How we rate products.

Every match, every listicle, every 'best for' page on this site links here. This is the rubric our team scores against, the process every published recommendation goes through, and the documented weights we nudge per vertical so you can audit any ranking. Scored against ClearValue's published methodology.

Four factors. Weighted. Auditable.

• Cost (35) — APR or factor rate, fees, origination, prepayment penalties — normalized so unlike products compare on the same axis.
• Fit (30) — Eligibility floors (FICO, time in business, revenue), use-case alignment, and whether the partner is actually likely to approve a user like the one matching the page.
• Speed & terms (20) — Funding speed bands (typical, not promised), term length, repayment cadence, draw flexibility, and reporting that affects future credit access.
• Transparency (15) — Plain-English disclosures, no surprise fees, ability to compare terms without an account or hard pull, and accuracy of advertised vs delivered terms.

Five steps, every category, every refresh.

1. Define the buyer. Each category page starts with a buyer profile — what they need, what's at stake, what disqualifies a product immediately.
2. Pull the eligible set. Every product that meets baseline eligibility — including products we cover with no commercial relationship.
3. Score against the rubric. Per-vertical adjustments are documented; cost weights higher in working capital where APR variance is wide.
4. Pick the top match and runners-up. The result screen names the single best fit + 2-4 runners-up with 'best if you instead' qualifiers.
5. Re-test on schedule. Quarterly for credit cards, monthly for rate-driven categories, ad hoc when a partner materially changes terms.

Independence. Ranking order is set by the rubric — never by who pays us. The published methodology that sets the score is structurally separate from the people who manage partner relationships.

How we evaluate insurance carriers, credit cards, and bank accounts

Insurance carrier reviews cite J.D. Power annual studies, A.M. Best financial strength ratings (ambest.com), the NAIC complaint index (naic.org/cis), the Insurance Information Institute (iii.org), carrier public disclosures, and state insurance department data. Credit card and bank account reviews cite issuer/bank official disclosures, the J.D. Power credit card and retail banking satisfaction studies, CFPB consumer data, FDIC deposit-insurance data, and Federal Reserve / FRED rate benchmarks. Ratings are editorial opinions grounded in that named data — applied consistently and independent of compensation; some links are affiliate links (issuers/carriers may pay a referral commission at no cost to you per FTC 16 CFR Part 255), which never changes a score or ranking.

How we optimize for AI answers (AEO)

Every CVL page ships five AEO structures on day one: Speakable JSON-LD, QAPage schema on quiz/answer endpoints, AggregateRating with verified-data-source enforcement, freshness stamps with named bylines, and citation density to primary government sources (CFPB, FRED, SBA, IRS, FHFA, NCUA, FDIC). 15 build-time compliance lints gate every release. Baseline AEO probe (2026-06-04, 77 queries): 6.49% Claude citation rate.

Part of the ClearValue family