No payment for favorable coverage.
Sunlight Finance may earn a referral fee when a reader applies for a loan through one of the lenders we link to. That relationship is disclosed in the banner at the top of every page and on the Disclosure page.
Referral relationships do not influence which lenders we cover, where they rank in comparison tables, or what rating they receive. Lenders cannot pay to appear, pay to rise in a ranking, or pay to remove negative coverage.
If a lender we cover offers us a referral relationship, we disclose it. If they don’t, we cover them anyway — and disclose that absence too.
Primary sources or it didn’t happen.
Every number, rate, fee, and product detail comes from a primary source: lender disclosure forms, NMLS Consumer Access, SEC filings, IRS publications, or direct press releases. Secondary sources (news articles, blog posts) are used for context but never as the sole citation for a number.
See the methodology page for our exact sourcing rules and lifetime-cost math.
How we use AI tools — openly.
We use AI tools (large language models) to assist with drafting, formatting, and consistency-checking. We do not use AI to invent quotes, fabricate sources, simulate human reviewers, or generate personas. Every published piece is reviewed by a human before it goes live.
Ratings, recommendations, and editorial judgments are made by humans, not by models. AI is a tool, not the author.
We disclose this here, on the methodology page, and in the editorial-independence notice in the footer of every page. We believe this is the honest baseline for 2026 financial publishing.
How we score lenders, 1–5.
Editorial ratings reflect a weighted score across five dimensions:
- Cost transparency (25%) — how clearly the lender discloses APR ranges, dealer fees, and total cost.
- Rate competitiveness (25%) — actual APR vs. peer median for the same credit tier.
- Term flexibility (15%) — range of terms offered and re-amortization behavior.
- Customer-service track record (20%) — based on BBB, CFPB complaint database, and Trustpilot patterns.
- Product breadth (15%) — solar loan + lease + home improvement coverage.
Ratings are not aggregated from user reviews. We do not display star ratings as social proof — only as our editorial assessment, clearly labeled as such.
When we’re wrong, we say so.
Spotted an error? Email [email protected]. We aim to verify and publish a correction within 5 business days, with a dated correction note on the affected page that remains visible indefinitely.
Material corrections (those that change a rating, ranking, or recommendation) trigger a re-rating and a banner notice on the page.
No tracking until you opt in.
Analytics (Google Analytics 4, Microsoft Clarity) load only after explicit consent via the privacy banner. If you reject analytics, no tracking scripts load — your visit leaves no analytics record at all.
See the Privacy policy for full details on what we store, for how long, and how to delete it.