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Are your points worth the processing fee?

If you pay a fee to put spend on a credit card — rent, tuition, a tax bill — you're buying points. This shows you the price you're paying and whether it's a good one.

2.90%

Every card at this fee

Same spend type, same fee. Sorted by what you actually net per dollar.

What are these points?

Points you can move between airlines and hotels are worth more than miles locked to one airline. That is the whole reason the numbers differ.

CardEarnValueNet / $On your volume

How this is calculated

Points earned per dollar × what you value a point at = cents earned. Subtract the fee and you have the real answer.

A card earning 1 point per dollar, with points worth 1.2¢, earns you 1.2¢ per dollar spent. A 2.9% fee costs 2.9¢ per dollar. You're down 1.7¢ on every dollar — paying $2.90 to buy $1.20 of points.

Most people never run this. They assume any points beat no points. At a 2.9% fee, most cards lose.

Point valuations used

These are conservative and adjustable. Your own numbers matter more than anyone's published chart.

The one real exception: elite status. Some cards earn status-qualifying dollars on every purchase, not just airline spend. If you're deliberately buying elite status, the fee isn't buying points — it's buying the tier, and you should judge it on what that status is worth to you. The calculator flags those cards.

This is one calculation. There are others.

Suite Routes routes every category of your spending to the right card, shows the math on every recommendation, and tells you what it costs in points to chase elite status. Every recommendation shows what we earn from it — today, nothing.

Open the dashboard