About GeekPenny

GeekPenny is an editorially independent finance comparison site covering mortgages, insurance, banking, payments, and small business.

Why this page exists

Financial decisions compound. A 0.25% difference in a mortgage rate is tens of thousands of dollars over a 30-year term. A misread fee on a merchant statement is hundreds of dollars a month. Choosing the wrong insurance carrier can mean the difference between a covered claim and a denied one. GeekPenny exists because most personal-finance content on the internet is optimized for advertiser revenue first and reader outcomes second. We flipped that order.

This page describes one specific commitment we make to the people who read our work. Read it once and refer back to it whenever you want to verify how we operate.

What we commit to

• Editorial independence. Recommendations are made by editors and licensed reviewers, not by the partnerships or revenue team. There is a written firewall between the two functions and it is audited annually.
• Transparent funding. Every page that earns a commission discloses the relationship at the top. The rankings on those pages are made on the merits — we never accept payment to change a position, remove negative information, or publish a pre-written review.
• Source-level accuracy. Every claim about a product, rate, fee, or eligibility rule is sourced to a primary document — a rate card, a regulator filing, a contract, or a verified provider statement. Opinions are clearly labeled as such.
• Currency. Every recommendation is re-verified at minimum every 90 days, and immediately when a regulator or provider publishes a material change. The verification date is visible on every page.
• Reviewer accountability. Every YMYL page (your money, your life) is reviewed by a licensed expert in the relevant field. Their name and credentials appear at the bottom of the page. If the page is wrong, you know exactly who is accountable.

How content is produced

A piece moves through three stages before it goes live:

1. Drafting. A staff writer with a background in personal finance journalism produces the first draft. They start from primary sources — rate cards, terms of service, regulator data — and they document every claim with a citation.
2. Fact-checking. A separate editor verifies every numeric claim, every statutory reference, and every product-specific assertion against the same primary sources. Anything that cannot be verified is removed or rewritten.
3. Expert review. A licensed expert in the relevant field — a CFP, a CPA, a licensed insurance broker, a former bank examiner, a payments-industry veteran — reads the final draft and signs off. The reviewer's name and credentials appear at the bottom of the page along with the date of review.

This is slower and more expensive than the dominant content-mill approach. It is the reason we publish fewer pages than our larger competitors and the reason our recommendations hold up over time.

How we are funded

GeekPenny earns money in two narrow ways. First, we earn a commission when readers apply for products through tracked links. The commission is paid by the provider, not the reader, and it does not change the price the reader pays. Second, we have a small number of direct partnerships with providers we already recommend on the merits. In every case the editorial position is decided first; the partnership conversation, if any, comes later.

What we do not do: we do not sell rankings, we do not accept payment to remove negative information, we do not publish sponsored "reviews" that are written by the provider, and we do not allow advertisers to preview editorial content before it publishes. If a provider asks for any of those things, we decline and the conversation usually ends there.

Conflicts of interest

We disclose two categories of potential conflicts:

• Commercial relationships. Any page that earns a commission says so at the top. Any page about a provider with which GeekPenny has a direct partnership names that relationship in the disclosure block.
• Personal relationships. If an editor or reviewer has a personal financial interest in a provider — they own equity, they hold a board seat, they receive consulting fees — they recuse from coverage of that provider.

This is the policy at GeekPenny and it is enforced by the editor in chief.

Corrections policy

If a reader finds a factual error, a broken link, or a recommendation that no longer holds up, the editorial team re-verifies within 48 hours and updates the page. Material corrections are noted publicly at the bottom of the page with the date and a description of what changed. Minor copyedits are made without a public note.

To report an error, email the editorial team at editorial@geekpenny.com. Include the URL of the page and a brief description of the issue.

How to verify any of this

Every commitment on this page is testable. Pick a recommendation from any best-of guide on the site. Check the verification date at the bottom. Compare the headline rate or fee against the provider's public rate card. Read the methodology page to see how the ranking was constructed. If anything does not line up with the documented process, email us — we will respond.

Other policies you should read

• How GeekPenny makes money — the full revenue model.
• Editorial independence — the firewall between editorial and revenue.
• Methodology — how rankings are built.
• Update cadence — how often each kind of page is re-verified.
• Expert network — who reviews YMYL content.
• Privacy — what data we collect and what we do with it.

Frequently asked questions

Is GeekPenny a registered investment advisor? No. GeekPenny publishes journalism and decision-support content. We are not a fiduciary and the content is not personalized investment advice. For personalized advice, consult a licensed advisor.

Why do I see different recommendations than my friend? Some pages personalize results based on state, credit profile, or product type. The underlying ranking is the same; the visible subset can differ.

How do I unsubscribe from rate alerts or the newsletter? Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link. You can also email editorial@geekpenny.com.

Can I republish a GeekPenny article? Short excerpts with attribution are fine. Full republication requires written permission. Email editorial@geekpenny.com.

Who funds GeekPenny? GeekPenny is privately held and funded by its operating revenue (commissions and direct partnerships described above). We do not take outside investment from financial-services companies.

How do I contact a specific reviewer? Each reviewer's contact info is listed in the expert network page.