The rules we bind ourselves to . iN writing, so you can hold us to them.
Every guide starts with primary documents. We read the company contract, the fee schedule, and the state filings before we write a word. We pull regulator records from the FTC and the CFPB, plus published complaint databases. Then we check what a company markets against what its paperwork says. A sales call is not evidence. A press release is not evidence. When we cite a number, we can show the document behind it. If a company will not share its contract or fee terms, we say that in the article instead of guessing. This rule exists because polished claims and filed documents often disagree.
Every reviewed company lands in one of five tiers. The top tier is PB Picks. The bottom tier tells you plainly to go elsewhere. Placement follows the scores in our published methodology, not feelings and not contracts. The scoring rules are locked before the first review: fees, licensing, complaint record, transparency, and settlement performance. A partner that slips on its numbers moves down, even though it pays us referral fees. We list cons before pros, so good news never buries the bad. If you want the full scoring model, read the methodology page linked at the top of this one.
Partners pay us referral fees when a reader connects with them after reading our work. That is real money, so we keep hard lines around it. Partners cannot see an article before it publishes. They cannot request edits, buy placement, or fund a page. They cannot raise or lower a score. If a review goes negative, the affiliate links come down, and the verdict stays. If a partner breaks these rules, we end the relationship and say so on the page. Our full money policy, including who we work with, lives on the how we make money page.
Every guide and review carries a last-checked date on the page. That date means a human editor re-read the article, re-opened the sources, and confirmed the key facts on that day. Partner reviews and fee tables get revisited most often, because those numbers move. State law sections get checked when legislatures act or regulators file something new. If a fact we rely on changes and we cannot confirm the current state of things, we flag the article rather than let stale numbers look fresh. Spotted something that reads out of date? Email editor@thepennybrief.com.
Mistakes happen, so we treat them in public. When we find a factual error, or when you report one and we confirm it, we fix the article and add a dated entry to the corrections log at /corrections/. Each entry says what was wrong, what it says now, and how we found out. A wrong number is never quietly deleted and left unmentioned. Reported errors follow the same path as everything else here: email editor@thepennybrief.com, a human checks it against primary documents, and the log shows what we did. You can read the current log any time.
Every article carries a real name. Writers work from the sourcing rules above, and nothing publishes until an editor signs it. Davis Loui, our founder and publisher, or another named editor reviews each piece before it goes live. Behind the masthead sits a team that has run lead generation for consumer finance brands, including debt relief. We say that plainly because you deserve to know who is writing to you. The independence rules in this policy bind everyone on this staff, including Davis, especially Davis.