In our previous post of this series on choosing credit cards, we talked about two ways you can find credit card offers. We suggested that you choose five possibilities based on determining your needs in a new credit card. Today we’re going to move on and discuss how to compare those choices to narrow your options down to a single card you want to apply for.

Here is one possible strategy for comparing and narrowing down credit cards until you find the one that’s right for you:

Step One: List your needs in order of importance.

Let’s say you’re looking for a frequent flyer card that offers more than one reward point for every dollar spent. However, you also want a card with an annual fee that doesn’t exceed $150. You plan to use the card for a balance transfer initially, and you would ideally like a card with an introductory balance transfer rate of less than 4%. When asked to list these requirements from the most important to the least, you choose this: frequent flyer card, annual fee requirement, balance transfer rate, then more than one reward point per dollar spent.

Step Two: Assign a point value to each need or want.

Now that you know their order of importance, assign a point value to each. The least important is worth one point, and then you count up. In this case that means the frequent flyer card status is worth four points.

Step Three: Rate each card based on your point system.

Make a simple chart like the one below. Take the five cards you were previously considering and list them next to each requirement. If the card meets that requirement, give it the points associated with that feature. For example, if a card were a frequent flyer card, it would automatically get four points. If a card doesn’t meet the requirements, it gets zero points in that column.

Step Four: Add up the points for each card.

You’ve compared credit cards, giving more weight to the most important factors to you. It’s time to add up your totals (add the points in each row). In this case the card with the most points is the Velocity NAB Standard credit card with nine points. This would be the best card from your initial picks to actually apply for. If you happen to get the same point totals for several cards, you should then compare other factors that weren’t as important to you to find the best deal (like regular interest rates or the number of interest free days).

We’ll close out our series on choosing a credit card in our next post, where we’ll discuss the online application process.