Editorial Policy

This page explains how every article on Kres Financial is made, checked, and kept current. If a page falls short of it, please tell us.

Who is responsible

Every page names its editor, Sebastian Cosentino, Editor and Publisher. He checks every fact on the page against its source before it is published and is accountable for what it says. We do not publish under an unnamed "editorial team," and we do not invent people, credentials, or reviewers. If a licensed professional ever reviews a page, that page will name them and say what they reviewed. No page has had such a review yet.

How we use software and AI tools

We use software, including AI tools, to help research and draft. That can include finding and reading source documents, summarizing them, running the arithmetic in our tables, and writing first drafts. A person then checks every fact, number, quotation, and link against the original source, and edits the page. The named editor is responsible for the result, whatever tools were used.

Bylines say "Edited by." We do not say a page was "written by" a person who did not write it.

How we research

Desk research. Most of our pages are desk research: we read the primary documents (laws, regulations, regulator guidance, government data, court opinions, and companies' own terms and pricing pages) and explain them. Pages built this way are labeled as desk research in our records.

First-hand testing. If we ever describe using a product ourselves, a real person on our side will have done it, on the date stated, with the results and limits written down. We will not write "we tested" or "we tried" about anything nobody tried.

How we source

• Every factual claim gets a numbered source. That means every fee, rate, law, rule, or statistic. The numbers in the text match the source list at the bottom of the page.
• Primary sources first. Where a primary source exists (a regulator such as the CFPB or FTC, a state insurance department, a statute or regulation, a court, government data, or a company's own terms), we use it. When we rely on a secondary source, such as a credit bureau's consumer guide, the page says who published it.
• Every source is dated. Each one lists the date we read it. If a source shows its own publication or update date, we include that too.
• If we cannot source it, we cut it.
• Our own math is labeled. When a figure is our arithmetic rather than a number published by the source, the page says so and shows the method.

Dates on every page

Each article shows three dates:

• Published: when it first went live.
• Updated: the last time the substance changed.
• Facts checked: the last time every number and product fact on the page was rechecked against its source.

We do not change the "Updated" date for typo fixes or design changes. Substantive edits get a dated line in the page's change log.

How we keep pages current

Fees, prices, and partner terms change. Our schedule:

• Monthly: recheck prices, fees, and links on pages that list them.
• When a law or rule changes: update the affected pages and log the change.
• Quarterly: review explainer pages whose facts change slowly.

If we cannot re-verify a fact, we remove it or mark it as unverified until we can.

How we choose and order products

• When a page compares products, the order follows a rule printed above the table: total cost, fit, or alphabetical. Commission is never a sorting rule.
• Every comparison and review includes a "Who should skip this" section.
• Every guide is allowed to conclude that the free option, or no product, costs less.
• We include companies that do not pay us when they matter to the answer.

How companies pay us, and what that does and does not change, is on how we make money.

Claims we do not make

We do not promise outcomes. That means no promised approvals, credit score increases, savings amounts, or rates, and no language suggesting a product is required or official. We do not repeat a company's savings or results figure unless we can show its source and its fine print next to it. We do not use fake urgency, invented reviews, testimonials, or star ratings.

What this site is not

Kres Financial provides general educational information. It is not financial, insurance, legal, credit counseling, or tax advice, and it does not take your personal situation into account. The editor is not a licensed financial advisor, insurance agent, or credit counselor. See our terms.

Corrections

We fix errors quickly and say what changed. The process is on corrections.