Founder
Brian Kim, CPA
Brian Kim is the founder of ClearValue, the money company that shows its work. A CPA whose plain-English money explainers reached a large public audience, he co-founded ClearValue Cards to bring the same standard to credit cards — real tradeoff math, a published scoring methodology, and a named weakness on every review.
Why ClearValue Cards exists
Cards have the same problem Brian saw in tax and lending: the number that matters — the effective rewards rate after redemption friction, the annual fee's real break-even, the penalty APR buried past the headline — usually isn’t the number in the ad.
ClearValue Cards exists to close that gap: research each card’s published Schumer Box, model the rewards math at realistic spend, name who a card actually serves well and who it doesn’t — and rank the field by a published methodology instead of by commission.
The standard the site is held to
Independent, not an issuer
ClearValue Cards is an education and comparison publisher — not a card issuer, bank, or lender. It doesn't issue cards, set terms, or approve applications; the issuer does, disclosed on every review.
Every rate sourced
APR, fee, and rewards figures cite the issuer's own published Schumer Box and pricing-and-terms page, dated as of the review's last-reviewed date.
Scored, not sold
Every card is ranked by a published 5-dimension, 100-point methodology — never by which issuer pays more.
How it earns, disclosed
ClearValue Cards earns compensation through its CardRatings partnership when a reader clicks out from the match tool, and through separately labeled, paid partner placements — stated on the page, and neither ever changes how a card is scored.
Follow the work
The public money explainers that started ClearValue continue on YouTube — plain-English breakdowns of money, taxes, and the economy.
ClearValue on YouTube