Last Updated: February 2026
My Commitment to You
I came to this country with nothing. I know what it means to need financial advice you can actually trust. Advice where the person giving it isn’t secretly getting paid to steer you in a particular direction.
That’s why I’ve always believed in being completely upfront about how MoneyPantry makes money. It’s not complicated, and it doesn’t change what I recommend. But you deserve to know exactly how this works.
I’ve been navigating affiliate relationships and advertiser partnerships since MoneyPantry launched in 2013. Over more than a decade, I’ve learned what works, what compromises reader trust, and where to draw the line. This page reflects everything I’ve learned about doing this honestly.
The Bottom Line: How This Site Makes Money
- When you use links on this site to visit a service and sign up, we may earn a commission from that company. This is how we keep the lights on.
- This costs you absolutely nothing extra. In some cases, because of long-term partnerships I’ve built over more than a decade, using our links actually gets you a better deal or signup bonus than going direct.
- My recommendations are never for sale. They’re based on my own research, personal testing, and nearly 20 years of experience in this space, not the size of a commission. If a product isn’t genuinely good for my readers, I won’t recommend it.
- On rare occasions, we publish sponsored content. When we do, it is always clearly labeled “Sponsored” at the top of the article. Sponsored content does not influence our independent editorial recommendations anywhere else on the site.
- You’ll also see display ads on the site. These are run through Google AdSense. I do not control which specific ads are shown, but I have configured our ad settings to exclude categories I consider harmful to readers.
How We Make Money: The Full Picture
MoneyPantry’s income comes from three primary sources. Here’s exactly how each one works.
1. Affiliate Links (Referral Commissions)
Many of the links on this site are affiliate links. If you click one and sign up for something (a survey app, a bank account, a gig platform), the company may pay us a small referral fee. Think of it as a finder’s fee they pay for sending them a new customer.
You never pay more. The price or offer you see is the same whether you go through our link or go direct. In fact, because of relationships I’ve built with certain partners over the years, some of our links include bonuses or elevated offers you won’t find on the standard signup page. When that’s the case for a MoneyPantry link, I note it in the article.
One thing I want to be clear about: if we stop earning a commission from a product we still genuinely believe in, we keep recommending it. Our recommendations aren’t contingent on earning from them. I’ve maintained positive coverage of products after their affiliate programs ended because the product remained good for readers. The commission follows the recommendation. It never drives it.
2. Advertiser Partnerships
Some of our affiliate relationships are with credit card companies and other financial institutions. I want to be honest about something that most sites in this space obscure: the compensation we receive from these partners can affect how and where their products appear on this site, including the order in which they’re listed in comparison articles.
That said, and this is my firm promise, it never influences our reviews, our ratings, or the actual advice I give. A product that’s genuinely bad for readers doesn’t get a positive review because the company is a partner. That line has never moved, and it never will.
3. Display Advertising
You’ll also see ads on the site, served through Google AdSense. These help cover basic operating costs and allow all our content to remain free.
I don’t control which specific ads appear, but I’ve configured our ad settings to exclude categories I consider harmful to MoneyPantry readers (including predatory lending ads, get-rich-quick schemes, and certain high-risk financial product categories). If you ever see an ad that strikes you as inappropriate for a personal finance site, please let me know via the Contact Page. I take that seriously.
4. Sponsored Content (Rare, Always Labeled)
On rare occasions, I work with a company on a sponsored article. I turn down far more of these than I accept. Only companies whose products I’d genuinely consider recommending anyway make it through. When a piece of content is sponsored, it is always labeled clearly at the top of that article. No reader should ever have to wonder whether what they’re reading is paid for.
Sponsored content does not influence the independent editorial opinions I express in any other article on the site. A company that sponsors a single post does not buy any influence over MoneyPantry’s broader coverage.
What We Will Never Do
I think it’s important to be specific, not just about what we do, but about where the absolute limits are. Regardless of how much is offered:
- I will never publish a positive review of a product I believe is harmful to readers.
- I will never remove a negative assessment because an advertiser complained.
- I will never alter editorial content based on affiliate commission rates.
- I will never present a paid placement as an independent recommendation without clear disclosure.
- I will never recommend a product solely because it pays a higher commission than a better alternative.
I’ve walked away from partnerships that asked me to soften negative coverage. I’ve kept recommending lower-commission products over higher-commission alternatives because they were genuinely better for readers. This isn’t me being noble. It’s the only model that makes sense long-term. If my readers can’t trust my recommendations, MoneyPantry has no value.
FTC Compliance
All affiliate relationships on this site are fully disclosed in compliance with the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) guidelines on endorsements and testimonials. If you ever have any questions about whether a specific link, review, or piece of content involves a commercial relationship, you’re welcome to ask me directly.
More on How We Operate
This Disclosure page covers the financial side of MoneyPantry. If you want to understand how we evaluate and test the products and platforms we cover, or what standards govern our editorial decisions, the following pages go into more detail:
- Ethics Policy — The values that govern every editorial decision we make
- Editorial Guidelines — The step-by-step process our content goes through before it’s published
- Review Process — How we test apps, sites, and platforms
- FAQ — Common questions about MoneyPantry answered
- Privacy Policy — How we handle your data
- About MoneyPantry — Who I am, where this site came from, and why I built it
If you have any questions about this policy, please reach out via the Contact Page. I read every message and I’m happy to give you more detail if you need it.
Thank you for being here, and for trusting MoneyPantry with your time.
— Saeed Darabi
Founder, MoneyPantry
This page was last reviewed and updated: February 2026. MoneyPantry is operated by Money Pantry Media LLC, Florissant, MO.
