Editorial standards

Everything on CompareThat is either a product comparison built from data providers publish themselves, or something a named person wrote. This page sets out how we decide what to publish, who is accountable for it, how often it is checked, and what happens when we get something wrong.

How we choose what to write about

We write about the decisions people are already trying to make. In practice that means the questions that come up around the products we compare: what a comparison rate actually includes, what an introductory savings rate does after it ends, what a term deposit costs you to break, how an energy plan’s usage and supply charges combine.

Topics are chosen editorially. A provider cannot buy a guide, an inclusion in a guide, or a change to what a guide says. Where a page carries a paid placement it is labelled where it appears, and the rules for that are set out in how we make money and our advertiser and sponsored content disclosure.

Who writes and who reviews

Every guide names the person who wrote it. Where that person has an author page, the byline links to it, and the page shows their role, the areas they cover and everything else they have published here. We do not publish anonymous editorial.

Where a page has been checked by a second person before publication, that person is named as the reviewer. A reviewer is vouching for one thing: that the page is accurate and that it does not overstate what the data supports. Not every page has one, and where there is no reviewer we do not name one.

We describe our writers only by the role they actually hold. We do not claim professional qualifications, licences or credentials on their behalf.

How often pages are updated

The two halves of a page update on different clocks, and we date them separately so you can tell which is which.

The product data for banking and energy is re-checked against each provider’s own published feed every day, and every comparison page carries the date of that check. Superannuation figures come from APRA’s annual publication and update when APRA republishes. That stamp means the data was verified on that date, not that a rate changed on it. See where our data comes from.

The written content carries its own last-updated date. We review each guide when the market it describes moves, when a reader tells us something has changed, and otherwise on a regular pass through the library. Updating a guide re-dates it. Fixing a typo does not, because re-dating a page for a spelling change would tell you something untrue about how current the substance is.

How we handle corrections

If something on this site is wrong, we want to fix it, and we would rather hear about it from you than not at all. Email content@comparethat.com.au with the page and what looks wrong.

• A factual error in written content is corrected as soon as we have confirmed it, and the page’s last-updated date moves.
• Where a correction changes the substance of what a page said, we note what changed on the page rather than editing it silently.
• A wrong rate or fee in a comparison table almost always means the provider’s own published feed is wrong or has changed, since that feed is the only place those figures come from. We check it against the source and raise it with the provider, and we correct our display where the fault is ours.

Keeping editorial apart from the commercial side

We make money when a provider pays us for a click through to its site or for a sponsored placement. That arrangement never decides which products appear in a comparison or the figures we print, all of which come from published data. A sponsored placement can change where a product appears in a list, except on our superannuation hubs, where it never changes the order, and it is marked “Sponsored Placement” wherever it appears. The full detail is in how we make money, and the ordering rules, including the per-vertical methodology, are in how we sort and rank products.

We do not give personal advice

CompareThat is a comparison service. Everything we publish is general in nature: it does not take your objectives, financial situation or needs into account, and it does not tell you which product suits you. On deposit products and superannuation it is general advice, given under the authorisation set out in the footer of every page. On credit products and energy it is general information only, and it is not credit advice.

We are not a credit provider or a broker, and we do not process applications. If you decide to apply for something, you leave for the provider’s own site and deal with them directly. Always read the provider’s own disclosure documents, and consider getting independent advice, before you decide.