Advertise
Ad specs
Four kinds of ad and one set of rules. What each can say, what the system adds, and what no ad can ever hold.
The four ads
One renderer makes all four, and all four pass the same checks
| Spec | A. Results ad | B. List page ad | C. Report ad | D. Email line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Loan Comps and search results, for a search that fits your credit box. Never on a search for a lender by name. | List pages: a kind of loan in a state, and the state page. | The quarterly report. | The digest and the report announcement email. |
| How many on a page | One block | One block | Two, at the start and at the end, for the same advertiser | One line, never the first item |
| Headline | 60 characters | 60 characters | 80 characters | None |
| Body | 140 characters | 140 characters | 280 characters | 140 characters, with the "Ad:" prefix counted |
| Logo | Optional. Your own, PNG or WebP, 64 KB at most, 120 by 40. A person looks at it first. | Same | Same | None |
| Link text | One of: See the lender's commercial lending page; Call the lender; Email the lender | Same | Same | The lender's name |
| Who is shown | Equal rotation by the hour among the advertisers of the market | Equal rotation by the hour, page by page | One advertiser a report | One advertiser a send |
| Offered | With a market sponsorship | With a market sponsorship | Not offered. | Not offered. |
A market is 3 places. Ads run for at least 30 days. Space for the block is reserved by the server, so the page does not move when it appears. Only A and B will be offered. Neither is on sale yet.
Lines the system adds
You cannot remove them, and they are not counted in your limits
| Line | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ad, then "Ad. Paid for by [Lender]. Paid placements are not part of our search results." | Every ad | A paid placement says so and names who paid, in plain text, before the name, at body size, in a bordered box. The label is never removed for any price. |
| Equal Housing Lender | Multifamily, 1-4 unit rental, business purpose, Construction, Residential development, and any other ad that names homes, apartments or housing | A lender that advertises a loan on a dwelling must show it. We add the words whatever the charter. The logotype is not shown: the words stand alone until counsel has cleared the artwork. |
| Membership required. | A credit union | A credit union lends to its members. |
| SBA does not require you to use an agent or broker for a loan application. SBA has not reviewed or endorsed this site. | SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 ads | A lender may say it makes SBA loans. It may not suggest that SBA favors it, and no SBA logo is allowed. |
| A license line, up to 120 characters, written by you | A non-bank, in a state where counsel has listed one | Some states want a license number in a lender's advertising. Counsel keeps the list. |
| From [Lender]. Written by [Lender], not by The Lender Report. Last updated [date]. Commercial-purpose loans only. Legitimate lenders here will not ask you to pay through this site. | Every ad | Your words are yours. We read them and clear them, and we do not rewrite them. The line also says this is commercial lending only, and that no lender here will ask you to pay through this site. |
Every ad is about a named kind of commercial loan from a credit box a person at your institution confirmed. We offer no brand-only ads and no deposit ads. We never add the FDIC or NCUA official statement, symbol or sign, and the builder refuses wording that says or suggests insurance by either. This describes what the product does. The advertiser owns the legal duty for its ad, and nothing here is legal advice. The rules it follows.
Three samples
Stand-ins. Every number is a fill-in
AdExample Lender
Ad. Paid for by Example Lender. Paid placements are not part of our search results.
Multifamily loans in Texas
Made [number] multifamily loans in [year] (HMDA, as of [date]).
See Example Lender's commercial lending page
Equal Housing Lender. From Example Lender. Written by Example Lender, not by The Lender Report. Last updated [date]. Commercial-purpose loans only. Legitimate lenders here will not ask you to pay through this site.
AdExample Lender
Ad. Paid for by Example Lender. Paid placements are not part of our search results.
Member business loans in Ohio
Reported [amount] of member business loans originated in [period] (NCUA 5300, as of [date]).
Call Example Lender
Membership required. From Example Lender. Written by Example Lender, not by The Lender Report. Last updated [date]. Commercial-purpose loans only. Legitimate lenders here will not ask you to pay through this site.
AdExample Lender
Ad. Paid for by Example Lender. Paid placements are not part of our search results.
SBA 7(a) loans in Florida
Recorded [number] SBA 7(a) loans in the 36 months to [date] (SBA).
See Example Lender's commercial lending page
SBA does not require you to use an agent or broker for a loan application. SBA has not reviewed or endorsed this site. [Your license line, up to 120 characters.] From Example Lender. Written by Example Lender, not by The Lender Report. Last updated [date]. Commercial-purpose loans only. Legitimate lenders here will not ask you to pay through this site.
Every number in a real ad is one of two things: a sentence we write from the public record and show with its source and date, or a rate already published on your own page, with its loan type and date. Free text that holds a digit is refused.
What no ad can hold
- Any picture except your own logo, as a PNG or WebP of 64 KB or less that a person has looked at
- Animation, video or sound
- Scripts, pixels or anything from another company
- Forms of any kind
- Phone numbers that change, coupons or offer language
- A link anywhere but your own verified domain, or to a file
Where an ad runs
- Loan Comps and search results, for searches that fit your credit box. Not on a search for a lender by name.
- The hub page of your market: the page for one kind of loan in one state, where the state has one.
- The state page, for a state ad.
Where an ad never runs
- Lender pages, and the pages for one lender and one kind of loan
- Comparisons
- Any table of recorded loans
- Rankings
- The page for a business owner a bank just turned down
- For brokers, for borrowers and for lenders
- Report a problem, how we make money, methodology, sources, terms, privacy, accessibility and license
- Claim, sign in, account, dashboard and saved lists
- The API, the MCP server, llms.txt, feeds and sitemaps, unless a caller asks for ads by name
- Any page that has fewer than three results in its list
How the one ad on a page is chosen
In this order
- The page is one an ad may run on, and its market is not paused.
- The advertiser holds the market on an active order, and its ad is cleared and inside its dates.
- The advertiser is eligible today: its page is claimed and checked, it is not suspended, its credit box was confirmed in the last 90 days and fits the search, and its public record shows it makes or holds that kind of loan.
- A lender never appears twice on a page. On a results page, an advertiser already in the list sits out. On a hub page, an advertiser among the first 25 rows of the list sits out.
- Of the advertisers left, one is shown, and they take turns by the hour in a fixed order. There is no auction, no weighting and no optimizing on clicks.
- If no advertiser is eligible, there is no block. A page with fewer than three results in its list shows no ad.
The order of results is worked out from public filings and the deal you describe. The code that sets the order cannot read who pays, and the build fails if that ever changes. Ads are chosen after the results are ordered and cannot move one.
What is counted
Totals, never people
- Views. Counted per ad, per day, per kind of loan and state, by the visitor's own browser when it runs the page, so a cached crawl does not count. You see the same totals we do.
- Clicks out. Not counted yet. Counting them waits on legal review, and until then the delivery report says "not counted". No fee ever depends on a click.
- People. No cookie, no identifier, no address and no list of who looked. Nothing here can be exported as a list of people, because no such list exists.
- Taking an ad down. Pages that carry an ad are kept for at most 5 minutes, so a pause or a takedown shows on the page within 5 minutes.
Words the builder refuses
The same lists guard everything a lender writes here
The builder will not save an ad that holds any of these. They are listed so your reviewer can read them. They are the words we never use about ourselves, words that read as a paid mark of quality, claims no one can keep, and wording about deposits, insurance and consumer credit.
Words we never use about our own service (legal M5). An ad is not a request for a loan, so none of them belong in one.
match, matched, find you a lender, get quotes, apply, application, pre-qualified, pre-approved, approved, best for you, our lenders, our network, partner lenders, we place, we arrange, we shop your loan
Words that read as a paid mark of quality (legal P4). An ad is labeled Ad, and nothing else.
featured, top, preferred, recommended, partner, verified lender, promoted, spotlight, trusted, sponsored (other than Sponsored ad)
Claims about a loan that cannot be kept (legal C8).
best, #1, lowest, guaranteed, no credit check, approval in minutes, approved in minutes, instant approval, government-backed, testimonials. Where it is true and specific, SBA-guaranteed is allowed.
Verdicts about a named bank (legal S3).
failing, distressed, troubled, at risk, unsafe, insolvent, weak, shaky, bank run, problem bank, red flag, warning, watch list, danger, avoid, worst
Money moved outside a bank, and fees asked for up front (legal C5).
up-front fee, advance fee, application fee, processing fee, wire instructions, gift card, Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, bitcoin, crypto
Deposits and insurance have no place in a lending ad (legal N3, N7).
deposit rate, certificate of deposit, savings account, checking account, money market account, APY, and any wording that says or suggests insurance by the FDIC or NCUA
Consumer credit, and rates that are not an annual rate or APR (legal M7, C7).
auto loan, car loan, boat loan, personal loan, student loan, payday loan, credit card, home equity, HELOC, first-time homebuyer, owner-occupied home, factor rate
The checks the builder runs
When you submit an ad
Refused, with the reason
- Banned wording: the lists on the Ad specs page
- Wording about deposits, insurance or consumer credit, free offers, promised results, government backing, and superlatives
- Protected-basis wording, and sensitive data of any kind
- A number that is not one of the facts we write for you or a rate already published on your page
- A link that is not HTTPS on your verified domain, a shortened link, a redirect off your domain, or a download
- A kind of loan or a state outside your published credit box, or a kind of loan your public record does not show
- A state that is paused
- A rate that is not an annual rate or APR, with its loan type and date, or is older than 30 days
- The SBA name used anywhere but the allowed phrases, or an SBA logo
- A non-bank in a state that requires a license line, with none
- More characters than the limits, or a logo that is too large
Noted for your reviewer
- Words that could suggest a preference, such as ideal for or families like
- A landing page with a form that asks for personal numbers
- The same lender already on the page, which is also enforced when the page is served
A person at your institution decides on a note. A person here sees it too. Neither of us can edit the other's words.