Our methodology

Our team of 60 experts spend 400 hours a day researching and analysing information from more than 43,000 financial products and funds. In total, our experts maintain a database of over 4 million product features, that they continually adjust to ensure our Star Ratings are always accurate and up to date.

Throughout the year, our experts analyse market developments, conduct consumer research and hold discussions with the industry about the most important features and benefits to you when purchasing financial products.

In addition, as experts, we know what you are most likely to claim for and how much those claims might cost. This allows us to understand which features are most important.

We combine the market findings and potential criteria for the following year in a set of reports, and use these as a base for a series of open discussions with the industry.

Following this consultation, our experts select the most important features and benefits for each product area. These features are then used to score all the products in the market. By totalling the scores, each product is assigned a Star Rating on a scale from 1 – 5.

We also use what we call ‘core criteria’. These are features and benefits that a product has to offer to be considered to be given a 5 or 4 Star Rating. If a product fails any core criteria test it will automatically be given a lower Star Rating.

This rigorous process happens every year. It ensures that new features are included in the scoring process where appropriate, so that the Star Ratings criteria are as relevant as possible.

We update Defaqto Star Ratings each year on 1 February. Any products launched or changed during the following 12 months are scored against the criteria, and given the appropriate Star Rating. You can see all Star Ratings on our website.