Last reviewed 2026-08-25
Every number on this site traces to a primary source: state figures to the statute or regulator (linked on the page), lender facts to the lender’s own published disclosures with a printed verification date. Unverifiable numbers read “not disclosed” — we do not estimate. Pages carry a named editor, an updated date, and a corrections route that answers every substantive report.
Every state rule on this site is sourced to the state statute or the regulator that enforces it, and the state page links both. Lender facts — amounts, fees, APR ranges, exclusion lists — come from the lender’s own website, loan examples and published agreements, checked at the time of writing and re-verified at least twice a year. We do not publish numbers we cannot trace to a primary source; unverifiable fields read “not disclosed.”
Ronnie Houk (Financial writer & lending researcher, covers state fee caps, statutes, regulator references, lender disclosures, and cost math) writes and edits every guide. No page ships without a primary-source pass: each state number is traced to its statute or regulator, and each lender fact to the lender’s own disclosure, before the updated date goes on the page. The desk is deliberately small and named — one editor whose name is on every page is more accountable than a fictional committee.
Commercial relationships, present or absent, do not affect ratings, table order, or conclusions. We score lenders on the completeness of their own disclosures — a lender that publishes its APR outranks an identical one that hides it, whether or not either pays us. The mechanics of compensation are in the advertising disclosure.
Changes are graded by what they touch, and the handling differs:
This site covers the small-dollar market: state-capped cash advances, app and earned-wage advances, tribal installment products, and the amounts that market actually lends ($50–$1,000). Mortgage, auto and student lending are outside our editorial scope — pages here mention them only as context. Within scope, coverage is completeness-driven: every state, every lender we verify, every cheaper route we can price.
Not a lender, not a broker, not legal or financial advice, and not a regulator. For a binding answer about a specific loan, the contract and your state regulator are the authorities; our job is to get you there informed.
State figures come from the state statute or the regulator that enforces it — both linked on every state page. Lender facts come from the lender’s own website, loan examples and published agreements, with the verification date printed on the page. Numbers we cannot trace read “not disclosed.”
Lender disclosures are re-checked at least twice a year and immediately after known changes; state rules are re-verified when a legislature acts or a regulator publishes a bulletin. Every change moves the updated date on the affected page.
Lenders that compensate us for referrals are disclosed on the advertising disclosure page. Compensation never decides ratings, table order, or conclusions — disclosure completeness does. We cover lenders we earn nothing from whenever the comparison needs them.
Email [email protected] with the page URL and your source. Factual errors are fixed on the page where they appear and the updated date moves; material reversals get an explicit correction note rather than a silent edit.
