Frequently asked questions
What The Points Pro does, what it costs, and what it never asks for. Ready to look around? Start with the supported cards or the pricing page.
What is The Points Pro?
The Points Pro is an independent web companion for credit card rewards. It tells you which card to use for each purchase, tracks every recurring statement credit with email reminders before it resets, and shows whether each annual fee pays for itself. It is not an affiliate site: card rankings never depend on commissions or on which plan you are on.
Does Find know stores like Safeway, Costco or Shell?
Yes. Type a store or chain into Find and it answers with the spend category the store counts as and the best card in your wallet for it, judged card by card against each issuer's own definitions. Major US supermarkets, gas stations, pharmacies, restaurant chains and retailers are recognized by name from an open brand list, and stores people type that we do not know yet are added by a weekly review.
Why does Target or Costco not count as groceries?
Card issuers define bonus categories by how a merchant is coded, not by what it sells. Superstores such as Target and Walmart and warehouse clubs such as Costco are coded as discount stores and wholesale clubs, and every supermarket bonus we track excludes them. Find says so on the row and sends the purchase to your everything-else card instead of pretending a grocery bonus applies.
Does a restaurant inside a hotel earn my hotel credit?
Only when the charge settles through the hotel. A hotel-run restaurant charged to your room and paid at checkout counts as hotel spend, so credits such as the Hilton resort credit apply and dining bonuses do not. A leased restaurant with its own card terminal codes as dining. Find shows which list a venue is on and how charges there code; when it is not confirmed, charging to the room is the safe way.
How much does The Points Pro cost?
The Explorer plan is free and tracks up to 3 active cards. Navigator costs $2.99 per month or $19.99 per year (that is $1.67 a month) and adds unlimited active cards, email reminders, and one Companion profile link. The Founder's Passport is a one-time $79.99 purchase with lifetime Navigator access plus Founder exclusives, such as the year simulator and first dibs on new features, limited to 500 founding members. Navigator plans start with a 14-day free trial.
What is the year simulator?
A Founder's Passport exclusive. Pick your cards and monthly spending and The Points Pro plays the year forward month by month: which card wins each spending category, welcome offers unlocking as minimums are met, annual fees posting up front while credits claw them back, and a year-end verdict on what the finished pile of points is worth. Anyone can watch a sample year on the homepage.
Can I share The Points Pro with a friend?
Yes. Every member has a permanent invite link, on the preferences page, that any number of people can use. A friend who joins through it gets 3 months of Navigator free, and once 3 of your friends have joined and added a card you get 6 months of Navigator yourself. Every friend after that adds 2 more months.
What does my referred friend get?
3 months of Navigator, starting the day they join. No payment details and no card on file. When the months end nothing is charged and nothing is lost: their cards, history and settings stay exactly as they are and the account returns to the free Explorer plan.
What counts as a referral?
A friend who joins through your link and adds at least one card to their wallet. Signing up alone does not count. A referral stays provisional for 30 days: if the account goes away inside that window it stops counting and your reward is shortened by 2 months, which bringing another friend restores. After that window it is permanent.
Is there a limit on what I can earn?
You can earn up to 12 months of Navigator in a calendar year, however many friends you bring. The count resets on 1 January and the new year's months are added on top of what you already hold.
What is an Ambassador?
A member whose referrals have turned into 10 paying members. Ambassadors get Navigator permanently, including the year simulator. It does not expire and nothing is ever charged. It is separate from the Founder's Passport, which is a purchase.
Do I need to connect my bank account or share card numbers?
No. There is no bank login, no Plaid connection, and no card numbers. You select the cards you hold from the catalog, and that is everything the service needs. Card opening dates are optional and only power renewal and anniversary reminders. Payments for paid plans are handled by Stripe, so The Points Pro never sees your payment details.
How do credit reminders work?
Every recurring credit on your cards, whether it resets monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually, is tracked by its own cycle. Before a credit resets you get an email nudge naming the exact credit, with a one-click link to mark it used. You choose which credits email you, per credit or all at once.
How do I know whether a card's annual fee is worth keeping?
The scoreboard on My Cards shows how much of each card's annual fee you have recovered through credits you actually used, and what value is still on the table. Renewal reminders timed off each card's opening date prompt you to review a card before its next annual fee posts.
What is Companion linking?
Companion is a two-player mode for households that manage points together. A Navigator member links one trusted profile, a spouse, partner, or travel companion, and the pair manage benefits, reminders, and credit usage together while each person keeps ownership of their own cards. With one Navigator subscription the sharing is one-way: the member sees their Companion's active cards and can help manage them. When both people have Navigator it becomes two-way, and each sees the other's active cards in one combined wallet.
How does The Points Pro know which card I should use?
My Cards builds a playbook from the cards you actually hold: for each spend category, dining, groceries, travel, and the rest, it names the card to pull out based on current earning rates. There is a printable version for your physical wallet.
Can it help with a single large purchase?
Yes. The Big Purchase planner compares one purchase across supported cards, including the value of any current sign-up bonus the purchase could unlock.
How do I find the best card for my overall spending?
The best-card finder ranks supported cards by net annual value from the monthly spending you enter: rewards earned, plus the credits you would realistically use, minus the annual fee.
How does The Points Pro value points and miles?
Every rewards program is assigned a cents-per-point value, kept in line with widely used published valuations and refreshed as programs change. That converts an earning rate like 3x on dining into cents per dollar, so cards that earn different currencies can be ranked against each other. Cobranded cards are valued at the partner program's rate rather than the bank's, cash back counts at face value, and transfer options are valued at the destination program's rate times the transfer ratio. When no published value fits a program, a neutral default is used and the number is presented as an estimate.
Does it consider issuer application rules?
Yes. The catalog carries issuer application rules, and the wallet fit view flags how those rules apply to the cards you already hold before you apply for a new one.
Where does the card data come from, and how fresh is it?
Card details, fees, earning rates, credits, transfer partners, and sign-up bonuses are refreshed continuously from official issuer pages, and the site shows the date its data was last published.
Do I need an account to use it?
No. The calculators are open to everyone, and you can add a card to a session wallet to try it. A free account, created with a one-time email code and no password, keeps your wallet, syncs it across devices, and tracks your credit usage.
What if a card I hold is not supported yet?
There is a public request queue where anyone can propose a card and vote on which one the catalog should add next.
How do I cancel a paid plan?
Navigator subscriptions are managed in the Stripe billing portal and can be cancelled anytime. Cancelling during the free trial costs nothing. The Founder's Passport is a one-time purchase, so there is nothing to cancel or renew.
Still curious? Ask us directly, we read everything.