How we research & choose
Every PickedFinance page is research-based. We don’t open accounts to test them, and we don’t give scores. Here is exactly how a page is built.
1. Sources we use
- The provider’s own pages first: rate pages, fee schedules, account agreements, a credit card’s Pricing & Terms, a broker’s commission schedule and Form CRS, an insurer’s policy pages.
- Regulators and official bodies: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (including its credit card agreement database), the FDIC (deposit insurance, BankFind, national rates), the NCUA, the SEC and Investor.gov, FINRA BrokerCheck, SIPC, TreasuryDirect, the IRS, the NAIC and state insurance regulators.
- We list only sources we actually opened for that page, at the bottom of the page, with the provider or agency named.
2. Day-level rate dates
APYs, APRs, CD rates, fees and bonuses change often, sometimes weekly. Every rate on our pages shows the exact day we checked it on the provider’s page (for example, “as of Nov 10, 2026”). We recheck deposit and card rates twice a week. A rate we haven’t been able to reverify for more than 7 days is replaced with a “not recently verified” notice instead of a number, and an indexed page can’t be published with an APY or APR more than 10 days old.
3. Two-pass verification
A research pass collects every number from the sources. A separate verification pass reopens each source and checks every rate, fee and date before the page goes live. Each page shows both dates.
4. How we choose what to include
- Each comparison page explains what we compared (for example: APY, minimum balance, monthly fees, deposit insurance, and how easy it is to move money for savings accounts; annual fee, rewards rate, intro APR terms and the regular APR for credit cards).
- We always include free or no-fee options, even when they earn us nothing.
- Commission never decides inclusion or order. We pick and order products before checking whether a provider has an affiliate program. There are no paid “featured” slots, and products with and without affiliate links get the same layout.
- We say who should skip each product, and we note trade-offs such as fees, minimums, penalties and variable rates.
5. How we describe rates and terms
- Savings and CD yields are shown as annual percentage yield (APY), with notes on variable rates, minimum balances, fees and early-withdrawal penalties where they apply.
- Credit card intro rates are labeled “intro”, with when the offer ends and the regular APR that applies afterward.
- When we say a deposit account is FDIC- or NCUA-insured, we name the insured bank or credit union. When an app or brokerage isn’t a bank, we say so, and we never describe investments as insured deposits.
6. What we never do
- Claim hands-on testing we haven’t done.
- Publish star ratings, scores or invented benchmarks.
- Give personalized advice or tell you which product is right for your situation.
- Recommend individual stocks, funds or other securities, or predict returns.
- Claim credentials or expert review we don’t have.
7. Updates
Pages are rechecked on a schedule (rates twice a week, other terms weekly). We update the “Last updated” date only when something on the page actually changed. Errors are fixed under our corrections policy.