How we rank products
Principles
- User first. Recommendations are based on what's best for you, not what pays us the most.
- Data-driven. We use objective criteria like fees, rates, and features — not subjective opinions.
- Transparent. We clearly disclose our methodology and affiliate relationships.
Credit cards
Each card ranking under ranked by need first keeps only the cards that meet its need (not registered at BKR, low fees abroad, and so on), then orders them by one score built from these figures. The full card table lists cards with a running promotion first and lets you order it by fee yourself.
| Factor | Weight | What we look at |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | High | Every euro of yearly fee counts against the card. |
| Foreign transaction fee | High | The percentage added to payments outside the euro. Cards that charge none score higher. |
| Insurance included | Medium | Travel insurance counts most; other included insurance counts less. |
| BKR check and income needed | Lower | A card that checks BKR, or asks for a minimum income, scores a little lower: both stop people who just arrived. |
| Apple Pay and contactless | Lower | A small plus each. |
Savings accounts
Savings rankings work the same way, with this score. The full savings table is ordered by the rate you get today, a running promotion included, highest first.
| Factor | Weight | What we look at |
|---|---|---|
| Standard interest rate | High | The rate that lasts. It decides almost all of the order. A promotional rate is shown next to it but does not count. |
| Deposit guarantee | Lower | Covered accounts get a small plus. The Guarantee column says which accounts are covered, up to €100,000 per person per banking licence. |
| No minimum deposit | Lower | A small plus for accounts you can open with any amount. |
| Instant access | Lower | A small plus for accounts without a notice period. |
Affiliate relationships
Some links to providers are affiliate or referral links: if you sign up through one, the provider may pay us a commission or a referral bonus, at no cost to you. Those links are marked “Affiliate link” next to the button. This is how we keep the site running without charging you.
We commit to these principles:
- We include products without affiliate programs when they're genuinely good.
- Commission plays no part in the rankings: they are computed from fees, rates and features only.
- We never recommend a worse product just because it pays more.
How figures are checked
Our system checks interest rates and fees every day against the provider’s own site and Dutch comparison sites. The provider’s own site wins when they disagree, and a figure it has confirmed is never replaced on the word of comparison sites alone. A change from comparison sites goes live the same day when independent sources agree on a small move, or once it has been reported three days running; a large change also needs the provider’s own site or two comparison sites that agree. Each product page shows when its figures were last confirmed and says so plainly when that was more than two weeks ago; a product we haven’t been able to confirm for 30 days stays on the site but drops out of every ranking until we can. The site is run, and its figures and guides checked, by Juan Buis in Amsterdam.
Spotted something that looks wrong? Let us know at hello@expatmoney.nl.