How The Finance Lowdown works
How we research, write, check and fund The Finance Lowdown — in one place.
What we do
The Finance Lowdown publishes plain-English guides, comparisons and calculators about UK money: savings, ISAs, cashback, bank switching, credit, pensions and small business finance. Everything is general information to help you compare options. It isn’t personalised financial advice, and we don’t know your circumstances.
How we research
- We take rates, fees and offers from each provider’s own website and show the date we checked them.
- Figures set by the government or a regulator — such as the ISA allowance or the FSCS limit — should be confirmed on the official source.
- If we can’t verify a figure, we describe it in general terms instead of guessing.
- Comparison tables are dated with an “as of” note, and we link to the provider’s own page so you can check the live terms.
How we check before publishing
Every article is reviewed against our editorial checklist before publication.
Guides are written by Steven, Editor, and fact checked by Angela, Editorial Reviewer. Each page shows who wrote it, who checked it and when it was last updated.
Every guide follows the same structure, so the important parts are easy to find: a quick answer, who it’s for, who should skip it, the catch, a dated comparison where relevant, a full explanation and FAQs.
How we make money
The site is free to read. Some pages include referral links. Each one is labelled right next to the button: “Referral link — we may earn a commission.
This doesn’t affect what you pay.” A commission never decides what we cover or where a provider appears. Links to providers that aren’t referral links are labelled too. More on our How we make money and Disclosure pages.
How our calculators work
Our calculators show the formulas they use, check what you enter, round money to the penny and show months as whole numbers. They run in your browser and don’t store your figures. Results are illustrations, not quotes or recommendations.
Corrections and contact
If you spot something wrong or out of date, tell us — see complaints and corrections or contact us. Our full standards are in the editorial policy and review methodology.
FAQs
Is The Finance Lowdown financial advice?
No. Our guides are general information. They don’t take your circumstances into account.
Who writes and checks the guides?
Guides are written by Steven, Editor, and fact checked by Angela, Editorial Reviewer.
How do you choose which providers to cover?
We cover providers readers commonly look at and products that are relevant to each guide. Commissions don’t decide what we cover.
How do I report a mistake?
Use our complaints and corrections page or contact us, and we’ll look into it.