How we research, write, and refresh our small business funding content. Our sourcing standards, refresh cadence, correction policy, and editorial independence — documented openly so we can be held accountable to them.
Most "lender review" sites in the small business funding space are one of three things: thinly-disguised lead generation pages with no editorial substance, generalist personal-finance brands that treat small business funding as a side topic, or industry-insider forums with strong information but poor consumer-facing structure.
We're trying to be different. The content here aims to be:
The standards below are how we keep ourselves accountable to that.
Every numerical claim, regulatory reference, or factual assertion in our content traces to a source. We classify sources into four tiers and use them in this priority order:
| Tier | What it is | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| T1 | Primary lender or regulator publications. Lender rate sheets, qualification pages, terms PDFs, SEC filings, SBA SOPs, CFPB enforcement orders, state lending license registries, Federal Reserve survey data. | Preferred for all rate ranges, qualification criteria, fee schedules, and product specifications. Closest to actual policy or product. |
| T2 | Regulatory and government data. CFPB complaint database, state Department of Financial Protection registries, Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS), SBA lender approval data, court rulings, FTC enforcement actions. | Regulatory standing, complaint volumes, market data, and lending license verification. |
| T3 | Verified review aggregates. Better Business Bureau (BBB) profiles, Trustpilot, Google Reviews. | Synthesizing customer experience signal — never as primary rating, only as supporting evidence with named platform attribution. |
| T4 | Industry reporting. Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Bankrate, NerdWallet, deBanked, journalistic outlets. | Context, recent news, market analysis, and material company changes. Cited transparently; original reporting preferred over aggregation. |
Editorial rule: Every numerical claim cites a Tier 1 or Tier 2 source. Tier 3 is only used to synthesize customer experience signals. Tier 4 is only used for context, news, or industry-level analysis — never as the sole source for a numerical claim.
Every published lender profile and product guide is reviewed every 90 days. The review process:
Pages that haven't been reviewed in 100+ days are flagged internally and deprioritized in our internal navigation until refreshed.
Our content is co-authored by the Elite Funders editorial team. Bylines identify the primary author for each page. Named authors hold credentials in small business lending, finance, or related domains, and are accountable for the accuracy of content under their byline. Author bio pages link to LinkedIn profiles for verification.
For pages where multiple authors contributed, the byline format is: "By [Primary Author], with the Elite Funders Editorial Team."
Elite Funders is a small business funding marketplace and brokerage. We earn commissions when applications submitted through our platform are funded by lenders. Some lenders we review have direct ISO partner relationships with us, meaning we receive ongoing commissions on placed deals. Other lenders we review have no commercial relationship with us; we cover them because they're meaningful options business owners should know about.
This commercial reality creates a structural tension with editorial independence. We address it three ways:
We won't claim editorial purity that doesn't exist. We're a brokerage. We have a financial interest in business owners using our platform. The safeguard isn't pretending the conflict doesn't exist — it's documenting how we address it and inviting readers to hold us accountable.
Read more about how we earn revenue: How We Make Money.
If you believe any claim on our site is inaccurate, contact us at [email protected] with the specific claim and the source you believe contradicts it. We respond to verified corrections within 48 business hours, update the affected page, and note the correction in the page's change history with the date of the update.
If a correction substantially changes the meaning of a published assessment, we add a corrections notice to the page header for at least 30 days following the correction.
Every guide, lender profile, and editorial best-of list on this site carries a named author byline. Where multiple authors contributed substantively, all are credited. Author bio pages document credentials, professional history, and conflicts of interest where applicable.
This editorial policy itself is reviewed annually. Material changes to our methodology are noted at the bottom of this page in a dated revision log.
Email us at [email protected] — we answer every editorial inquiry.