1. What is the DollarVisor methodology?
Quick Answer: It’s a four-part process: pull numbers from primary sources, break them down by state, score companies on published weights, and refresh on a fixed schedule. It exists so that every claim on DollarVisor can be traced back to a source you can check yourself.
Most money sites ask you to trust their verdicts. We’d rather you audit ours. That’s the whole reason this page exists, and it’s how our three brand promises connect:
- State-level numbers. Rates vary so much by state that a national average is often useless. Our sourcing starts at the state level wherever the data allows.
- No pay-to-rank. Rankings are ordered by the scoring system on this page, never by payment. There is no mechanism for a company to buy a position. How the site earns money instead is on the advertising disclosure page.
- Show the math. Every verdict ships with the table, source link, or calculator behind it.
The sections below document each stage: where the numbers come from, how rankings get built from them, how often everything refreshes, and what happens when we get something wrong.
Want to see the method applied to a real page?
Our car insurance guides are where the state-level approach is most visible: same method, real numbers. See car insurance by state →
2. Where do our numbers come from?
Quick Answer: From primary sources only: state Departments of Insurance, the NAIC, the CFPB, the FDIC, the Federal Reserve and FRED, Freddie Mac, the IRS, HUD, the FHFA, and TreasuryDirect. If a number can’t be traced to one of these, it doesn’t go in a ranking. Our about page explains why we work this way.
Sourcing is where the DollarVisor methodology starts, because everything downstream (rankings, tables, calculators) is only as honest as the numbers feeding it. Here is the full source list, what each one gives us, and what we use it for:
| Source | What we use it for |
|---|---|
| State Departments of Insurance & NAIC | State-level insurance premiums, rate filings, and complaint indexes |
| CFPB Consumer Complaint Database | Company complaint records used in ranking scores |
| FDIC national rates | Savings, CD, money market, and checking benchmarks |
| Federal Reserve G.19 & FRED | Credit card APRs and historical rate series |
| Freddie Mac PMMS | 30-year and 15-year mortgage rate benchmarks |
| IRS inflation adjustments | Contribution limits, brackets, and deduction figures in retirement and savings guides |
| HUD / FHA & FHFA | FHA loan limits, conforming loan limits, and house price data by state and metro |
| TreasuryDirect | Treasury bill, note, bond, and savings bond rates |
DollarVisor editorial source register, August 2026. Every source is public: click any link to see the raw data.
Why state-first sourcing matters, in one concrete number: NAIC data shows the average homeowners premium in Florida runs about three times Wisconsin’s, per figures published via the Insurance Information Institute. A national average splits that difference and misleads both readers. So wherever a source publishes state detail, we use the state figure and say which state it belongs to.
One of those sources deserves a closer look, because it’s the one readers know least: the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database. The short video below explains what it is and how complaint records reveal patterns in how financial companies actually treat customers.
3. How are DollarVisor rankings built?
Quick Answer: Every ranked list is scored on five weighted factors: price in your state, product terms, complaint record, availability, and transparency. The weights below apply site-wide, from insurance to savings accounts, and payment is never a factor.
| Factor | Weight | Share of score |
|---|---|---|
| Price in your state: premium, APR, APY, or fee level from the sources in Section 2 | 40% | |
| Product terms: coverage limits, fees, penalties, minimums, fine print | 25% | |
| Complaint record: CFPB complaint database plus state DOI complaint indexes, adjusted for company size | 20% | |
| Availability: how many states the product is actually sold in, and who qualifies | 10% | |
| Transparency: whether the company publishes its rates and fees where buyers can find them | 5% |
DollarVisor editorial scoring framework, 2026. Weights apply site-wide; category pages note any category-specific adjustments in a “How we ranked” box.
Three rules sit on top of the weights:
- Price is measured in the reader’s state, not nationally. A company can rank first in Texas and fifth in New York on the same page structure: that’s the system working, not a bug.
- Complaint scores are size-adjusted. A big insurer will always have more complaints in raw count. We compare complaints relative to company size so small companies don’t win by default.
- Standing disclosure on every ranked list: “Companies cannot pay for placement in our rankings.” If you ever see a ranked list on this site without that line, that’s a mistake: report it.
4. The no-pay-to-rank pledge
Quick Answer: No company can pay, gift, or negotiate its way into or up a DollarVisor ranking: there is no sales channel for placement, no sponsored slots, and no affiliate commissions ordering our lists. The site earns from display ads alone, as documented in the advertising disclosure.
The pledge is the part of the DollarVisor methodology people ask about most, and it’s enforceable because of how the business is built, not because of good intentions. Display advertising pays for space on the page, not position in a list. The ads are served by Google’s network, so advertisers don’t pick which page they appear on, and our writers don’t know which ads will run next to their work. There is simply no door a company could knock on to buy a ranking.
The pledge matters because paid steering is a real, regulator-documented problem. In 2024 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued Circular 2024-01, warning that comparison sites can break federal law when they order results by what operators get paid rather than what serves the reader. Our answer to that risk is structural: the scoring table in Section 3 is the only thing that orders a list.
Who applies this methodology day to day?
A three-person editorial team with a strict writer-vs-reviewer split: real names, real credentials, license links you can verify. Meet the DollarVisor team →
5. How often do we update our numbers?
Quick Answer: On the schedule each source publishes: weekly for mortgage rates, monthly for deposit rates, quarterly for card APRs and complaint data, annually for insurance premiums and tax figures. Every page shows a visible “Last updated” date, and that date is real.
| Page type | Refresh cadence | Triggered by |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage & refinance rate pages | Weekly | Freddie Mac PMMS release |
| Savings, CD, money market, checking pages | Monthly | FDIC national rates release |
| Credit card APR figures | Quarterly | Federal Reserve G.19 release |
| Complaint scores inside rankings | Quarterly | CFPB complaint database pull |
| Insurance premium pages | Annually | NAIC and state DOI reports |
| Tax figures, FHA & conforming loan limits | Annually | IRS, HUD, and FHFA announcements |
DollarVisor editorial refresh schedule, August 2026. Cadence matches each source’s own publication rhythm.
A worked example of an annual trigger: HUD set the 2026 FHA loan limits at a floor of $541,287 and a ceiling of $1,249,125 for one-unit homes, per the official HUD announcement. When that release landed, every FHA figure on our loan pages was rewritten against it, and each page’s updated date changed the same week. That’s the pattern for every row in the table: source publishes, we refresh, the date proves it.
6. How do corrections work?
Quick Answer: Report an error through the contact page or contact@dollarvisor.com. We check it against the primary source within two business days, fix confirmed errors immediately, and note the correction on the page. Corrections jump every other task in the queue.
| Step | What happens | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Report logged | Reader report arrives by form or email and is logged with the page URL and claim | Same day |
| 2. Source check | The specialist reviewer for that vertical re-pulls the primary source and compares | Within 2 business days |
| 3. Fix & note | Confirmed errors are corrected, the updated date changes, and a dated correction note is added to the page | Immediately on confirmation |
| 4. Pattern review | The corrections log is reviewed for repeat causes; a repeated error type triggers a process fix | Monthly |
DollarVisor corrections workflow, 2026. The reviewer who checks a correction is never the writer who made the error: see the editorial policy.
Two notes on how we hold ourselves to this. First, the writer-vs-reviewer rule from our editorial policy applies to corrections too: whoever wrote the page doesn’t get to judge their own error report. Second, we treat reader reports as data: the monthly pattern review exists because a mistake that happens twice is a process problem, not a typo.
7. Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the DollarVisor methodology in one sentence?
Numbers from named government sources, broken down by state, scored on five published weights that no company can pay into, refreshed on each source’s schedule, and corrected in the open. The rest of this page is the detail behind that sentence, and the about page explains why we built it this way.
2. Can a company pay to improve its DollarVisor ranking?
No. There are no sponsored slots, no affiliate commissions ordering lists, and no sales channel for placement. The site earns from display advertising, which buys space on the page, never position in a ranking. The full revenue picture is on the advertising disclosure page.
3. What data sources does DollarVisor use?
State Departments of Insurance, the NAIC, the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, the FDIC, the Federal Reserve and FRED, Freddie Mac, the IRS, HUD, the FHFA, and TreasuryDirect. Section 2 lists what each source feeds, with direct links to the raw data.
4. How often are DollarVisor’s numbers updated?
It depends on the page: mortgage rates weekly, deposit rates monthly, card APRs and complaint scores quarterly, insurance premiums and tax figures annually, always keyed to when the source itself publishes. Every page carries a visible “Last updated” date that changes when the numbers do.
5. Why should I trust the DollarVisor methodology over bigger sites?
Don’t trust it: check it. Every number links to a public source, every ranking states its weights, and every page dates its last refresh. That’s the point of this methodology: you can audit any verdict on the site without taking our word for anything. Our team’s credentials are equally checkable on the authors page.
6. How do I report an error in a DollarVisor page?
Use the contact page or email contact@dollarvisor.com with the page URL and the number you believe is wrong. We verify against the primary source within two business days and publish a dated correction note if you’re right: corrections outrank every other job in the queue. Reader reports are how the DollarVisor methodology keeps improving.
DollarVisor provides information, not financial advice. Rates change often and vary by state and personal profile, always verify current figures with the provider before you buy. See our full disclaimer.
Spot a number that doesn’t match its source?
Tell us. Corrections jump the queue, get checked against the primary source within two business days, and ship with a visible note. That’s the methodology working.