How we make money

The short answer

When you fill in our loan request form and send it, TrustCedar passes your request to lenders and loan brokers that work with us. Those companies pay us for the requests they receive. That is the whole business model.

We do not charge visitors. We do not run display ads. We do not use affiliate links, and no lender pays to appear in an article, in a comparison or on the rate board.

How a request becomes revenue

1. You open the form at /loan-request or at the end of an article or calculator.
2. In the first step you tell us the amount, what the money is for, a rough credit range, when you need it and your ZIP code.
3. In the second step you give your name, phone and email, and you decide whether to check the consent box that lets TrustCedar and lenders and loan brokers contact you about the request.
4. When you send it, we pass the request to lenders and loan brokers working with TrustCedar. They pay us for it. They may then call, text or email you.

If you never send a request, no one pays us anything because of your visit. What the request contains, who receives it and how long it is kept are listed in the privacy policy.

What you pay

Nothing, to us. We never ask you for a fee, a deposit or account details. A lender that offers you a loan will charge interest and possibly fees under its own loan agreement; those are between you and that lender, and none of it passes through TrustCedar.

Be wary of anyone who asks for money up front to arrange a loan. The licensing page explains how to check a lender or broker before you share more information.

What payment does not change

The lenders and loan brokers who pay for requests have no say over our pages. In particular:

• Articles. What we write about personal loans, including head-to-head pages where another option comes out cheaper, follows our editorial policy, not the interests of anyone who buys requests.
• Calculators. The four calculators use the published formulas on How the numbers work. Results are the same whether or not you send a request afterward.
• The rate board. Rows are published benchmarks from the Federal Reserve, Freddie Mac and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. No company can add, remove or reorder them.
• Names. We do not rank, rate or recommend lenders. When a page names a company, it is a factual example taken from an official source.

What we do not sell

• Ad space, banners or sponsored articles
• Affiliate links or commissions on products bought through links
• Paid placement in lists, comparisons or the rate board
• Reviews, star ratings or testimonials, which we do not publish at all

When a lender or broker contacts you

The company that calls or writes is not TrustCedar, and its offer is not ours. We do not know which offer, if any, you will get, and we do not make the credit decision. Compare the APR, the fees, the term and the total cost of any offer in writing before you accept. You can stop texts by replying STOP, and you can ask us to pass on a request to stop contact by writing to [email protected].

Questions about how the site is funded are welcome through the contact page.