Editorial mission
Help US borrowers understand their personal-loan options accurately and act on that understanding without being misled. Every article we publish should leave a reader with a clearer view of the trade-offs in front of them — what a loan actually costs across its full term, what state rules apply, what underwriting signals matter, and what alternatives exist. We are blunt about products that are bad for borrowers in most circumstances. We are clear about products that are useful when they fit.
Editorial review process
Every article is reviewed by at least one member of our editorial team before publication. Articles touching loan pricing, state regulations, or lender selection are reviewed by an editor with documented expertise in the relevant area.
Reviewers check that every fact-checkable claim is supported by a cited source, that statutory references are current, that APR ranges and loan limits match the lender's published disclosures, and that the article reads honestly — i.e., it doesn't bury drawbacks that a reader would want to know before applying for the product.
Fact-checking standards
APR ranges, loan amounts, fee schedules, and state availability are verified against each lender's source documents — the published rate sheet, the e-sign disclosure, the standard loan agreement, or a current NMLS Consumer Access lookup. We do not rely on marketing pages alone. If a lender's marketing differs from its disclosures, we publish the disclosure number, not the marketing number.
Regulatory claims — state APR caps, license requirements, statutory loan limits, cooling-off periods, rollover rules — are sourced from the state regulator's website or the cited statute. NCSL, Pew Charitable Trusts, and CFPB publications are cited as secondary sources when they are themselves citing the primary regulator. We avoid sourcing from competitor finance sites.
Update cadence
State regulation pages are reviewed quarterly at minimum, and within 30 days of any state legislative or regulatory action that changes the personal-loan framework in that state. Lender comparison data is refreshed monthly against each lender's source documents, and within seven days of any partner notifying us of a material change to advertised APR ranges, fees, or state coverage.
Every page surfaces a 'Last updated' or 'Reviewed' date so readers can judge the freshness of the content they're looking at.
Author and reviewer standards
Every editorial article carries a byline attributing it to the BankMinistry Editorial Team, with the most recent review date surfaced near the title so readers can judge content freshness. Articles are reviewed by named team members internally; the public byline aggregates that work under the team identity for consistency across the site.
Members of the editorial team disclose any personal financial relationships with companies they cover. If a reviewer has held a position in a lender's lending products, worked at the lender, or is in active negotiations with it, that reviewer recuses themselves from coverage of that lender.
Correction policy
When we get something wrong, we correct the article and mark the change. Material corrections — anything that changed a borrower-facing fact like a rate, a fee, a state availability, or a legal requirement — surface as an inline 'Corrected on [date]' note at the top of the affected section. Minor corrections (typos, broken links) are made silently with an updated 'Last updated' date.
If you spot an error, email editorial@bankministry.com. We respond to correction reports within two business days and aim to publish the fix within five business days of confirming the error.
Sources we cite
Federal consumer-finance regulators (CFPB, FDIC, NCUA, FTC, Federal Reserve, OCC) for industry-wide data and rule changes. State banking departments and state attorneys general for state-specific licensing, complaint records, and enforcement actions. State legislatures and codified statutes (e.g., California Financial Code, Texas Finance Code) for legal claims about state caps and licensing. NMLS Consumer Access for lender-licensing lookups. NCSL and Pew Charitable Trusts as secondary aggregators of state rules. The lender's own current source documents — rate sheets, e-sign disclosures, loan agreements — for product-specific claims.
What we don't do
We do not accept payment for editorial placement or coverage angle. We do not accept gifts from partners or potential partners. We do not allow partners to write, ghost-write, edit, or approve editorial content. We do not run native advertising disguised as editorial. We do not publish content generated solely by AI without human review and edit. We do not use fake testimonials, fabricated user counts, or 'as seen in' logos for outlets where the site has not actually appeared.
AI usage disclosure
We use AI tools as part of the editorial workflow — for research, summarization, draft scaffolding, and rate-table generation. AI is not the sole author of any published page. Every published article is reviewed and edited by a named human editor before it appears on the site. AI is also used to power the Bank AI loan-matching chat, which is clearly labeled as an AI assistant and explicitly disclaims financial advice in every conversation.
Conflicts of interest
Editorial team members disclose conflicts internally before being assigned coverage. Where a meaningful conflict exists, the team member recuses themselves and another reviewer is assigned. The business team that manages partner relationships does not edit, approve, or veto editorial content.
Contact for editorial concerns
Reach the editorial team at editorial@bankministry.com. We treat reader correction reports as a priority and respond to all of them, including the ones we end up disagreeing with.
Reach our editorial team at editorial@bankministry.com with corrections, questions, or coverage suggestions.