Fact-Checking Policy

Each statistic, statute, and regulatory reference appearing on Nimbus Loans undergoes independent verification against its original source by a separate team member prior to publication. We conduct periodic re-verification on a set timetable to maintain accuracy over time.

Below, trace a single claim from initial draft through final publication—illustrating precisely how our safeguards prevent misinformation from reaching you.

What is the origin of "approximately 12 million Americans"?

That phrase first appeared in a draft about who uses short-term credit. The author pulled it from a news article. That made it a Tier-3 or Tier-4 source—too weak for our standards.

The fact-checker stepped in. The job: upgrade to Tier-1 or Tier-2, or cut the claim. Our source hierarchy spells out what counts. Tier-1 means the original data collector—think Census income tables, the Federal Reserve's Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), or Pew Charitable Trusts peer-reviewed research. Tier-2 is close, like National Consumer Law Center analysis built directly on that data.

For this claim, the fact-checker found the original Pew study. The number held up. It moved into the article with a Tier-1 citation. If two Tier-1 sources had disagreed, we would have surfaced the disagreement so you could see the gap.

How does the three-stage process work in real terms?

Step 1 is claim extraction. The fact-checker reads the draft and lists every statement that needs proof. Not just numbers—also phrases like "unbanked households in Texas face higher fees." Each claim becomes a line item.

Step 2 is primary-source verification. The fact-checker goes source by source. Census for income, poverty, and unbanked/underbanked tables. Federal Reserve for SHED and bank-fee data. Pew for small-dollar lending research. If the author started with Tier-3 or Tier-4, the fact-checker hunts for Tier-1 or Tier-2.

Step 3 is reviewer cross-check. A second credentialed person—different from both author and fact-checker—spot-checks 20% of the verifications and signs off in writing. That signature means the work has been witnessed, not just completed.

Here is how those steps play out for a single sentence:

1. Author writes: "Bank fees hit unbanked households hardest."
2. Fact-checker extracts the claim and pulls Federal Reserve SHED data within 48 hours.
3. Fact-checker confirms the dataset tracks this exact question.
4. Reviewer picks this claim among their 20% sample, re-opens the SHED tables, and verifies the match.
5. Reviewer signs off. Sentence goes live.

What is the schedule for revisiting published pages?

It depends on the page type. State hubs move fast because legislatures change rules. Those get re-checked every 6 months and on any legislative session result. City pages shift slower—re-checked every 12 months and on any city-ordinance change. Learn library articles, including this one, re-check every 12 months.

But the calendar is not the only trigger. If a state passes a rate-cap bill tomorrow, the fact-checker queue bumps that hub up. We do not wait for the cycle.

What occurs if an error makes it through?

We fix it, publicly. Our corrections page logs every error a reader flags or we find ourselves. The log includes what was wrong, what replaced it, and when the change happened. No silent edits.

We also use corrections to tighten the process. A pattern of missed claims means we expand what Step 1 extracts. A timing gap means we tighten the cycle for that page type.

Who performs verification and editorial review?

They are not the author. That separation is the point. The person who wrote the draft wants the claim to hold up; the fact-checker has no stake in the draft, only in the standard. The reviewer is a third credentialed person with authority to block publication.

No single person controls the full pipeline. The author proposes. The fact-checker verifies. The reviewer samples and signs. Only then does the page go live.

Common questions