Every piece of content the RateCity editorial team creates should not be seen as "advice", but rather "information".
RateCity's desire to help people make sense of dollars and cents doesn't necessarily mean its content should be interpreted as advice, as such. Advice is personal, and each and every person's financial situation is going to be very different. While RateCity's content remains objectively and editorially independent, it doesn't mean it will constitute good advice for all situations. As with all financial activities, it is advised that you talk to a financial advisor, financial planner, or financial consultant to see what works best for you.&nbsp;

RateCity and suggestions of "advice"

Although RateCity makes money from commission on products and listings, and on sponsorship agreements, RateCity's content division works with editorial independence from the rest of the business, which helps ensure that what it writes is free from commercial distraction. This includes content types including (but not limited to) the following:&nbsp;
<h3>News &amp; current affairs content</h3>
RateCity regularly publishes news stories and articles, typically based around the happenings of the financial industry in Australia. Its team goes to great lengths to check each story, ensuring compliance between members of the staff, and fact checking any elements of the story which may be flagged as questionable.&nbsp;
In the event that reporting has been found to be inaccurate, the team will go back and take note of any changes, rectifying and amending where needed, and storing subsequent changes in a compliance register for accountability.&nbsp;However sponsors and advertisers do not decide on any news and current affairs content being published at RateCity, and no correspondence will be entered into.
<h3>Key explainers</h3>
Across each category and vertical RateCity represents, the team explore the depths of what answers the subject to help you understand it better. From critical questions to in-depth information, RateCity's explainer pages can be found across key terms on its site.
For every page in question, the editorial team ensures content is told from a balanced point of view without advice, and matches the company requirement of compliance. If information is innaccurate, much like it does in news and articles, a log is written to the compliance register, and information is updated and amended accordingly.&nbsp;
However, neither sponsors nor advertisers assist with any of the content written for key explainers, and thus these sections do not see commercial interference in any sense.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<h3>Guides</h3>
Long-form content can be found in RateCity explainers, but they can also be found in RateCity guides, with at least one found in nearly every category RateCity works across.&nbsp;Every guide seeks to understand the category as a whole and provide a general form of guidance for readers to understand the area, providing a starting form of research.
Like other areas the editorial team works in, however, there is no interference or distraction from sales when guides are written, edited, or published.&nbsp;
<h3>Sponsored content</h3>
The RateCity editorial team works closely with the sales and marketing teams at RateCity, but is by no means beholden to what these respective teams may wish or prefer for the content. As such, companies choosing to sponsor material for the RateCity website will not choose the direction for writers, nor will they dictate the content.&nbsp;
Sponsored content can include written material, audio, and video, and sponsored content can be paid for by clients and sponsors. The subject matter can be suggested by the sponsor, however payment does not dictate directive, nor does it necessitate it. The editorial team retains full control over content direction within sponsored content, and no content goes online at the behest of a sponsor or advertiser.&nbsp;

How the team maintains independence in what it writes

RateCity's editorial independence

For over a decade, RateCity has prided itself on providing Australians with a resource not just for finding and comparing rates, but helping Australians make sense of the complexities of the personal finance world. From home loans to personal and car loans, and covering credit cards, banking, term deposits, and superannuation, RateCity aims to make finance clearer by providing the answers people need on some of life's most complicated and important personal financial issues.
One of Australia's leading financial comparison websites, RateCity's expert team of writers come from diverse backgrounds, catered across numerous categories, all working to one unified mission: an audience that is able to better take responsibility for their personal finances than beforehand.&nbsp;

Achieving these goals requires a team that is regularly educated on the current happenings in the personal financial world, ensuring information remains on target, balanced, and relevant. As such, we hold these principles tightly across what we write:

Finally, it's fundamentally critical to RateCity's content and editorial team that all works -- whether written, audio, or video-based -- arrive in a way where they can be read from a balanced viewpoint without prejudice.&nbsp;
While RateCity makes money from paid links (leads) to financial institutions and other select third-party providers, as well as from sponsorshop agreements, content from the editorial team is always written without prejudice to lenders and vendors, and remains balanced at all times. The editorial team maintains strict control over what is written on the website, and is free from any commercial interference, perceived or otherwise.&nbsp;

Without prejudice

Any and all information shown on RateCity is written to be informative in a general nature, and may be used by anyone to understand financial principles.&nbsp;

Informative (1)

Informative

While all content at RateCity must be general in nature and should not be construed as advice in any sense of the word, the editorial team makes its content practical at all times so that it is usable, too.&nbsp;

Practical (1)

Practical

Accuracy is one of the most important aspects of RateCity's editorial principles, and is fundamentally critical these days more than ever. As financial product information changes rapidly, RateCity's editorial team endeavours to provide timestamp-verified data in copy to help validate the accuracy of what's being written about. <a href="https://www.ratecity.com.au/fact-check">Find out more about how our data checking process works.</a>

Accurate (1)

Accurate

Anything you learn at RateCity should also be relatable, and this is one of the company's core tenets. Product information, guides, articles, and any information that has the ability to help you understand finances needs to be written in a way where the reader is at the heart. RateCity's team of writers is therefore always thinking about you, the reader, first and foremost.&nbsp;

Relatable (1)

Relatable

Financial information can be complex at the best of times, but RateCity's editorial team aims to provide a helpful approach to personal finances, and is always breaking down information to make dollars and cents make more sense overall.&nbsp;

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RateCity Editorial Policy & Guidelines