Editorial policy

Source hierarchy

Official financial-institution offer pages, pricing disclosures, account agreements, and rewards terms are our sources of record. Third-party pages may help us discover an offer but do not establish its terms.

Value beyond the official website

Every page must provide value beyond the financial institution’s own website. Before publication, we identify why a reader searches for the question, what the official page leaves unclear, and what BonusMetric adds through explanation, comparison, history, risk analysis, practical checks, or calculations. If those questions cannot be answered, we do not publish the page.

When an offer page changes

We do not rewrite an offer merely to make it appear new. A substantive update requires a change in the reward, requirements, deadline, official terms, or a commonly misunderstood condition. When nothing substantive changes, we update only the verification date and evidence-based history.

Guide selection

Guides answer real decisions before, during, or after pursuing a bonus. We do not publish generic financial encyclopedia content unrelated to successfully understanding or completing an offer.

Verification dates

Every offer displays the date on which we reviewed the cited official source. “Current” never means permanent. Readers should verify the latest terms on the institution’s website before applying.

Difficulty labels

Easy, Medium, and Hard describe the effort involved in completing published bonus requirements. They do not estimate approval odds, creditworthiness, or individual eligibility.

Offer history

History is evidence-based. We store a dated amount and source for each record. We do not label a bonus “highest ever” from a single observation or an unsupported third-party claim.

Corrections

If an official term changes or we make an error, we update the record and its verification date. Material corrections are prioritized over promotional updates.