Advertising & Solicitation Policy

Last reviewed: April 18, 2026.

Why This Policy Exists

30YearMortgageRates.com publishes informational mortgage rate data to a national audience. A meaningful fraction of the mortgage-ads industry operates on a pay-per-lead or pay-per-click compensation model that creates a structural conflict of interest: the publisher is financially incentivized to route consumers to whichever lender pays the most per contact. That conflict can, and does, produce editorial outcomes that do not serve consumers.

This site does not operate on that model. This policy documents the model we do operate on, why we chose it, and how we enforce it.

Our Commercial Model: Flat-Fee Advertising

What is flat-fee advertising?

Flat-fee advertising means a licensed lender pays a fixed monthly subscription to display its business on one or more city or state pages on this site. The subscription fee is the same regardless of:

  • how many consumers view the placement;
  • how many consumers click through to the lender;
  • whether any consumer becomes a borrower of the lender;
  • the dollar volume of any loans the lender originates from viewers;
  • or any other downstream performance metric.

The lender is buying the advertising display itself. The lender is not buying consumer referrals, consumer contact information, or loan-closure compensation.

Why this matters for RESPA Section 8

Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (12 U.S.C. §2607) prohibits payment of anything of value in exchange for the referral of settlement-service business. The statute contains a safe harbor at §8(c)(2): “bona fide compensation for goods or services actually furnished or for services actually performed” is permissible.

A flat-fee advertising placement — priced independently of any borrower outcome — is the archetypal §8(c)(2) arrangement. The lender is paying for a definable service (display advertising on a publisher’s website) at a price that is not tied to a referral event. This is the same legal footing that allows print publications and radio stations to accept lender advertising.

By contrast, per-lead, per-click, per-application, and per-close compensation models create direct links between payment and referral that invite Section 8 scrutiny. This site does not use any of those models.

Our Editorial Independence

How is commercial space separated from editorial content?

Every page on 30YearMortgageRates.com has a clear structural separation between editorial market data (rate figures, loan-limit tables, methodology notes, FAQ content) and commercial placements (lender slots). This separation operates at three levels:

  • Visual: every commercial placement carries a visible “Sponsored Partner” or “Advertisement” label in accordance with FTC 16 CFR §255 endorsement guidelines. No paid placement appears without such labeling. If you encounter one that does not, report it — that is a bug, not a business practice.
  • Structural: sponsored placements occupy a dedicated region of each city or state page. Editorial market data (the rate figure, loan-limit table, methodology notes) is rendered independently of whether any lender slot is filled and is not altered by which lenders occupy which slots.
  • Ranking: placements are not ranked by payment. Within a tier (Platinum, Gold, Silver), slots are rendered in the order purchased. The tiers themselves reflect placement-prominence pricing, not a competitive ranking of lender quality.

Does editorial content ever promote a sponsored lender?

No. Editorial content describes market data, methodology, and loan programs in jurisdiction-neutral terms. No editorial text on this site recommends, endorses, or characterizes any specific sponsored lender as superior to any other lender, sponsored or not. This is an absolute editorial rule.

How are conflicts of interest handled?

Any editor or contributor with a material financial relationship to a lender featured in our directory recuses from editorial decisions involving that lender. Conflicts are documented in our Editorial Policy. Where a conflict is identified in published content, a disclosure appears inline.

Why This Protects the Consumer

A consumer reading a 30YearMortgageRates.com city page sees:

  1. A rate figure sourced from Freddie Mac PMMS — not a lender-specific “teaser rate” engineered to make that lender look favorable.
  2. A loan-limit table sourced from FHFA — not a lender-specific product matrix engineered to make that lender’s products look favorable.
  3. A set of sponsored lender placements, each clearly labeled as sponsored, each linked to the lender’s own consumer-facing intake channels, each listing the lender’s NMLS number for independent verification at NMLS Consumer Access.

The consumer can evaluate the market data on its own merit and can evaluate each sponsored lender on its own credentials, without the content being silently skewed by which lender paid the most for prominence.

There is no scenario in which a sponsored lender’s payment influences what rate figure we display, what loan-limit we publish, what methodology we follow, or what corrections we make. That separation is the consumer protection.

Solicitation Policy

We do not solicit consumer contact information.

30YearMortgageRates.com does not collect, store, or transmit consumer loan inquiry information. We do not operate a lead capture form. We do not route consumer contact details to lenders. We do not operate a “find a lender in your area” intake pipeline.

When a consumer clicks a sponsored lender’s contact information, the consumer is taken directly to the lender’s own intake channels. 30YearMortgageRates.com has no record of, and no compensation tied to, that handoff.

We do not accept gifts or hospitality from lenders in exchange for editorial consideration.

Editorial staff decline invitations, gifts, travel, and hospitality from mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers, mortgage service providers, and any downstream settlement-service businesses. Where a routine business courtesy is unavoidable (e.g., a conference session hosted by a lender at an industry event), it is disclosed in the Editorial Policy.

We do not publish sponsored content that reads as editorial.

Native advertising — content written in an editorial voice that is actually paid for by an advertiser — is not a format we use. All sponsored content on this site is labeled as sponsored at a text size not smaller than the surrounding content and in a color not less contrasting than the surrounding content, per FTC 16 CFR §255.5 “clear and conspicuous” standard.

We do not accept paid removal of factual content.

If a lender objects to content on this site, the lender may submit a correction request through our Contact page. Factual corrections are reviewed on their merits and do not require payment. Non-factual objections (e.g., “we do not like how this page is worded”) are declined. Paid removal of accurate factual content would constitute deceptive practice under FTC Act §5 and UDAAP / Dodd-Frank §1031.

How to Verify These Claims

Consumers, journalists, and regulators are invited to verify these claims through the following independent paths:

  • Request our standard advertising contract. We will provide the template agreement used with sponsored lenders on written request to the address on our Contact page, subject to redaction of counterparty-specific commercial terms.
  • Inspect any sponsored lender’s record. Every sponsored lender’s NMLS # on this site links to the lender’s public record at NMLS Consumer Access.
  • Cross-check our rate figures. Every published rate figure cites the Freddie Mac PMMS release date it came from. The primary source is publicly verifiable at freddiemac.com/pmms.
  • Review our corrections log. Every material correction made to this site is documented in our Methodology page’s corrections section.

Complaints and Escalation

If you believe this site has violated RESPA, TILA, UDAAP, the FTC Act, the Fair Housing Act, ECOA, or any state advertising statute, you have the following options:

We take all complaints seriously and respond in writing to every complaint we receive.

Updates to This Policy

Material changes to this policy will be announced on the homepage for at least 30 days prior to effect. The last-reviewed date at the top of this page reflects our most recent full review.

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