Reviewer

The Unpack Money Research Desk is the editorial function behind every figure on this site — not an individual, and we claim no personal credentials for it. Its job is verification: every APY, APR, fee, term, and limit we publish is checked against the provider's own disclosures or a primary source (FDIC, CFPB, IRS, SBA) before it ships, and re-checked on a schedule. Each product carries a visible last-verified date so you can see exactly how fresh its numbers are.

The Desk works from our public methodologies — review, rating, and research — and every recommendation is produced by fixed, published rules, identical for every reader. No advertiser, affiliate partner, or provider can pay for placement, alter a score, or see content before publication.

Areas of coverage

• Banking products and APYs
• Credit card rewards and APRs
• Personal loan terms and fees
• Life insurance policy features
• Consumer finance calculators

Independent expert review

Some topics need licensed expertise — tax strategy, insurance underwriting, mortgage lending. Our standard for those topics is independent review by a credentialed professional (CPA, CFP® professional, licensed insurance or mortgage professional).

When we engage such reviewers, they are listed here with their real names, verifiable credentials, and the topics they reviewed. We do not publish reviewer names we cannot verify, and we do not invent credentials. A page reviewed by an independent expert says so on the page; everything else is reviewed by the Research Desk under the process above.