How we source and check every page

Primary sources first

We cite the organization that sets or describes the rule: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, the three nationwide credit bureaus, FICO and VantageScore, card issuers' own published pages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guides, and federal statutes. Every factual claim on an article links to a numbered source at the bottom of the page.

Claims stay as narrow as the source

If an issuer's page confirms reporting at age 18 but doesn't name the bureaus, we say exactly that and mark the bureau coverage "unconfirmed." If the FTC described allegations, we call them allegations and give the date. If a policy belongs to one bureau, we don't apply it to the other two.

Examples are labeled

Dollar amounts, fictional people and sample reports are illustrations. They show how a calculation or a process works. They never represent a real person's result or predict yours.

No score predictions

Public scoring guidance doesn't provide a formula for how many points one account is worth. We won't invent one.

Review schedule

• Issuer reporting policies: every quarter.
• Scoring and mortgage guidance: every six months.
• Everything else: at least once a year, and whenever a source changes.

Each page shows "Sources checked" and "Next review" dates. If a review is overdue, the page says so.

Script status

Every article comes from an episode script. Pages from scripts still in review are labeled until review is complete.

Corrections

If you find an error, email us at the address on our contact page with the page and the source that shows the problem. Do not include personal credit information. We fix confirmed errors promptly and note substantive corrections at the bottom of the page with the date.

Independence

We don't sell tradelines or credit repair and we don't accept payment to cover or omit any company. See About.