How we make money
We say exactly how, on every page.
If a site tells you where to keep your money, you deserve to know one thing up front: how does it get paid? So here's the whole thing. Short version — when you choose an account through one of our partners, we may earn a fee. It never changes how we rank accounts, and the people who write the comparisons don't answer to the people who bring in the money.
The one rule underneath all of it
What we get paid never moves an account’s score or where it lands in a comparison. Rankings come straight from our published methodology, applied the same way to every account in a category. Where we earn from a recommendation, we say so — right there on the page. The whole money model is built to be checked, not hidden.
The model
Disclosed referral & affiliate fees
Paid by the partner, disclosed on the page
ClearValue Banking is not a bank and does not open accounts. When you decide an account is right for you and go on to open and fund it with a partner bank, that partner may pay us a referral or affiliate fee for the introduction — typically per funded account, and paid by the provider, not by you. That fee is how we keep the lights on, and it is disclosed on the page where it applies.
What that fee does not do is decide which account you see first. Our job is to surface the account that fits a saver — the real yield, the fees, the minimums, and the catch, named out loud — regardless of which partner pays more. If the better account pays the smaller fee, or no fee at all, the better account still wins the recommendation. The full version — including the wall between the people who review accounts and the people who manage partner relationships — is on our advertiser & affiliate disclosure page.
On the numbers
Every rate is dated and sourced
Rates, APYs, bonuses, and terms are set by the banks, not by us, and they change constantly. So every figure we publish carries the date it was accurate as of and the named source it came from. We don’t quote a bare number, and we don’t guarantee any rate or that an offer is still live — always confirm current terms with the provider before you decide.
The wall, restated
The desk that ranks never sees the money.
Our comparisons are never tied to what a partner pays or to whether you act. Partners don’t preview rankings, buy placement, or decide which accounts we cover. If a commercial relationship ever conflicted with the methodology, the methodology wins.
Read the methodology