The person behind the research
Who is Alex Hale?
Our standard for accuracy
Every statistic, rate, and fee published on US Finance Fix is sourced directly from the issuer’s official documentation or regulatory disclosures. We link to primary sources wherever possible and actively encourage readers to fact-check any figure we publish. If you spot an error, let us know — we correct mistakes within 24 hours.
How we work
Our editorial process, step by step
Every article on US Finance Fix follows a documented research process. We don’t start writing until each stage below is complete.
We read the Schumer Box first
Every credit card review begins with the legal disclosure table issuers are required to provide. We extract the real APR range, penalty rates, foreign transaction fees, and cash advance terms before writing a single word of the review.
We test products ourselves
Where possible, we apply for and use the products we review — tracking real rewards accumulation, verifying that sign-up bonuses post as described, and testing customer service response times firsthand, not hypothetically.
We model the real math
We build spending models using BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey data to calculate actual expected annual rewards — not theoretical maximums. If a card claims “up to 6%,” we show what a real US household earns after caps and exclusions.
We update every month
Credit card offers, APRs, and sign-up bonuses change constantly. We run a monthly audit of every published review, and each article displays its last-verified date so you know exactly how fresh the data is.
Editorial independence
What “independent” actually means here
The word “independent” is overused in financial media. Here’s what it concretely means at US Finance Fix:
How we make money
US Finance Fix earns revenue through affiliate partnerships — when you click a link and are approved for a product, we may receive a commission from the issuer at no cost to you. This keeps the site free for readers. Affiliate relationships never influence which products we recommend or how we score them. Read our full Affiliate Disclosure for complete details.
Our scoring methodology
How we evaluate financial products
Every product category has a dedicated scoring rubric. For credit cards, our evaluation covers six weighted dimensions:
| Dimension | What we measure |
|---|---|
| Rewards value | Modeled annual return based on average US household spend across all bonus categories and flat-rate tiers — not best-case scenarios |
| Fee transparency | Annual fee, foreign transaction fee, balance transfer fee, and cash advance fee — and whether the math justifies each one |
| Approval accessibility | Realistic minimum credit score, income requirements, and approval rate data where publicly available |
| Long-term value | Whether the card remains valuable after Year 1 when intro bonuses expire — a metric most review sites ignore entirely |
| Fine-print risk | Penalty APR triggers, reward expiry clauses, and category exclusions that can silently reduce value over time |
| Consumer protection | Purchase protection, extended warranty, fraud liability limits, and dispute resolution quality |
Questions or corrections?
Found a changed rate, an error, or a product we missed?
We take accuracy seriously and respond within 48 hours.