How we work out the grade

The grade measures one thing only: how openly a company explains what it takes from you. It does not say whether a plan is good or bad. A company can charge a lot and still get an A by saying so clearly. A company can be cheap and get an E by hiding it.

The ten questions

We ask the same ten questions of every plan. Questions that cannot apply to a plan are left out and never count against it.

1. What do they charge you every year?
2. What is taken off the money you pay in?
3. What does it cost to get out early?
4. What is the smallest amount you can start with?
5. How long is your money tied up?
6. Is the advertised return before or after their charges?
7. Do they warn you the return is not guaranteed?
8. Do they tell you what you get back if you stop early?
9. Do they list what is not covered?
10. Do they say who regulates them?

The score

A clear answer scores one point. A half answer — a penalty rate with no time limit, for example — scores half. No answer scores nothing. The score is the points earned out of the questions that apply.

• A — 90% or more
• B — 75% or more
• C — 60% or more
• D — 40% or more
• E — below 40%

What “not disclosed” means

It means we could not find the fact in the documents we cite, on the date we cite them. It does not mean the company is hiding something illegal, and it does not mean no charge exists. Every plan page lists exactly which documents we read and when.

If you work for one of these companies and we have missed a published figure, tell us and we will correct the page and the grade.

The worked example

Every plan is shown on the same example so they can be compared. Where a plan will not accept that amount, we use its own minimum instead. The figures are arithmetic on what the company itself publishes. They are not forecasts. Where a company does not publish enough for the sum to be done, we show nothing rather than guess.

Where the figures come from

Every number here is copied from a document the company or the regulator published themselves — their own page, factsheet, prospectus or register. Never from a price-comparison site. Two figures we took from aggregators early on turned out to be wrong, which is why the rule is absolute now.

Each fact sheet lists the documents it was built from and the date we read them. If a figure looks wrong, that list is where to check it, and we would rather you did. Where a company's own page carries a stale number, we show the number and its date rather than quietly refreshing it — how old a rate is tells you something too.

We are not the company, and we do not update when they do. Always check the current terms with them before you hand over money.