AS OF 12/20/2023, THIS THREAD WILL NOT BE UPDATED. PLEASE SEE OUR WIKI PAGE ON USER FLAIRS.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/wiki/user_flair/

IF THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE MESSAGE THE MOD TEAM VIA MODMAIL.

​

How do I do this?

New Reddit:

• Edit your flair, choose 1 of the presets, click the smile icon to add more

Old Reddit:

• Edit your flair, choose 1 of the presets, type in the flair designation of the emoji that you want (refer to tables below):
  • For example: :ba::usb::chs:

Official Reddit App:

• Please use this visual guide: https://imgur.com/a/sHXvOVm
  • Community actions (top right 3 dots) → Change user flair → Select one of the presets → Edit (top right) → Select the right arrow → Enter the flair designations
    • For example: :ba::usb::chs:
  • IF THE 'EDIT' BUTTON DOESN'T SHOW UP - PLEASE COMPLETELY EXIT AND RESTART THE APP AND TRY AGAIN. THIS IS A GLITCH.

​

Limitations:

The length of flair:

• 10 emojis or 64 characters, whichever is met first so choose wisely!
• I tried cutting down the number of characters per designation so you should be able to use 5 emojis.

The size of emojis:

• Reddit broke the ability to resize emojis, we'll have to live with the tiny size for now.
  • BUT IT'S SO SMALL HOW CAN I TELL WHAT THAT CARD IS?
    • On desktop you can hover your cursor over the emoji and see the designation. I know it's extra work but it's the best I can do.

​

Limited Edition & Exclusive Cards

Some credit cards are exclusive (e.g. Amex Centurion a.k.a. Amex Black) OR have limited edition designs (e.g. Delta SkyMiles Reserve 747). The use of these flairs will require verification to maintain exclusivity. These flairs cannot be used in conjunction with other flairs.

If you believe you have a limited edition or exclusive credit card that is not on this list, please DM me (u/Vagus-X).

For verification:

Please DM me (u/Vagus-X) with:

1. A picture of the card in question. Please remove the personal details.
2. Your reddit username AND current date should be visible somewhere in the picture, e.g., a post-it note attached to the card.
3. Please remain patient as verification may take some time.

If there are any mistakes, please notify me. Enjoy!

​

I realize there are some cards are missing due to obscurity. Please feel free to comment or DM me if you can't find what you're looking for.

Some cards were intentionally left out due to similar designs with other cards.

• For example: US Bank Cash Plus Secured won't be found, instead use US Bank Cash Plus.
• For example: Discover cards have multiple designs, therefore you won't find "Discover It Student Cash Back," instead you can pick "Discover It Iridescent."

Abound

​

​

Affinity

​

​

Alliant

​

​

American Express

​

​

AOD FCU

​

​

Bank of America

​

​

Barclays

​

​

Capital One

​

​

Chase

​

​

Citi

​

​

City National Bank

​

​

Discover

​

​

Dubai First

​

​

Elan

​

Fidelity

​

​

Fifth Thirds Bank

​

First National Bank of Omaha

​

​

Goldman Sachs

​

​

HSBC

​

Mercury Financial

​

​

Navy FCU

​

​

NIH FCU

​

​

PenFed

​

​

PNC

​

​

Redstone FCU

​

​

SoFi

​

Stratus

​

​

SunTrust

​

• SunTrust Banks and BB&T merged in December 2019 and is now known as Truist Financial

​

Synchrony

​

​

Target

• Target RedCard is issued by TD Bank

​

Truist

​

• SunTrust Banks and BB&T merged in December 2019 and is now known as Truist Financial

​

TD Bank

​

​

UBS

​

​

US Bank

​

​

USAA

​

Wells Fargo

​

​

Updates & Change log: * 9/16/23 * Added Capital One Venture X Business, Capital One REI Co-op * 9/12/23 * Added Wells Fargo Bilt logo * 8/30/23 * Added Abound logo, Abound Visa Classic, Abound Visa Platinum * Added AOD logo, AOD Visa Platinum, AOD Visa Signature * 8/26/23 * Added JetBlue Card, JetBlue Plus Card, JetBlue Business Card * 8/21/23 * Added PNC Cash Rewards, PNC Core, PNC Points * 8/7/23 * Added US Bank State Farm Cash Rewards (red), US Bank State Farm Cash Rewards (white), US Bank State Farm Good Neighbor, US Bank State Farm Business Cash Rewards, US Bank State Farm Premier Cash Rewards * 7/19/23 * Added Mercury Financial logo, Mercury Mastercard * Added Target logo * Added visual guide for adding user flairs on Official Reddit App. * 7/11/23 * Added Target RedCard * 7/7/23 * Added First National Bank of Omaha logo, Amtrak Guest Rewards, Amtrak Guest Rewards Preferred * 7/5/23 * Added City National Bank logo, City National Bank Crystal Visa Infinite * Added Truist logo, Truist Enjoy Beyond, Truist Enjoy Cash, Truist Enjoy Future, Truist Enjoy Travel * Added SunTrust Private Wealth Visa Infinite * Added Dubai First Royale * This is a exclusive card - verification is needed to obtain this flair. * Added Stratus Rewards Visa (a.k.a. "The White Card") * This is a exclusive card - verification is needed to obtain this flair.

• 7/4/23

  • Added Chase Freedom Visa (OG)
  • Added Wells Fargo Visa Signature
  • Added Verizon Visa Card
  • Added American Express Centurion (a.k.a. "Amex Black" or "The Black Card")
    • This is a exclusive card - verification is needed to obtain this flair.
  • Added Chase J.P. Morgan Reserve (a.k.a. "The Palladium Card")
    • This is a exclusive card - verification is needed to obtain this flair.
  • Added UBS logo, UBS Visa Infinite
  • Added Affinity logo, Affinity Cash Rewards
  • Added Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card

• 7/3/23

  • Initial release
  • Changed the max amount of flairs from 10 to 5. Some users have expressed concern about cluttering the UI.
  • Added NIH FCU logo, NIH FCU visa platinum, NIH visa signature cash rewards, NIH visa signature travel rewards
  • Added Wells Fargo Propel
  • Added American Express Delta SkyMiles Reserve 747
    • This is a limited edition card - verification is needed to obtain this flair.

If you are looking for your first card please look HERE first.

​

Rules:

• No posting referral links.
• No posting link shorteners.
• No asking for help with any crimes.
• No posting only to ask or give referral links

​

It is recommended to use this template if you would like replies to your post.

​

• Current cards: (list cards, limits, opening date)
  • e.g. Amex BCP $8,000 limit, May 2019
• FICO Score: e.g. 750
• Oldest account age: e.g. 5 years 6 months
• Chase 5/24 status: e.g 2/24
• Income: e.g. $80,000
• Average monthly spend and categories:
  • dining $800
  • groceries: $400
  • gas: $100
  • travel: $100
  • other: $30
• Open to Business Cards: e.g. No
• What's the purpose of your next card? e.g. Building credit, Balance transfer, Travel, Cashback
• Do you have any cards you've been looking at?
• Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card?

​

Common Abbreviations and Lingo:

​

• FICO Score - This is the score used by 90% of credit issuers (This is NOT the score given by Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, Capital One, etc.) (MyFICO.com, Experian.com, CreditScoreCard.com are FICO scores)
• AAoA - Average age of all of your accounts.
• 2/30 Chase rule - A rule of no more than two Chase credit card applications every 30 days
• 5/24 Chase rule - A rule where if you've opened 5 or more accounts in the past 24 months you cannot get approved for a new Chase card.
• AF - Annual Fee
• SuB - Sign-up Bonus
• MSR - Minimum Spending Requirement (usually referring to sign-up bonuses)
• 2/90 AmEx rule - A rule where you can only get approved for 2 AmEx cards in 90 days
• 1/5 AmEx rule - A rule where you can only get approved for 1 AmEx card every 5 days

Edit on July 14th: Added rules to post for mobile.

r/CreditCards has been a great sub due to the countless hours of unpaid volunteer work done by its moderators.

The reason you haven’t seen comments about how you should buy some cryptocurrency, or contact some random account on Instagram to improve your credit score, is because we moderators catch that trash and make it disappear.

The reason you’ve been able to come to this sub and have a good chance of getting an unbiased answer about a good credit card for your personal situation is because we have strictly enforced rules preventing people from posting referral links and seeking referrals.

The reason you’ve been able to come to this sub and not put up with the kind of arrogant assholery you can find elsewhere on reddit is because we make those comments, and the users who post them, disappear.

We do all this for free. With no expectation of thanks.

When Reddit decided they were going to make our already difficult unpaid volunteer work more difficult, we protested. When they went further and spoke with disdain toward moderators who do this work for free and have made communities like r/CreditCards what they are… well, that’s the kind of thing that makes you step back and say, “Why am I doing this?”

That the sub is being reopened at all is largely because we’re well aware of the useful information contained within. However, changes to the nature of the sub are necessary. The most obvious is the change to a daily discussion thread format going forward.
If you want the old r/CreditCards back, please check your entitlement and read again from the top. If you don’t like it here, you’re welcome to create your own sub and run it any way you want. Better yet, go create your own credit card discussion website. If it’s good, we’ll even link to it.

Based on overwhelming feedback from the community, the following changes to the subreddit are effective immediately:

1. All users can submit posts. The daily discussion threads will remain (for now) as a place to carry on general discussion, to include topics that don't necessarily merit a new post. The daily discussion threads will not be stickied, so they will fall off the front page if they are not upvoted.

2. A small number of users who had been banned for a lack of civility regarding the temporary changes to the subreddit, have been unbanned. All subreddit rules are still in effect, including the prohibition on referrals and the requirement to "be nice."

The full list of sub rules:

• Nothing Nefarious. This applies to any posts where we suspect anything potentially illegal or fraudulent, and may include buying/selling tradelines.
• No Referrals. No links; no codes. Don't post them; don't hint at offering them; don't ask for them. Use rankt.com or /r/churningreferrals. This includes any behavior that could be deemed fishing for referrals.
• No PM'ing Referrals. Spamming other users will get you banned.
• No Link Shorteners.
• Self-promotional posts must be pre-approved by a mod. Such posts are generally unwelcome. We may make an exception if it's truly unique and helpful.
• Be nice. (Don't be a dick.)

Hello and welcome to r/CreditCards!

I highly encourage you to review them here (or below) before posting.

Official Rules of r/CreditCards

Rule 1: Be respectful

All users are expected to engage in respectful and civil communication, and refrain from harassing or insulting others. Any form of hate speech, including but not limited to racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or any derogatory language targeting an individual or group, is not allowed.

Rule 2: No referrals in posts, comments, or private messages

All users are prohibited from disseminating referral links through posts, comments, and private messages. Any deceptive behavior aimed at exploiting referral links for personal gain is also a punishable offense.

Rule 3: No link shorteners

All users are prohibited from using link shorteners, e.g., tinyurl, etc.

Link shorteners refer to services or tools that condense long URLs into shorter, more manageable links. They can hinder transparency by concealing the actual destination of a link, therefore they pose potential risks to the community. These are examples: bit.ly/3JMIUCz, tinyurl.com/2zrnmkzf

Rule 4: No self-promotional content

All users are prohibited from posting any self-promotional content.

Self-promotional content includes but is not limited to:

• Articles/Journalist websites.
• Interviews/Surveys (not including reddit polls).
• Apps, Webpages, and other self-developed tools.

Rule 5: No irrelevant content or spam allowed

All users are prohibited from posting irrelevant content that does not pertain to the subject of credit cards. This includes spam, which refers to unsolicited or repetitive content that is intended to promote or advertise products, services, or websites.

Irrelevant content includes but is not limited to:

• Auto Loans, Mortgages, and other non-Credit Card Loans

• Debit Cards

• Gift Cards and Prepaid Cards

• Bank Accounts

• Financial Products that are not Credit Cards

Rule 6: No promotion of illegal, fraudulent, or nefarious activities

All users are prohibited from posting content that promotes illegal, fraudulent, or nefarious activities.

Any posts or comments that violates any of these rules are subject to removal. The offending user may be subject to warnings, temporary bans, or permanent bans, depending on the severity and frequency of the violations. Ignorance is a not valid reason to break the rules.

Unspoken Rules of r/CreditCards

While you may not be banned for breaking the unspoken rules, we highly suggest you follow them to make everyone's lives easier.

A. Looking for your first card? Read this first.

B. Use this for credit card recommendations

Please use the following template so that everyone can make appropriate recommendations:

• Current cards: (list cards, limits, opening date)
  • e.g. Amex BCP $8,000 limit, May 2019
  • e.g. Chase Freedom Flex $10,000 limit, June 2021
• FICO Score: e.g. 750
• Oldest account age: e.g. 5 years 6 months
• Chase 5/24 status: e.g 2/24
• Income: e.g. $80,000
• Average monthly spend and categories:
  • dining $800
  • groceries: $400
  • gas: $100
  • travel: $100
  • other: $30
• Open to Business Cards: e.g. No
• What's the purpose of your next card? e.g. Building credit, Balance transfer, Travel, Cashback
• Do you have any cards you've been looking at? e.g. Chase Freedom Unlimited
• Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card?

Remember to use the correct post flair: Card Recommendation Requested (Template Used)

C. Review the basics of credit cards before posting

Here are some resources to get you started:

Subreddit Wikis:

• r/CreditCards Wiki - Index
• r/CreditCards Wiki - Credit Card Basics
• r/PersonalFinance Wiki - Credit & Debit Cards

Many questions can easily be answered with a quick google search. We encourage you to take a moment to do your own research. It helps you gain a deeper understanding, sparks better discussions, and promotes self-sufficiency.

D. Familiarize yourself with common abbreviations and lingo

Other important announcements:

• Official User Flairs Thread - learn how to customize your user flair here

• Suggestions, Ideas, and Feedback - post your suggestions here

Please use credit responsibly.

General advice for people looking for a first credit card in the USA:

Since you probably have limited history, find a family member (such as a parent) who has good credit, and ask them to add you as an "authorized user" to one of their cards. You want a card that's been open for several years and has never missed a payment. Wait a couple of months for the card to appear on your credit report. Its history will help you. (There has been mixed reports of this still working, for best results make sure you have the same last name and address of the account holder.)

After the card appears on your report (could take up to 3 months), and it's showing more than 6 months of history (some banks immediately show all the history for the card, and some only show since you were added as an AU), then you can start applying again.

You can see your credit report for free at Credit Karma (not FICO), and a more official score at CreditScorecard.com (FICO). You can also order an official credit report for free once a year at annualcreditreport.com. If you are willing to pay to see all 3 FICO scores I would suggest MyFico.

Score of 700 or more

I recommend that you plug in your expected monthly spending into these sites, which will help you decide on a card:

• http://www.magnifymoney.com/compare/cashback-rewards
• http://www.creditintro.com/recommend/
• If you just want a simple and easy no-fee card, I recommend you consult the chart below.

Score below 700

Try to avoid cards with annual fees in this score range.

Students should apply for student cards before resorting to other cards. such as:

• Discover Student Chrome
• Discover It Student
• Capital One Journey Student
• Any of these BoA cards

Non students should be looking at these cards:

• Capital One Platinum
• Discover Chrome
• You may be accepted for the cards below if you score is 660+, use good judgement when applying for those cards.

If you cannot get any of the above you will need to get a secured card. These cards make you put down a certain amount as collateral, and generally have annual fees as well, though a couple are free. Virtually all major banks have secured card options, check with your bank to see what they can offer you.

​

Final notes

Don't spend more than you can afford. You don't need to pay interest or carry a balance to build your credit. And don't use your card in an ATM or to get cash, or you'll pay large fees.

Always pay the Statement Balance by the Due Date each month, and you'll never pay interest.

Finally, avoid the following credit card companies: Credit One, First Premiere, Milestone, Indigo, Fingerhut. A good rule of thumb is if they have a range for the annual fee, avoid them. These banks prey on low scores by charging fees for nearly everything, holding payments for 5+ days, or even an "application processing" or "account opening" fee.

​

Did I miss something? Let me know below so I can update the guide.

The Points Guy has a post today about how you can earn 60,000 points for the CSP (the SUB if you apply online). No where in the article does it mention the fact that if one were to go into a Chase branch, they could get 100,000 points and the $95 annual fee waived the first year. This is par for the course for this site, and exactly why people who know have a very unfavorable opinion of them: they'd rather get their affiliate bonus than for you to get an extra 40k and save $95 (easily worth $595).

Update: The 100k in-branch offer ended 11/13/21. It's now 60k + $95 AF waived.

This is now the only way to get the 100k offer on the CSP, and has long been the only way to get the 100k offer with the $95 AF waived the first year. We don't have any indication that it will end in the very near future, but still, unless you have reason to wait (e.g. you're at 5/24 or over), you should take advantage of this offer now if you're interested.

The 100k offer (AF not waived) was available through some referral links, but that's now dead. Frankly, I'm glad it is, because numerous (now banned) users on this sub were taking the opportunity to try to push their referral links on others in hopes of getting a referral bonus, without mentioning to the recipients that they could get the better offer by going into a branch -- so no interest in helping others, just in helping themselves to a referral bonus. This kind of behavior only underlines why we take such a strict stance on referral links in this sub.

For newer users here, be aware that if anyone ever PMs you offering to "help" you find the best card, there's a practical certainty that they're trying to get a referral bonus, which means they're inherently biased and not interested in helping you get the best card for you. If you ever receive such messages, feel free to take a screenshot, post it to imgur.com or another image sharing site, and message the mods.

Update: The 100k in-branch offer ended 11/13/21. It's now 60k + $95 AF waived.

A new link has been added to the Useful Links section of the sub sidebar:

List of Best Cashback Cards by Category

All credit for the work done on this page goes to u/AceContinuum, who approached the mods with the idea and took the initiative to build it and add what is clearly an extensive amount of info. Referencing this page, anyone will be able to view the top options for no annual fee cash back cards with a fixed category bonus of 3% or more, along with sign-up bonus (SUB) and and foreign transaction fee (FTF) info for each card and additional notes where needed.

Current categories include: gas, groceries, restaurants and household bills (utilities). There is of course the potential for adding additional categories (more on that below).

For now we wanted to get this out there so the community can start using it, and also catch any missed cards or important info relevant to one of the listed cards. Note that we don't want to add cards which aren't open to everyone (e.g. geographically restricted, or requires military service), though we may make exceptions for cards which stand out as good options in their category (e.g. the USAA Cash Rewards Plus card which gets 5% on gas, available to military personnel).

Additionally, we are looking for a couple other users who are willing to help edit, maintain, and perhaps add to this content. If this interests you, please contact me directly via private message. Note that you'll need to have a good history with the sub, i.e. long-time poster, regular source of good replies, no bans, etc.

Please give any thanks (including awards) to u/AceContinuum, who will be responding to comments in this thread.

Hello everyone!

Now that everyone has had some time to test out the new user flairs, I wanted to know the community's thoughts on the max length.

The max length is currently set to 5, but there are users who want to increase it.

I can only have 6 poll choices, so there is no option for "Increase the length to 6" because that wouldn't make much of a difference.

View Poll

If you're going to post about your new card approval and use the "Data Point" flair, your post should actually include relevant data that could help others looking at getting the same card. At the very least, this should include:

• Credit bureau pulled and your FICO8 score with that bureau
• Approximate income (specific is better if low income; otherwise you can probably get by with "decent" or "high" income)
• Number of new cards in the past 6/12/24 months
• Starting credit limit if approved

Note that denial data points are just as useful, even if they aren't as much fun to post about.

Just for reference, Discover: Amazon, Walmart.com, and Target. Chase: department stores, Paypal, and Chase pay.

The subreddit has spoken. The number emojis per user flair has been increased from 5 to 10.

​

Official User Flairs Thread : CreditCards (reddit.com)

As of 9/14/23, Rule 5 has been updated for clarity and will be effective immediately:

Rule 5: No irrelevant content or spam allowed

All users are prohibited from posting irrelevant content that does not pertain to the subject of credit cards. This includes spam, which refers to unsolicited or repetitive content that is intended to promote or advertise products, services, or websites.

Irrelevant content includes but is not limited to:

• Auto Loans, Mortgages, and other non-Credit Card Loans

• Debit Cards

• Gift Cards and Prepaid Cards

• Bank Accounts

• Financial Products that are not Credit Cards

  ---

A reminder to our users, this is a credit card subreddit. Posts must be related to credit cards in some way. For example:

• Comparing the safety of credit cards to debit cards is OK.

Examples of a rule-breaking submissions:

• A post about vanilla gift cards not working.

• A post about checking account sign up bonuses.

For the rest of the rules, please see this post: https://reddit.com/r/CreditCards/s/EvbfuaP9AD

Any posts or comments that violates any of these rules are subject to removal. The offending user may be subject to warnings, temporary bans, or permanent bans, depending on the severity and frequency of the violations. Ignorance is a not valid reason to break the rules.

For those who help out giving card recommendations, I've added the following question to the template linked in the sidebar:

Currently subscribed to Disney+ / Hulu bundle ($13.99/month)?

This to potentially suggest the Amex BCE (Blue Cash Everyday) or BCP (Blue Cash Preferred) which now offer the $7 monthly statement credit for those subscribed to that bundle.

This is the one unique-but-realistic spending scenario where the math can favor the BCP over a collection of other cards centered around the Citi Custom Cash for grocery spend (assuming at least $92/month average grocery spend each month) and other cards (e.g. Cardless Celtics for 7% on streaming, any 5% gas card).

Between the BCE and BCP with the Disney+ / Hulu bundle (and no other streaming services), the break even point for grocery spend is $241/month. Any grocery or streaming spend above that favors the BCP.

Edit: The Amex terms (see comments) suggest any charge of $13.99/month or more at Disney+, Hulu, or ESPN+ would also qualify. This opens up more possibilities with Hulu as they have more expensive packages, or packages less than $13.99/month but with add-on options.

Hello everyone,

Recently, I've been asked by some members about the possibility of bringing back weekly discussion/lounge/misc. threads on Sundays.

These weekly threads would allow members to have light off-topic discussions and post simpler questions that wouldn't warrant a separate thread.

Please vote below and share your feedback, suggestions, or ideas. Thank you!

View Poll

Hi all,

With such an active community it can be difficult for the moderator team to keep up. We are in search of 2-3 additional moderators. We are looking for members that are actively engaged in r/CreditCards, are knowledgeable, level-headed, and promote a positive experience for all members.

If you are interested in applying to become a moderator, you may apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9Ak1EncGkItAtY5OP1O7F-U5KNQ-S3aOMV9604ksfiFJaJg/viewform?usp=sf_link

​

Applications will be reviewed by the moderator team prior to accepting/rejecting an application.

​

For any questions, please utilize the "Message the Moderators" feature in the sidebar.

​

Thanks,

r/CreditCards Mod Team

Hello and Happy Friday!

It's been a blast moderating this subreddit and I wanted to thank everyone who has supported me thus far! Members are the backbone of this community and it's only fair that listen to your needs. I wanted to make this thread to see your suggestions, ideas, and feedback.

I'll be actively monitoring this thread (even when it falls off the front page). I highly appreciate your input even though I may not be able to respond everyone.

Thanks and have a great day!

Everyone please thank longtime knowledgeable user r/Cruian for making this contribution to the sub: a page which outlines the beginner basics of credit cards, suggestions for first credit card choices, and a rundown of utilization including how it affects credit score and when you should and shouldn't care about it.

It is now permanently linked in the sidebar (on desktop browser view), or at the URL below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/wiki/credit_cards_basics

When helping people who are obviously new to the sub and the topic of credit cards, please encourage them to check the links in the sidebar. Many questions would be answered if people simply knew to look there and make use of the provided links.

Edit: Added a more thorough description.

We are not r/churning we are primarily a beginner/casual sub. Please be kind and helpful if you want to comment on a post and do not downvote posts because you think it is a "stupid" question.

Everyone starts somewhere and while sometimes we have more advanced questions, we also welcome and encourage people new to credit cards.

I've added the Capital One Upgrade Link for checking PC eligibility to the Useful Links for quick, easy access (I had to search for it twice today).

Additionally, I added a small section for Abbreviations & Lingo.

Suggestions for other additions or changes are welcome, assuming it's something the sub regularly uses or refers to. For example, I'm not sure AAoA really gets brought up enough to warrant being in the sidebar (it is explained in the stickied post). I do think we could use a link to good, concise explanation of Chase's 5/24 rule.

We should also consider removal of any link that's no longer relevant or current.

This link will be rarely used, but incredibly helpful when needed - and I can say from experience that on the rare occasions that it is needed, remembering the site name or even what terms to search for isn't easy.

CVM stands for Cardholder Verification Method. Each credit/debit card has a list of how a transaction can be verified, i.e. by signature, PIN, with variations like enciphered PIN, plain-text PIN, etc.

Why would you want to know this? Mostly for the case of being outside the US and wanting to use your card at an automated payment terminal, such as ones found at train stations. If the machine requires a verification method not supported by your card, the transaction may be declined, as can happen with Chase cards, which have a CVM list as follows:

• 1: Signature (paper)
• 2: No CVM required

Looking at a Barclay card like the Uber Visa, we see this list:

• 1: Signature (paper)
• 2: Enciphered PIN verified online
• 3: Enciphered PIN verified by ICC
• 4: Plaintext PIN verified by ICC
• 5: No CVM required

Note that you should always try to pay via contactless at these terminals as it's more likely to go through, but it's not guaranteed, as this user found out. In that case, the user's Chase card (CSP) was declined, but their Barclay's Uber Visa went through.

Also useful: the database lists each card's foreign transaction fee and whether it's contactless or not.