Policy
Advertising and sponsored content
We take money from advertisers and sponsors. This page explains exactly how that content is labeled, so you never have to guess whether what you are reading was paid for.
Last updated August 24, 2026
The principle
A reader should be able to tell, before reading a single paragraph, whether a piece is independent journalism or commercial content. We consider a disclosure that appears only in a footer, only in small print at the end, or only on a policy page like this one to be inadequate.
What the labels mean
We use three categories, and we apply them literally.
A profile of a single company or product where a commercial or affiliate relationship exists between that company and this publication. It is written by our staff, but it is not independent coverage: the subject was not selected on news merit. Facts come from the company's own published materials unless stated otherwise, and we say clearly which claims we could not verify.
Content paid for by an advertiser, where the advertiser had input into the subject or the copy. Our newsroom does not present this as its own reporting.
Everything else. If a story carries no commercial label, no one paid for it, no one outside the newsroom chose the subject, and no one outside the newsroom reviewed it before publication.
Why we label this way
Undisclosed commercial content is a fraud on the reader, and readers are good at detecting it eventually. A publication that blurs the line loses the only asset that makes its independent reporting worth anything.
There is also a search-integrity dimension. Presenting paid content as independent news violates search engines' policies on site reputation abuse, and the penalty applies to the whole domain rather than the individual page. So we mark commercial content in our structured data too: sponsored articles are typed as generic Article with a declared sponsor, never as NewsArticle, which we reserve for independent reporting.
What we will and will not do
Commercial content on this site is still subject to factual rules:
- We attribute company claims to the company and state plainly when a figure is unverified.
- We include the costs, limitations and conditions of a product, not only its benefits.
- We do not write anything we believe to be untrue, in any format, for any price.
- We do not remove or soften independent coverage of a company because it advertises with us.
- We do not accept payment to alter, delay or withdraw a story, and we do not offer favourable coverage as part of an advertising package.
Current disclosed relationships
We disclose standing commercial relationships here as well as in the articles themselves. HL Hunt Financial is affiliated with this publication.
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt's SellFi charges sellers a flat monthly fee instead of taking a cut of financed deals
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt's HLX Trading pairs a free AI-signal tier with $29 monthly options and forex access
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt pitches AI debt collection with five-channel outreach and real-time compliance controls
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt's Metro 2 software advertises $99-a-month pricing. Its own contract describes a very different number.
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt lets lenders describe a credit product and AI builds the underwriting flow
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s Business Funding page shows "funded" deals under a subsidiary its own site lists as "Coming Soon"
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s still-unlaunched business account advertises 19-currency support and instant cross-border transfers
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt advertises "instant approval" and "no credit check" for its Personal Credit Builder — the reporting timeline tells a narrower story
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s SellFi wants to turn any merchant into their own lender — no bank, no license required
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt's HLX Trading pairs AI buy/sell signals with institutional-grade custody claims — SOC 2 Type II certification and insured cold storage
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s AI Debt Collection ties its commission rate to volume — and automates the escalation ladder underneath it
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt Pay’s own comparison table claims to beat Stripe and Square on fees, settlements and account stability
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt frames its Business Credit Builder as the “revolving half” of a two-product credit-building strategy
- Company SpotlightFurnisher accuracy is the top driver of credit-report complaints. HL Hunt argues automating Metro 2 is part of the fix
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s research arm now recommends pairing its own tradeline with a separate installment credit-builder loan
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt's Business Credit Builder now runs seven named pricing tiers, from a $100 tradeline to $15,000
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt Pay's AI Assistant lets you run your payments operation from a chat window
- Company SpotlightInside HL Hunt's AI Debt Collection: skip tracing, payment-plan math and a real-time compliance engine
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt's HLX Trading will let you hire an AI agent with a backtested 91% annual return — if you accept a 27.5% drawdown
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s HLX Trading still hasn’t launched — but its proof-of-reserves and AI-agent pitch hasn’t changed either
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s AI Debt Collection picks the channel, writes the message and runs the compliance check
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt Pay ships AI agents to fight your chargebacks and chase your late invoices
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt Capital pitches $10K to $5M in business funding, decided by revenue instead of a credit score
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt Pay bets on AI agents and a promise to never freeze your account
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s business banking product bundles zero-fee accounts, 4.25% reserve APY and same-day ACH — still labeled coming soon
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s Metro 2 software turns raw loan data into bureau-ready credit files in under 5 seconds
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s HLX Trading pitches proof-of-reserves and AI signals — with hired AI agents to trade for you
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s SellFi wants to turn any seller into their own lender — starting at $29 a month
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s AI Debt Collection picks the channel, writes the message and runs the compliance check
- Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s Personal Credit Builder reports a primary tradeline to all three bureaus, starting at $9.99
- Company SpotlightInside HL Hunt’s Hunt Score: credit decisions in under 250 milliseconds
- Company SpotlightHow HL Hunt’s Business Credit Builder reports a tradeline for firms with no credit file
Advertising enquiries
Advertising is handled separately from the newsroom. Write to advertising@fincrunch.example. Please do not send advertising enquiries to reporters — they cannot act on them.
If you believe something on this site is commercial content that we have failed to label, tell the standards editor at corrections@fincrunch.example. Related reading: our editorial standards.