How we work, and how we're paid
StandWatch is built on a simple promise: tell the military community the truth about their money, even when the truth is "you're already in good shape, do nothing." This page lays out how we research our guides, how our tools work, how we fix mistakes, and how the company keeps the lights on. No fine print, no spin.
Editorial Policy
StandWatch exists to help the military community and their families make confident financial decisions. Our guides are written to inform, not to sell. The standards below govern everything we publish.
Independence comes first
No advertiser, lender, insurer, installer, or partner can pay for favorable coverage, a higher ranking, or a better description; editorial coverage is never sold. Partner participation only determines which transaction-ready offers we are able to display. Where a partner relationship exists, we disclose it right where it appears.
Accuracy and sourcing
We build our guides from primary sources (government agencies, regulators, official rate data, and companies' own published terms), not from other affiliate sites. Material facts carry a source. Figures carry a date. Where something varies by state, lender, or individual situation, we say so rather than implying a single universal answer.
Honest framing
- We don't publish guaranteed-savings claims or invented "average" numbers.
- Estimates are labeled as estimates, with the assumptions shown.
- We present trade-offs and downsides, not just upsides.
- We write in everyday words a busy person can act on, not jargon.
What we are, and aren't
StandWatch is an educational resource. We are not a lender, bank, broker, insurer, insurance producer, solar installer, or financial, tax, or legal advisor, and our content is general information, not personalized professional advice. We point readers to official sources and licensed professionals for decisions specific to their situation.
Who writes and reviews
StandWatch is veteran-owned and operated. Our guides are researched, written, and reviewed in-house against primary sources before publication, and re-checked on a regular cycle. Each guide shows when it was last reviewed.
Methodology
How our benchmarks, calculators, and Watch tools actually work, so you can judge the numbers for yourself.
Benchmark rates
Where we show a market benchmark (mortgage, auto, savings, and similar), it comes from a named public source (for example, Federal Reserve series, FDIC national rate data, or a company's own published rate page) with the observation or publication date shown. Some federal data series are released on a delay; when that's the case, we label the figure as a dated observation, not a live quote. We never scrape or misrepresent a delayed figure as real-time.
Calculators and Watch tools
Our calculators are planning tools. Each shows its key assumptions near the result. They use the numbers you enter (your real usage, rate, balance, or premium) rather than national averages wherever possible, because your own figures produce a far more useful estimate than a one-size-fits-all average.
- Estimates, not quotes. A calculator result is a planning estimate based on stated assumptions. It is not an offer, an appraisal, or a guarantee. Your actual numbers depend on your lender, insurer, utility, credit, and other factors.
- Solar sizing, for example, estimates system size from your real annual usage and your state's average sun hours, applies a standard real-world loss factor, and frames savings as the share of your usage a system could offset, not a dollar promise, because real savings depend on net metering, fees, and financing.
- Inputs stay yours. Tools run on the figures you provide; we don't pad them with assumptions that make solar, refinancing, or any product look artificially better.
The bill scanner
The optional bill scanner lets you upload a photo or PDF so we can read the figures automatically instead of you typing them. Your bill is never stored, and the full detail is one tap below.
EXACTLY HOW THE SCANNER HANDLES YOUR FILE
What it reads. Only the figures needed to compare your account against a benchmark: provider name, balance, interest rate, monthly payment, due date, and (for an electric bill) kWh used. We instruct the AI to exclude your name, full account number, address, phone number, Social Security number, and other personal identifiers from the extracted result.
Whether the file is stored. StandWatch does not store your uploaded bill. The image is sent to our AI provider to read, and the file is not written to any StandWatch database, storage, or log. Once the figures are read, the image is gone from our side. The only information that persists is the figures you choose to use if you decide to start a Watch, and if you don't start one, nothing from your bill is saved.
Who processes it, and for how long. The reading is done by Anthropic (the maker of Claude) through its commercial API. Under Anthropic's standard commercial API terms, inputs and outputs are normally deleted within 30 days and are not used to train AI models by default, subject to Anthropic's published exceptions (for example, where retention is required for legal or safety reasons). Anthropic's commercial API terms are separate from, and more protective than, its consumer terms. We send the image only to perform the scan; we don't use a version of the service that trains on your data.
Human review. No StandWatch staff reviews your uploaded bill in the normal course; the scan is automated and the file isn't retained for anyone to open later.
It can make mistakes. AI can misread a number. We show you the figures it pulled and ask you to check them against your own statement before you act on anything. If something looks wrong, correct it or enter the numbers by hand.
Your choice. The scanner is optional. You can always skip it and type your figures in directly. If you'd like, redact anything you don't want read before uploading: the tool only needs the provider and the numbers.
How we choose what to feature
When we name a partner or product, it's because it genuinely fits the reader's need (a real comparison marketplace, a strong rate, a legitimate veteran discount) judged on the merits. Compensation, where it exists, plays no role in that choice.
Corrections Policy
We'd rather be corrected than be wrong. If something on StandWatch is inaccurate, out of date, or unclear, we want to fix it quickly and openly.
How to report something
Email support@standwatch.co with the page and what looks wrong. A link or screenshot helps. We read every report.
How we handle it
- We verify the issue against primary sources.
- If it's wrong, we correct it promptly and update the page's review date.
- For a material correction (a fact that could have changed a reader's decision), we note that the page was corrected.
- If something is a judgment call rather than an error, we'll explain our reasoning or add context.
Our standing practice
Because financial rules, rates, incentives, and company offers shift over time, we treat our guides as living documents: reviewed on a regular cycle, dated, and updated as the facts change. A guide showing a recent review date has been checked against current sources.
How We Make Money
Straight answer: StandWatch is free for the military community. It is founder-funded today and designed to be funded by clearly disclosed affiliate relationships, advertising, and sponsorships, not by selling your data and not by charging you.
Affiliate relationships
StandWatch has no live partner links today. As partners sign, some links will become clearly labeled partner (affiliate) links. If you act through one, say, comparing quotes on a partner marketplace or opening an account, the partner may pay StandWatch a commission. StandWatch will not add a fee to the provider's price or rate. Offers, eligibility, pricing, and terms are controlled by the provider, so it's always worth comparing a partner offer against the provider's publicly available direct offer before you act.
Advertising and sponsorship
StandWatch also sells flat-fee advertising, category sponsorships, and placement in the monthly update. These are labeled as advertising wherever they appear. Buying an ad or a sponsorship does not buy a ranking, a better description, a softened review, or any change to what a calculator or Watch shows. What is and is not for sale, by category, is laid out on the Partners page.
What we will never do
- We don't sell or rent your personal information. Full stop.
- We don't resell your details as "leads" to a pile of companies who then cold-call you. When you choose to connect with a partner, that's your decision, made on the partner's own site.
- We don't take payment to rank, feature, or praise anything. No "pay to play."
- We don't charge the people we serve for our core guides and tools.
Why this model
Affiliate funding is designed to keep the guides free and our incentives pointed the right way: we're paid when we genuinely help you find something better, not when we extract your data or push you toward whoever pays most. If the numbers don't genuinely work in the reader's favor, we don't run the offer, even if it would pay.