How We Verify
A practical guide is only useful if the information underneath it holds up. This page describes where we look for facts, how we weigh them and what we do when we cannot confirm something.
The order in which we look
- Primary documents. Official product documentation, terms and conditions, regulator guidance, legislation and company filings come first, because they are the closest thing to the source.
- Hands-on checks. Where a guide describes settings, menus or steps on a device or service, we try to walk through them so the instructions match what readers will actually see.
- Established reference works. Standard accounting, technical or financial definitions are checked against widely used reference material rather than a single blog post.
- Secondary coverage. Reputable reporting can point us towards a source, but we follow it back to the original before relying on it.
Claims we treat with extra care
- Numbers. Figures go in only when they can be traced to a public source. Otherwise we describe the point in words.
- Legal status. Whether a service or practice is lawful often depends on the country and the details. We say so, and we avoid blanket statements.
- Performance claims. Marketing promises about speed, savings or returns are presented as claims made by the provider, not as facts.
- Anything involving money. Explanations of products such as funds, loans or insurance stay general and come with a reminder to read the actual agreement.
When we cannot confirm something
If a detail cannot be verified, we leave it out. If it is important to the topic but uncertain, we describe the uncertainty openly: what is known, what is disputed and what a reader should check for themselves. We would rather publish a cautious sentence than a confident one that might be wrong.
A second pair of eyes
Before publication, someone other than the writer reads the draft. They look for unsupported claims, missing risks, jargon that needs explaining and links that no longer work. Explainers such as How to Read a Balance Sheet go through the same check as a short news-style piece.
After publication
Verification does not stop once a page is live. Readers' reports, product changes and new rules can all prompt a recheck, which is described on our updates page. The principles behind this process are part of our editorial code.
Have a better source?
If you know of an official document or reference that would improve one of our articles, we would be glad to hear about it through the contact page.
Source notes
The rules of thumb we write by
A few standing decisions about what is allowed into an article and what stays out.
Primary documents outrank summaries, press releases and forum threads.
Marketing claims about speed, savings or returns are reported as claims, not as facts.
Money articles explain concepts and never suggest a specific product, fund or lender.
A company named in an article is described rather than endorsed, so readers still compare offers themselves.
Legal questions get an honest 'it depends where you are' rather than a blanket answer.
Checking a claim
What happens to a fact before it reaches the page
Each statement in an article passes through the same short sequence, which also makes it easy to recheck later.
Trace it
We find where the information originally comes from: a manual, a regulator's page, a contract or an official filing.
Date it
The publication or update date of that source is noted, because a correct fact from an old page can still mislead.
Try it
Steps involving settings or menus are walked through on a real device or account wherever that is practical.
Word it carefully
Uncertain points are written as uncertain, and anything that depends on location says so in the same sentence.
Hand it over
Someone other than the writer compares the draft line by line with the sources before it is published.