Editorial Policy — ByTheMath
How we select, score, and publish financial product data. Independence is the policy, not a feature.
The core commitment
No institution pays to be included in, excluded from, or ranked higher in any ByTheMath ranking. No sponsored content or native advertising. Some consumer sites show display ads and may earn affiliate commissions; each site discloses what applies. Compensation is never an input to a score. This is not a differentiating claim — it is the operating policy that every editorial decision is made under.
Each site’s footer and disclosure page state its current ads and affiliate status.
Product selection
Products are selected for inclusion based on institutional credibility (FDIC or NCUA insurance), data availability (a verifiable source URL with a machine-readable or human-readable rate), and meaningful market presence. We do not accept payment or consideration of any kind to include or exclude a product.
Products are removed from active rankings when they become unavailable to new customers, when we can no longer verify the rate at the source, or when the institution ceases to be FDIC/NCUA insured.
Scoring and rankings
Every product is scored using a published formula applied uniformly. Scoring weights by product type are documented on the Methodology page. No editorial override of the mathematical score is permitted. If a product ranks first, it ranks first because the math says so — not because of any relationship with the institution.
Data verification
Every rate, fee, and product detail published on a ByTheMath site is sourced from the institution’s own website and checked against that page before being applied. We do not republish press releases, third-party feeds, or unverified institution claims. Each product record includes the date the data was last verified.
Products that have not been re-verified within seven days are flagged internally as stale. Stale products are queued for a recheck, and each product shows the date it was last verified so readers can judge freshness.
Corrections
Factual errors are corrected promptly. See the Corrections Policy for the full process. Corrections are logged permanently — we do not silently edit errors without disclosure.
Contact
Editorial questions, data discrepancies, or policy concerns: contact@bythemath.com.