How We Make Money
(Affiliate and Advertising Disclosure)
The College Investor may be compensated through third party advertisers, also known as affiliates. However, our blog content and reviews are based on our analysis, regardless of compensation.
The College Investor also strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. This information we present may be different than what you see when you visit a financial institution, service provider or specific product’s site. All financial products, shopping products and services are presented without warranty. We do our best to maintain updated information on all products and services we cover, but given the fast changing digital environment, it is hard to do in all circumstances.
In order to provide consumers with transparency and in that spirit, we would like to share how we make money. Some of the financial institutions with products on our site may pay us a referral fee when customers get approved for or purchase certain products using the link we provide. These are called affiliate links. All articles that feature affiliate links will be clearly labeled. Other companies may sponsor content created about their product or service – whereby we create an article and their product or service may be featured in it. All articles that feature sponsored content will be clearly labeled. We do not accept compensation for reviews; all reviews reflect our opinion of the product of service, however we may have an affiliate relationship with companies and services we review, and leads generated from a review may result in compensation. Finally, we also sell display advertising, both directly and through third parties such as Google AdSense.
When you click to apply for certain products and services through our site, we may receive compensation from the company that issues that product. This compensation enables us to maintain our growing site, and provide current content, many of which we don’t receive compensation for. It also helps us support our team, who research and stay up-to-date on the latest news and offerings for you.
The analysis and opinions on our site are those of The College Investor.
We appreciate your trust in using our site for information and using our links to apply for products. We strive to be transparent about which products we receive compensation for.
Please see below for a list of some of the financial institutions that we are partners with (this list is not inclusive of all partners due to the changing nature of our partners and the fact that some partners may be third-parties who maintain other relationships beyond our own):
- Abebooks
- Acorns
- AcreTrader
- AdPractioners
- AirBnB
- Alliant Credit Union
- American Express
- Amazon.com
- Arrived Homes
- Ascent
- ATT Wireless
- Avail
- Axos
- Backer
- Bank of America
- Bankrate
- Barclays Bank
- Bestow
- Bitcoin IRA
- Bluehost
- Booksrun
- Brazos
- Bread Financial
- Bright
- CashApp
- Campus Book Rentals
- Charles Schwab
- Chegg
- Citizens Bank
- CIT Bank
- Citibank
- Chime
- Coinbase
- College Ave
- Consumers Credit Union
- Credible
- Credit Karma
- Credit Sesame
- Current
- Custom Choice Student Loans
- Dave
- Decluttr
- Discover
- Door Dash
- E*TRADE
- Earnest
- Earnin
- eCampus
- Edly
- ELFI
- Empower
- eToro
- Etsy
- EquityMultiple
- Even Financial
- ezTaxReturn
- Fabric
- FamZoo
- FICO
- Fidelity
- Fiverr
- Funding-U
- FreeTaxUSA
- Freshbooks
- Fundrise
- Gabi
- Gemini
- Green Dot
- H&R Block
- Haven Life
- HomeTap
- HSBC
- Hulu
- iBotta
- Interactive Brokers
- Intuit
- Instacart
- ISL Lending
- Jackson Hewitt
- Juno
- Kora
- KuCoin
- Laurel Road
- Ladder
- Ledn
- Lemonade
- Lending Club
- Lending Tree
- LendKey
- Liberty Tax
- Lightstream
- Lili
- Lyft
- Masterworks
- M1 Finance
- Mint Mobile
- Motley Fool
- MyFinance
- MySolo401k
- Navy Federal Credit Union
- nbkc
- Newton Group
- Nexo
- Nolo
- Novo
- OhmConnect
- Outlet
- PenFed Credit Union
- Policy Genius
- Point
- Prosper
- Protege
- Pumpkin Pet Insurance
- Qapital
- Quicken
- Quinstreet
- Quontic
- Raisin
- Rakuten
- Realty Mogul
- Rocket Dollar
- Robinhood
- RocketDollar
- Roofstock
- Rover
- Sallie Mae
- Saving for College
- Seeking Alpha
- Self
- Splash Financial
- Stash
- Steitwise
- Student Loan Planner
- Survey Junkie
- Survey Sampling
- Swagbucks
- Tally
- TaxAct
- TaxSlayer
- Tiller
- TokenTax
- TradeStation
- Trim
- TurboTax
- Ubiquity
- Unison
- Uphold
- Upgrade
- Upstart
- USAA
- US Bank
- Vanguard
- Varo
- Vaulted
- Verizon
- Wealthfront
- Wealthsimple
- Webull
- Western Alliance Bank
- YNAB
- ZipRecruiter
There are also several companies and organizations that we will NEVER work with. These are companies that we have a negative opinion of and refuse to do business with. They include:
- GoBankingRates
- Pawp
- SoFi
If you have any questions about our affiliate and advertising relationships, please feel free to ask.
