# Fact-Checking Policy | Big Daddy Loans > Our three-step fact-check process, primary-source list, fact-checker training, and review cycle — applied to every Big Daddy Loans page before and after publication. Источник: https://bigdaddy-loans.com/fact-checking-policy/ --- # Fact-Checking Policy A three-step process applied to every numeric, legal, and regulatory claim on this site — before publication and on a recurring schedule afterward. RL **Last updated: May 24, 2026** · Reviewed by: [Roman Lindqvist, JD](/authors/roman-lindqvist/) **On this page** Quick answer What gets fact-checked Three-step process Primary-source list Fact-checker training Review cycle Disputes What we don't do Rules of thumb Contact **Quick answer.** Every numeric, legal, or regulatory claim on Big Daddy Loans is verified against a primary source by someone who is not the author, before publication and again on a 12-month cycle. ## What gets fact-checked Our fact-check covers every claim that, if wrong, would cause a reader to make a different financial decision. That includes: - Every **dollar figure**, **APR**, **fee**, and **loan term** on any cost table or example - Every **statute citation** (state code section, U.S.C., C.F.R.) and the substance attributed to that statute - Every **regulator name**, **contact**, and **complaint-portal URL** - Every **state legal status** (allowed, banned, restricted) for payday lending - Every **quoted statement** or **attributed claim** - Every **third-party data point** (Pew, Census, CFPB complaint data, FDIC, NCUA, NFCC) Editorial opinion (e.g., "we believe payday loans should be the last resort") is clearly labeled and not fact-checked the same way; sources behind any opinion are still required. ## Three-step process 1. **Step 1 — Claim extraction.** Before publication, the fact-checker reads the draft and extracts every claim listed above into a structured worksheet. Each claim gets a row with the claim, the source the author cited, and a "verified / not verified / dispute" status. 2. **Step 2 — Primary-source verification.** The fact-checker independently pulls the cited source. The author's source can be Tier-1 or Tier-2 (see source hierarchy in [editorial policy](/editorial-policy/#sources)); if the author cited a Tier-3 or Tier-4 source the fact-checker tries to upgrade it to Tier-1 or Tier-2. Every claim must trace back to a primary regulator, statute, or government dataset. 3. **Step 3 — Reviewer cross-check.** The second editorial reviewer (a different credentialed person than the author) spot-checks 20% of the fact-checker's verifications and signs off in writing. Any unverifiable claim must be removed, softened, or labeled as the speaker's claim before the page ships. ## Primary-source list This is not exhaustive, but it covers the bulk of Big Daddy Loans's fact-check work: - **Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)** — rulemakings, supervisory highlights, consumer complaint database, payday lending market reports - **State Attorneys General** — enforcement actions, consent decrees, official guidance - **State banking and consumer-finance regulators** — for payday/installment rules and complaint portals; Texas OCCC is the canonical example - **State legislative codes** and **session laws** — accessed via official state legislature websites, not third-party aggregators - **U.S. Department of Defense** — Military Lending Act guidance, MLA database for covered-borrower verification - **FDIC and NCUA** — call reports, small-dollar lending guidance, PAL rules - **U.S. Census** — income, poverty, unbanked/underbanked tables - **Federal Reserve** — Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), bank-fee data - **Pew Charitable Trusts small-dollar lending project** — peer-reviewed research - **National Consumer Law Center (NCLC)** — high-cost lending and rate-evasion reporting - **Center for Responsible Lending (CRL)** — fee and APR research - **NFCC, AFCPE** — credit-counseling sector data ## Fact-checker training Big Daddy Loans fact-checkers complete the following before they can verify a published page: - A 10-hour internal training on the source hierarchy, the worksheet workflow, and how to read a state statute citation - A supervised verification of three previously published pages, with a senior editor checking each verification line by line - A written commitment to the editorial integrity agreement, including the rule that the fact-checker has no financial relationship with covered lenders - Annual recertification covering the prior year's statute and rule changes ## Review cycle Every page is fact-checked again on a recurring schedule even if no edits have been made: **Money pages** Re-checked every 6 months. Any APR cap or fee structure change in any covered state triggers an immediate re-check. **State hubs** Re-checked every 6 months and on any legislative session result. A state-law change triggers a same-week update. **City pages** Re-checked every 12 months and on any city-ordinance change. **Learn library** Re-checked every 12 months. **Research** The annual cost index is fully re-checked as part of the new edition; underlying datasets are re-pulled. ## Disputes and reader-flagged errors If a reader flags a fact, we treat it as a presumed problem until verified. The fact-checker pulls the original source within 48 hours. If the claim cannot be supported, we issue a correction, log it in the public [corrections log](/corrections/), and date-stamp the page. If the reader was right, we credit them by name (with permission) in the log entry. ## What we explicitly do not do To make the standard above legible, here is what fact-checking at Big Daddy Loans never looks like. We do not rely on a single competitor article as the basis for a claim. We do not "verify" a number by re-finding it on another aggregator or news site that itself didn't cite a primary source. We do not paraphrase statutes from memory or from AI-generated summaries; the fact-checker reads the statute. We do not allow lender-provided statistics to stand as fact about industry-wide behavior — those are clearly labeled as the lender's own claim and corroborated against regulator data wherever possible. ## Rules of thumb our fact-checkers follow - **Round numbers are red flags.** "Approximately 12 million Americans" is a sentence that probably needs a Tier-1 source. Round numbers tend to be paraphrased from secondary sources. - **State laws change every legislative session.** A statute citation that worked last year may not work this year. Default to re-pulling. - **Use the regulator's own complaint portal as the canonical URL.** Do not link to a state regulator's home page when a specific complaint or contact URL exists. - **If two reputable Tier-1 sources disagree, surface the disagreement.** Pick one number for the body text and footnote the alternative so the reader can see we know there is dispute. - **Lender-disclosed APR ranges are claims, not facts.** Always cite "per the lender's published rate sheet" or "per the lender's TILA disclosure." ## Contact To flag a fact for verification: corrections@bigdaddy-loans.com. For broader editorial questions: editor@bigdaddy-loans.com. Or use our send-feedback form. #### Our policy documents Learn how we maintain trust with our readers. [Editorial policy →](/editorial-policy/) [Corrections log →](/corrections/) [Ownership disclosure →](/ownership-disclosure/) [Privacy policy →](/privacy/) [Terms of service →](/terms/) --- #### Our team members [All 6 authors & reviewers →](/authors/)