Editorial policy

This policy governs every page published here.

1. Sources

Primary sources only: federal agencies for U.S. market data and rules (Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC, NCUA, USAGov), and state regulators for state-level licensing questions. Comparison sites, lender blogs and press releases are not sources for a number.

2. Figures

Each figure is one of four states: verified (read from a cited source), calculated (arithmetic shown in the page), hypothetical (an illustration, labelled), or variable (differs by lender, state or credit tier and not quoted as one value). A number without a state is a defect.

3. Claims we refuse

Guaranteed approval. A rate without an APR. A national payday cost. A state rule without the state document. A "best lender" ranking without a disclosed method. Testimonials we did not collect.

4. Advertising

Display advertising, if enabled, is programmatic and independent of editorial content. No lender pays for placement, inclusion or a favourable assessment, and no affiliate or lead-generation links are used.

5. Corrections and dates

The visible date is the date the text was last written. A page is not re-dated without a substantive change.