LendEDU’s Editorial Ratings are designed to help consumers better understand how certain companies compare to others in their respective industries.
We do not publish favorable or unfavorable reviews or ratings at the direction of any company. Instead, our full-time editorial staff is tasked with rating companies and providing accurate and fact-based analyses. These ratings are then used by our editorial staff and contractors for creating content and determining which companies are the best for different financial situations.
Here is a description of our numerical ratings:
Below you will find more information about how we rate products, broken out by category. Click a dropdown to see the rating methodology for that product.
Ratings Last Updated: ​4/21/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the auto insurance industry since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each company based on the following:
JD Power Score, A.M. Best Rating, Moody’s Rating, S&P Rating, BBB Rating, Trustpilot Score,
state availability, and discounts.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Auto Insurance Companies
Ratings Last Updated: ​4/15/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the auto loan industry since 2018. Each auto loan company was placed in one of four categories: Traditional Bank, Online Lender, Car Dealership, or Credit Union.
In each category, we considered data such as APRs, loan terms, BBB Rating, minimum and maximum borrowing limits, state availability, fees, and discounts.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Auto Loans
Ratings Last Updated: ​4/15/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the auto loan refinance industry since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each company based on the following:
APRs, loan terms, min/max borrowing limits, max car age, max miles on car, BBB Rating, and state
availability.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Auto Loan Refinance Companies
Ratings Last Updated: ​11/15/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched banks without chexsytems since 2019. They are based on the following criteria:
Monthly fees, overdraft fees, minimum deposit, minimum balance, ATM fees, non-bank ATM fees, foreign transaction fees, card replacement fees, and paper statement fees.
>> See Our Top Choices: Banks That Don’t Use Chexsystems
Ratings Last Updated: ​11/22/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched credit builder loans since 2019. They are based on the following criteria:
BBB Rating, loan amounts, term lengths, minimum APR, discounts, and fees.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Credit Builder Loans
Ratings Last Updated: ​9/22/2020
LendEDU has reviewed and researched credit cards since 2018. To come up with our picks for the best credit cards, our team split out all of our partner cards into their respective category (ex. rewards, travel, credit building, etc.) and compared several data points that were considered.
These data points included introductory APRs, welcome offers, rewards rates, fees, other benefits, and more. The weight assigned to each data point varied based on which credit card category we were reviewing.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Credit Cards
Ratings Last Updated: ​11/15/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched credit unions without chexsytems since 2019. They are based on the following criteria:
Monthly fees, overdraft fees, minimum deposit, minimum balance, ATM fees, non-bank ATM fees, foreign transaction fees, card replacement fees, paper statement fees, and wire transfer fees.
>> See Our Top Choices: Credit Unions That Don’t Use Chexsystems
Ratings Last Updated: ​4/9/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched dental discount plans since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each dental discount plan on state availability, average annual cost, average annual savings, BBB rating, and the locations available.
Ratings Last Updated: ​4/9/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the dental insurance industry since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each dental insurance company based on the following:
Dentist network, annual maximum benefit, state availability, BBB Rating, A.M. Best Rating, waiting periods, and JD Power Score.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Dental Insurance
Ratings Last Updated: ​5/20/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched health insurance since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each company based
on the following:
A.M. Best Rating, S&P Rating, BBB Rating, state availability, number
of plans, max individual out-of-pocket cost, short-term insurance availability, and mobile app
availability.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Health Insurance Companies
Ratings Last Updated: ​4/29/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the home equity line of credit industry since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each company based on the following:
APRs, loan amounts, maximum loan-to-value ratio, state availability, fees, funding time, BBB Rating, JD Power Score.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Home Equity Lines of Credit
Ratings Last Updated: 4/29/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the home equity loan industry since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each company based on the following:
APRs, loan amounts, repayment terms, fees, BBB Rating, maximum loan-to-value ratio, and state availability.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Home Equity Loans
Ratings Last Updated: ​2/2/2022
LendEDU has reviewed and researched home equity sale agreements since 2018. In our most recent ratings, LendEDU analyzed each company based on the following:
- Application process
- Benefits
- Buyout cost
- Buyout flexibility
- Customer reviews
- Eligibility
- Fees
- Investment amount
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Home Equity Sharing Agreement Companies
Ratings Last Updated: ​6/14/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched home sale-leaseback companies since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each company based on the following:
BBB Rating, Trustpilot Score, state availability, fund time, customer support, upfront cash value, and rent fees.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Home Sale Leaseback Companies
Ratings Last Updated: ​5/27/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched home warranty companies since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each company based on the following:
BBB Rating, Trustpilot Score, service fees, state availability, systems covered, applications covered, systems price limit, and appliance price limit.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Home Warranty Companies
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the homeowners insurance industry since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each homeowners insurance company based on their Trustpilot rating, Better Business Bureau rating, financial strength (including A.M Best, Moody’s, and S&P), state availability, household discounts, policy discounts, basic coverage, and JD Power score. Each piece of criteria was cross-checked and audited by multiple members of the LendEDU team.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Homeowners Insurance
Ratings Last Updated: ​7/26/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched income-share agreements since 2019. Ratings are based on the
following criteria:
BBB Rating, Trustpilot Rating, minimum income, income percentage taken,
funding amount, fund time, and loan terms.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Income-Share Agreements
Ratings Last Updated: ​6/18/2020
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the life insurance industry since 2018. Only our partners are included in our Editorial Ratings.
LendEDU analyzed each company based on the following:
A.M. Best Rating, BBB Rating, Trustpilot Score, NAIC Complaint Index, coverage amounts, terms offered, and more.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Life Insurance
LendEDU has reviewed and researched mortgages since 2019. Each mortgage company was rated on the following mortgage products, if applicable: overall mortgage, mortgage refinance, cash out mortgage, fixed mortgage, ARM mortgage, FHA mortgage, VA mortgage, and jumbo mortgage.
Data points included varied by category but generally included BBB Rating, Trustpilot Score, fees, state availability, licenses and registrations, number of regulatory actions, number of originators, customer support, Zillow Rating, APRs, term length availability, online accessibility, and other benefits.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Mortgage Lenders
Ratings Last Updated: ​9/16/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched motorcycle loans since 2018. We classified each provider in the following categories: “Online Motorcycle Loan,” “Traditional Bank Motorcycle Loan,” “Credit Union Motorcycle Loan,” and “Manufacturer & Dealership Motorcycle Loan.” We analyzed each provider using the criteria below.
BBB Rating, loan amounts, term lengths, APRs, deposit time, origination fees, and availability of customer support.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Motorcycle Loans
Ratings Last Updated: ​9/27/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched personal lines of credit since 2019.
Personal Line of Credit
companies are based on the following criteria:
BBB Rating, APRs, loan amounts, fees,
discounts, and customer support.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Personal Lines of Credit
Ratings Last Updated: 5/7/2020
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the personal loan industry since 2016. Only our partners are included in our Editorial Ratings.
Note that only lenders with maximum rates of 36% or less are considered in our ratings and on our pages that include “best” companies. This interest rate cap has been continually recommended by lawmakers and, in our opinion, is a fair number to set the line between non-predatory and predatory loans.
Data points considered include:
APRs, loan amounts, loan terms, deposit time, fees, initial soft-credit pull availability, BBB rating, Trustpilot score, benefits, and discounts.
Description of Credit Rating Categories
For Above Average Credit: For consumers with great credit; generally scores ranging from 680-850.
For Average Credit: For consumers with mediocre credit; generally scores ranging from 620-680.
For Below Average Credit: For consumers with poor credit; generally scores that are under 620.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Personal Loans
Ratings Last Updated: 3/18/2022
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the pet insurance industry since 2017. Only our partners are included in our Editorial Ratings.
LendEDU analyzed each pet insurance company based on eligibility requirements, waiting periods, coverage, policy terms, policy cost, money-back guarantee, customer reviews, added benefits, user experience, and financial strength.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Pet Insurance Companies
Ratings Last Updated: April 2022
LendEDU has reviewed and researched private student loans since 2014. Only our private student loan partners are included in our Editorial Ratings.
We analyzed each provider using the following information: annual percentage rates (APRs), repayment terms, loan amounts, cosigner details, eligibility requirements, fees, customer service, borrower benefits, and user experience.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Private Student Loans, Student Loans Without a Cosigner
Ratings Last Updated: 1/25/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the renters insurance industry since 2017. LendEDU analyzed each renters insurance provider based on overall customer experience (Trustpilot score and Better Business Bureau composite score), maximum liability coverage, valuation, overall coverage options, states available, and policy discounts. Each piece of criteria was cross-checked and audited by multiple members of the LendEDU team.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Renters Insurance
Ratings Last Updated: ​7/19/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched reverse mortgages since 2019.
Overall mortgages are based on
the following criteria:
BBB Rating, Trustpilot Score, state availability, fund time, loan amounts, number of branches, number of state licenses, number of regulatory actions, number of originators, and age of company.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Reverse Mortgage Lenders
LendEDU has reviewed and researched small business financing since 2017. Each provider’s small business financing products were categorized as “Term Loan,” “Line of Credit,” or “Invoice Factoring.” Some lenders offered more than one of the aforementioned products. Other small business financing products besides the three mentioned were not considered in our ratings.
Lenders were analyzed based on Better Business Bureau score, Trustpilot rating, availability of customer support, minimum required credit score, minimum business age requirement, APRs, fees, loan terms, loan amounts, deposit time, and more.
Ratings Last Updated: 6/3/2020
LendEDU has reviewed and researched the student loan refinancing industry since 2014. Only our partners are included in our Editorial Ratings.
LendEDU analyzed each company based on the following:
Annual percentage rates (APRs), discounts, loan amounts, term lengths, cosigner release availability, forbearance options, deferment options, availability of a rate quote via a soft credit check, customer support options, and more.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Student Loan Refinance
Companies
Ratings Last Updated: 9/3/2021
LendEDU has reviewed and researched tax relief since 2020. Only our partners are included in our Editorial Ratings.
Our ratings are based on research into the following categories:
- Availability
- Costs
- Expertise
- Customer satisfaction
- Customer service
- Benefits
Ratings Last Updated: ​5/13/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched vision insurance since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each vision
insurance company based on the following:
A.M. Best Rating, S&P Rating, BBB Rating,
glasses allowance, state availability, eye exam allowance, and contacts allowance.
>> See Our Top Choices: Best Vision Insurance
Ratings Last Updated: ​5/13/2019
LendEDU has reviewed and researched vision savings plans since 2018. LendEDU analyzed each company
based on the following:
Eye exam coverage, glasses coverage, Lasik surgery coverage,
contacts coverage, sunglasses coverage, BBB Rating, and customer support.