Last updated: June 15, 2026
Our revenue, in plain terms
We make money in three ways, in roughly this order of importance:
- Affiliate partnerships. When we link you to a lender marketplace or financial partner and you take a qualifying action — opening an account, getting matched, or having a loan funded — the partner may pay us a referral fee. Details on our affiliate disclosure page.
- Advertising. We may display ads from networks such as Google AdSense. These are labeled and kept separate from our editorial comparisons.
- Future partner referrals. Down the road we may route interested borrowers to licensed brokers or lenders who handle the application. We are not doing this today, and we will never collect your application data ourselves.
What our money does not buy
A partner cannot pay to rank higher, score better, or be recommended over a more suitable option. We arrange comparisons on editorial merit and disclose any sponsored placement. If a product is a bad fit for self-employed or non-traditional borrowers, we say so — even if it pays well.
Why you can trust the comparisons
Our entire reason to exist is helping borrowers whose income doesn’t fit the standard W-2 box. That only works if the guidance is trustworthy, so we separate the people who write and review content from any commercial relationship. Our rates, charts and calculator outputs are illustrative samples for education — not quotes or offers of credit. See the editorial policy and disclaimer.
We are a publisher, not a lender
Mortgage Merlin is not a lender or mortgage broker. We don’t take applications or issue credit. When you connect with a partner, that partner owns your application, consent and data.