Stay in the loop / The Yukon Project
A note for your inbox.
Keep in touch with the people behind The Ledger. Join The Yukon Project newsletter.
Jonathan & Steve
Co-founders, The Yukon Project
From the people behind the notes.
Read our privacy policyEvery lender on this site gets a score out of 10. Here's exactly how we calculate it, so you don't have to take our word for it.
We built the Yukon Score because star ratings from review sites can be gamed, and "best of" lists on other comparison sites often just reflect who pays the highest referral fee. Ours doesn't work that way — the fee we earn is identical no matter which lender you choose, so the score below is the actual, unpaid opinion of two people who've read every one of these contracts.
How the lender's APR range compares to others serving the same credit tiers — not just the lowest advertised number, but the realistic range most applicants actually see.
Whether origination fees, late fees, and prepayment terms are disclosed clearly up front — and whether we can explain each fee in one plain sentence.
How wide a range of credit profiles the lender realistically serves, and how honestly their minimum credit score is enforced versus advertised.
Based on our own applications and borrower reports — how responsive support is, and whether funding timelines match what's advertised.
The fee-transparency category is the one that gets lenders knocked down the most. If I can't explain a fee to you in one sentence after reading the actual contract, that's not a small deduction.
Some issues don't just lower a score — they're a reason a lender doesn't appear on this site at all, regardless of how competitive their rates look.
We re-review every lender's rates, fees, and terms twice a year, in January and July. If a lender's terms change materially in between — a fee goes up, a policy changes — we update that lender's page as soon as we catch it, not on a fixed schedule.
Three lenders didn't make our last review. We removed them rather than keep them listed with a lower score, because a lender that shouldn't be recommended at all doesn't belong on the page just to fill out a comparison table.
A useful next layer
We look for the details a reader can act on: current pricing information, representative eligibility guidance, fees, repayment terms, availability, and a clear explanation of what is known versus what can change. A rating is not a promise of approval or a substitute for reading the offer.
Use this page as a starting point, then verify current details in the lender or provider disclosure.
Your questions, answered
Ratings
No. A rating describes our assessment; the provider sets eligibility and offer terms.
Stay in the loop / The Yukon Project
Keep in touch with the people behind The Ledger. Join The Yukon Project newsletter.
Jonathan & Steve
Co-founders, The Yukon Project
From the people behind the notes.
Read our privacy policy