it is rated again. Stars are not a recommendation and say nothing about rewards.

Five checks, each worth up to one star:

  1. Interest - the finance charge a month: 2.5% or less earns a full star; up to 3.5% half a star; more, or not stated, none.
  2. Foreign spends - the foreign currency markup: up to 1% (or none) a full star; up to 2% half a star; more, or not stated, none.
  3. Spend fees - fees the card charges on everyday spends (utility, rent, wallet loading, online gaming, education, fuel): none or one earns a full star; two or three half a star; four or more none.
  4. Clarity - of the cost questions COFFER asks of every card (fees, charges, interest), the share the bank's documents answer: 90% or more a full star; 80% or more half a star; less none.
  5. Fine print - places where two of the bank's own current documents say different things about the same question: none earns a full star; one half a star; two or more none.

Every check links to the bank's own sentence behind it.