Advertising Disclosure

MerchantGuidance is a free resource designed to help business owners understand and compare funding options. To keep our tools, guides, and lender comparisons available at no cost to you, we rely in part on compensation from advertising and referral partnerships. This page explains how that works and what it means for the information you see on our site.

How MerchantGuidance Earns Compensation

MerchantGuidance may receive compensation from lenders, brokers, and other business funding providers when a visitor clicks on a link, submits an inquiry, or completes an application through our website. This compensation may come in the form of referral fees, advertising payments, or other arrangements with the companies featured on our site. These relationships allow us to provide our comparison tools, educational content, and lender directories to visitors without charging a subscription or access fee.

Our Independence in Ranking and Placement

While MerchantGuidance does maintain business relationships with many of the lenders and partners listed on our site, compensation does not determine how those lenders are ranked, ordered, or displayed on our pages. Placement decisions are based on factors we consider relevant to helping business owners find suitable funding, such as product type, general eligibility criteria, and the completeness of information a lender provides. A lender paying us does not receive preferential positioning purely because of that payment.

Sponsored Content and Featured Listings

From time to time, MerchantGuidance may publish sponsored content or clearly labeled featured listings on behalf of a partner. When this occurs, we make reasonable efforts to identify such content so visitors can distinguish between our independent editorial material and paid placements. Sponsored content still reflects our general standards for accuracy, and we do not publish information we believe to be misleading simply because it originates from a paying partner.

Third Party Lender Relationships

MerchantGuidance is not a lender and does not make credit decisions. We connect business owners with third party lenders and funding providers who make their own independent decisions about rates, terms, and approval. Our role is to present information that helps you compare available options, but the specific terms offered to you will always come directly from the lender you choose to work with, not from MerchantGuidance. Any agreement you enter into is strictly between you and the lender, subject to that lender’s own terms and conditions.

How Compensation Arrangements Vary

The way MerchantGuidance is compensated can vary from partner to partner. In some cases we may be paid a flat referral fee when a visitor submits an inquiry, while in other cases compensation may depend on whether a lead results in an approved application or funded deal. Regardless of the specific arrangement with any individual partner, the same principle applies across our entire site: how or whether we are paid does not influence the order or prominence given to a lender on MerchantGuidance.

Your Responsibility When Comparing Offers

Because funding products and lender criteria change frequently, we encourage every visitor to verify current rates, terms, and eligibility requirements directly with any lender before making a decision. MerchantGuidance strives to keep our content accurate and current, but we cannot guarantee that every detail reflects a lender’s most recent offering at the exact moment you visit our site. Comparing multiple offers directly with lenders remains the best way to secure funding that fits your business.

Why We Feature Certain Lenders

MerchantGuidance works with a range of lenders and funding providers to give visitors a broad view of what is available in the market. Lenders may be featured because they offer products relevant to a specific search, because they serve a particular industry or funding amount, or because they have a working relationship with our platform. Being featured is never a substitute for a lender’s own approval process, and inclusion on our site does not imply an endorsement of any specific rate or term.

How This Model Benefits You

Advertising supported models like ours allow business owners to access comparison tools, calculators, and educational guides without paying a fee to use MerchantGuidance. Rather than charging visitors directly, we are compensated by the lenders and partners who benefit from being connected with business owners actively seeking funding. This arrangement is common across comparison websites and allows us to keep our core resources free and available to anyone researching business funding options.

Editorial Standards

Our content team works to produce guides, calculators, and comparisons that are useful regardless of which lenders happen to be featured. We aim to explain funding concepts clearly, highlight considerations business owners should weigh, and avoid favoring any single partner in our educational material. Advertising relationships support our ability to produce this content, but they do not dictate its substance, and our writers are expected to maintain accuracy and balance across every guide we publish.

Updates to This Disclosure

We may revise this Advertising Disclosure periodically to reflect changes in our partnerships or business practices. Any updates will be reflected on this page with a new effective date, and we encourage visitors to check back occasionally to stay informed about how MerchantGuidance is compensated.