Advertising Disclosure

1. How We Earn Revenue

Business Loans IQ operates as a free comparison and referral platform. We do not charge users to access our tools, content, or loan comparison services. Instead, we earn revenue through commercial relationships with the lenders and financial product providers featured on our Platform.

Specifically, we may earn compensation through:

Referral fees: A fixed or variable fee paid by a lender when a user submits an application or inquiry through our Platform to that lender.
Pay-per-click compensation: Revenue earned when a user clicks on a lender’s link or “Apply Now” button on our Platform.
Lead generation fees: Fees paid when we transmit a qualified business owner’s contact and application information to a lender or lender marketplace in our network.
Display advertising: Revenue from banner advertisements or other display advertising units placed by lenders or financial service providers on our Platform.
Sponsored content packages: Fees paid by lenders for guaranteed prominent placement, “Sponsored,” “Featured,” or “Best Choice” badges, or promotional content units on our Platform.

The amount of compensation we receive from any given lender varies based on the nature of our agreement with that lender, the loan amount, and other factors.

2. What Advertiser Compensation Affects

We want to be direct with you about the ways in which advertiser compensation influences our Platform:

Which lenders appear on our Platform: Not every lender in the U.S. small business lending market is featured on Business Loans IQ. The lenders we feature are predominantly those with whom we have an active commercial relationship, supplemented by non-paying lenders included for editorial completeness.
Ordering and positioning within lender listings: Within a list of lenders sharing a similar editorial rating or category, the lender paying a higher referral fee or premium placement fee may be positioned higher in the list.
Featured and “Best Choice” badges: Lenders that pay for sponsored placements may receive a “Featured,” “Best Choice,” “Top Rated,” or similar badge that elevates their visual prominence on the Platform.
Inclusion in email campaigns and newsletters: Paid partners may be featured more prominently in our marketing communications.

Any lender placement that has been influenced by payment will be clearly labeled as “Sponsored” or “Advertiser Disclosure” adjacent to the listing. We are committed to making this distinction visible and understandable.

3. What Advertiser Compensation Does Not Affect

Maintaining the trust of our users is foundational to our business. The following editorial elements are never influenced by advertiser compensation:

Our star ratings and numerical scores: Lender ratings are determined by a standardized scoring methodology applied by our editorial team. Lenders cannot pay to improve their rating.
Our editorial reviews: The written analysis of any lender’s products, strengths, and weaknesses is produced independently. We do not accept payment to alter editorial content.
Negative information and lender weaknesses: If a lender has high fees, limited eligibility, or poor customer reviews, we report that information regardless of our commercial relationship with that lender.
Our “Best For” designations: These are assigned based on product characteristics and user needs, not advertiser relationships.
User review scores: Ratings submitted by verified users are not moderated based on lender relationships.

4. Our Editorial Independence Policy

Business Loans IQ maintains a strict separation between our editorial and commercial teams. The team responsible for lender reviews, rankings, and content recommendations operates under the following guidelines:

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Editorial Wall

Our editorial team does not report to or take direction from our commercial partnerships team. Lenders cannot request changes to editorial content as a condition of any commercial relationship.

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Methodology-Driven Ratings

All lender ratings are produced using a documented scoring methodology that evaluates rates, terms, fees, customer service quality, and eligibility criteria.

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Regular Review Cycles

Lender ratings and editorial content are reviewed and updated regularly to reflect current product offerings, rate changes, and user feedback.

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Fact-Checking Standards

All rate ranges, loan limits, and eligibility requirements are verified directly with lenders or from official lender documentation before publication.

5. How We Rank and Rate Lenders

Our editorial team evaluates lenders across the following categories when assigning ratings and rankings. Each category is weighted based on its relative importance to small business borrowers:

Loan rates and fee transparency: Interest rates, factor rates, origination fees, prepayment penalties, and total cost of capital.
Loan amounts and term flexibility: The range of loan amounts offered and the availability of term lengths suitable for various business needs.
Eligibility requirements: Minimum credit score, time in business, revenue requirements, and the inclusiveness of the qualification criteria.
Application and funding speed: The ease of the application process and the time from application to funding.
Customer reviews and complaint data: Ratings from third-party review platforms and complaint data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Better Business Bureau (BBB).
Industry-specific suitability: Whether the lender’s products are well-suited to the specific industry page on which they appear.
Transparency and disclosure practices: How clearly the lender presents its rates, terms, and fees to applicants.

A lender ranked higher than another in our editorial listings means our research indicates that lender is a better fit for the majority of users in that category, not that the lender pays us more.

6. Sponsored and Featured Placements

Some lenders purchase premium placement packages that guarantee a specific position in our listings or a visual badge identifying them as a featured or sponsored partner. These placements are clearly labeled at all times using one or more of the following indicators:

A “Sponsored” label adjacent to the lender listing
A “Best Choice” or “Featured” badge on the lender card
An “Advertiser Disclosure” link near the top of any page containing sponsored content

Sponsored placement does not mean the lender is recommended over non-sponsored lenders or that their products are superior. It indicates only that a commercial relationship exists that may influence the lender’s position on the page. We encourage all users to review multiple lenders and consult our editorial ratings before making a decision.

7. Not Financial Advice

All content on Business Loans IQ, whether produced by our editorial team or by a commercial partner, is for general informational and comparison purposes only. Nothing on our Platform constitutes financial advice, investment advice, or a recommendation to take on any specific loan or financial product.

We strongly encourage you to compare multiple lenders, review all loan terms independently, and consult with a qualified financial advisor before entering into any lending agreement. The best loan for your business depends on your specific financial situation, which we are not in a position to evaluate.

8. FTC Compliance

Business Loans IQ operates in compliance with the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines on endorsements and testimonials (16 C.F.R. Part 255) and the FTC’s guidance on online advertising disclosure requirements.

Per these guidelines:

All material connections between Business Loans IQ and any lender or advertiser featured on our Platform are clearly and conspicuously disclosed on the relevant page.
All reviews, ratings, and editorial recommendations that have been influenced by a commercial relationship are labeled accordingly.
We do not post fabricated user reviews or pay for fake testimonials.
Any endorsement we make of a lender’s product reflects our genuine editorial assessment at the time of publication.