CardSavvy in Action: A Visual Walkthrough

CardSavvy takes two inputs, your approximate annual spending and the cards you already hold, and returns one output: which card to use for each category, and what the whole wallet is worth after annual fees.

No account, no bank connection, and no transaction-level data. Category totals are enough for the math.

Here is what that looks like.

The setup

Tell it what you spend. Rough numbers work, because the ranking depends on the ratio between your categories rather than their exact values.

Step 1, filled with US averages by one click.

Then tell it what you carry. Cards come from a catalog of 137, so their rates, fees, and credits are filled in for you.

Step 2. Every field stays editable if your terms differ.

The result

A per-category assignment, a net value after annual fees, and a per-card breakdown showing what each one contributes.

The winning card per category, with the runner-up it beat and by how much.

Net value per card, after fees and after the credits you said you would use.

Screenshots captured July 30, 2026 on the US-average spending profile.

Go deeper

These screenshots show the shape. The three posts below show the arithmetic, using an average US household budget of $34,800 that you can reproduce by clicking one button in the tool.

How to Optimize Your Credit Card Rewards walks through every screen with real numbers, including the redemption-strategy and statement-credit inputs that move the answer most.

Three Ways a Rewards Optimizer Gives You the Wrong Answer shows how far the result swings on its assumptions, and documents where CardSavvy's own model falls short.

How Many Rewards Cards Do You Actually Need? measures what each additional card earns, and where adding one starts costing you money.

For definitions of the terms on the results screen, see the optimizer glossary.

Start optimizing →