How we work
The rules we hold ourselves to, written down so you can hold us to them too.
Sources
We go to the original. For a loan statistic that means the government's loan file. For a rule it means the regulation, the agency's procedures or its official notice, in the version currently in force. We use law firms, trade press and other secondary sources to find things and to understand them, and we name them when we rely on them.
Every article ends with a list of its sources and the date we last checked each one.
Numbers
Figures are calculated by code from the source files, not typed by hand. The same code fills the charts, the tables and the numbers in the text, so they cannot disagree with each other. The method is described on the data page, including the problems we found in the data.
We report medians and ranges, not averages that a few large loans can distort. We do not report a group too small to be meaningful, and each page states the cut-off it used.
When the data cannot answer a question, we say that. We would rather leave a gap than fill it with a guess.
Tools and review
We use automated tools to parse public government datasets and to verify calculations.
Every page is read against its sources by a person before it is published. We do not publish anything that no person has checked, and the publication answers for everything that appears under its name.
Updates and corrections
Data studies are rebuilt when a new quarter of data is released. Pages about fees and rules are revised when the agency changes them.
The "updated" date on a page changes only when its content changes. Each article carries a change log saying what was altered.
If we publish an error we correct the page and record the correction in its change log. We do not quietly rewrite. To report a mistake, contact us.
Independence
No lender, broker or other company pays to be mentioned, ranked, linked to or left out. Nobody outside the publication sees an article before it is published.
Lenders appear by name because they are named in public records. We describe what those records show and no more. A lender that believes a figure is wrong is welcome to send us evidence.
How the site is funded is set out on the about page.
What this site is not
It is not advice. We do not know your business, your credit or your contract. Use what you read here to ask better questions of your lender, your accountant or your lawyer, not in place of them.