The scoring method has its own page. This one covers everything else: what we will and will not publish, who checks it, and what happens when we get it wrong.
Version 2026.2 · Updated September 14, 2026 · Owner: Jordan Mercer, Senior Lending Editor
Primary documents first
A claim about cost, terms or fees must trace to a contract, term sheet, fee schedule, court filing or regulator record. Marketing copy and sales calls are recorded as claims, not facts, and are labeled that way.
Every owner is verified
We interview business owners and publish their reviews only after seeing a funding agreement, settlement letter or bank record. Names are used with permission; industry and city are always shown.
An attorney reads every agreement we score
Confession of judgment language, venue clauses, fee triggers and legal-status claims are checked by a licensed commercial litigator before a score is published. Legal reviewers are named on the page.
The APR comes first
Where a product is quoted as a factor rate or a fee, we convert it to an annual percentage rate and show the conversion. If a company will not provide enough to compute it, we say so and score accordingly.
Revenue does not touch rankings
Editors who score companies do not see referral revenue. Partner status cannot change a score, a rank or whether a company appears. Companies with an “Avoid” verdict are published regardless of whether they would pay us.
Ownership is disclosed
Zogby shares ownership with Delancey Street, a business debt relief company we rate. The relationship is stated on every page where Delancey Street appears and on our About page.
Dates are real
Every page carries the date it was last substantively reviewed. Scores are re-run quarterly and when a company changes terms or a regulator acts. We do not refresh dates without refreshing content.
Plain language, no fear
We write the way an experienced operator would explain it across a table. No exclamation points, no urgency tactics, no “act now.” If a company is bad, we say so once and show why.
Corrections are public
Errors are fixed on the page with a dated note. Companies may dispute a score with documents; we re-score within 30 days and publish the result either way.
AI assistance is disclosed
Editors may use software to transcribe interviews, convert rates or check arithmetic. Every published sentence is written or reviewed by a named human editor. We do not publish machine-generated reviews or ratings.
Spotted an error? Email corrections@zogby.com. Material corrections are noted on the page with the date. See Contact for everything else.