Useful editorial comparisons of banks and loans, but by its own disclosure the advertising fees it collects can affect both placement and the scores products receive.
What it's really for A personal-finance comparison publisher paid affiliate and referral fees by the products listed.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its 'best of' bank, loan, and card comparisons, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Banks, lenders and other financial providers (and parent LendingTree's lender network) pay it the most through advertising and referral fees, and by its own disclosure those fees can influence placement and the assigned score.
Source →- Operating since
- 2014 (12 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Earns advertiser compensation and affiliate/referral fees when readers open accounts or click through to financial providers, including its parent company LendingTree.
- What they do
- Publishes editorial guides, ratings and "best of" comparisons of personal-finance products such as savings accounts, checking accounts, loans, credit cards and investing services.
- What to watch for
- It is advertising-supported and, by its own advertiser disclosure, the brands you see and the scores they get can be shaped by who pays, and it doesn't cover every product in the market.
- Composite score
- 2.10 / 5.00 → grade C-
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- LendingTree announced on June 20, 2017 that it acquired MagnifyMoney for total consideration of up to $39.5 million; the release states 'MagnifyMoney was launched in 2014 by Nick Clements and Brian Karimzad,' confirming founding year and parent ownership. Source: LendingTree press release →
- By its own advertiser disclosure, compensation from companies that appear on the site 'impacts the location and order in which brands and their products are presented, and also impacts the score that is assigned to it,' and the site notes it does not include all products available in the marketplace. Source: Lendstart review of MagnifyMoney →
- MagnifyMoney describes itself as an independent, advertising-supported comparison service that receives compensation from financial providers whose offers appear on its site, and publishes a review process, editorial guidelines and a code of ethics outlining staff editing and fact-checking. Source: MagnifyMoney Our Review Process / Editorial Code of Ethics →