Doshound
Market Transparency
Doshound aims to help people make informed financial decisions in niche markets.
Consumers in large, well-served markets have access to a lot of information making it easier to understand options and their implications. Consumers in smaller, niche markets have limited access to information making it difficult to form a complete picture of options and their implications. The result is often fewer, inferior choices.
As an example compare the conventional mortgage market to the short-term loan market. The mortgage market has numerous review sites and comparison engines. The sub-prime loan market does not. Mortgages for similar individuals rarely vary in price by any material difference. Short-term loans, on the other hand, can vary in price by over 100% and providers can range from state-regulated entities to non-regulated entities.
We believe educated consumers are one of the best defenses against financial fraud or just getting a bad deal. Product comparisons, reviews, and tools drive innovation and competition benefiting both consumers and providers.
Another Perspective
We target products in niche markets such as short-term loans and, coming soon, self-directed IRAs, credit repair, critical insurance, etc. Individuals in these markets generally fall out of the mainstream. They may have poor credit, work independently, or just do things differently.
Our reviews consider the perspective of our users. For example, for an individual with poor credit, access to funds can be as important as the price. For this reason, the results of our reviews may differ from other sites that serve more mainstream markets.
Please drop us a note, and let us know how we are doing: moc.dnuohsod@kcabdeef.
Advertising Partners
We want everyone to be able to make informed financial decisions. We hope that the information and tools we offer help to do this.
To keep our service free our partners pay us. The way this works is that in addition to our reviews and analyses, we provide direct links to companies and their applications. Some of these companies, our partners, may pay us a fee if you leave our site and eventually purchase or apply for a product. As an example of the fees we earn, some lenders pay us anywhere from $1 to $75 for a funded loan. The list of companies who pay us include,
The list of advertising or affiliate networks who pay us include,
- Commission Junction
- FlexOffers
- Impact
- Media.net
- Round Sky (Round Sky's list of marketing partners ).
Partners are identified throughout the site with a note saying, "We may be compensated by [partner's name] if you apply for a loan from our site."
These partnerships may influence what products we review or how products appear, e.g. the order or color in which companies appear. Partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews. Our reviews and ratings are based on years of research and experience in financial services.
We feature many financial service companies or products but do not cover them all. If you find a company or product you would like us to review do send us an email: moc.dnuohsod@kcabdeef.
Our Rankings
We rank each company based on our Sniff Test, pricing, and features.
Sniff Test: Company
Companies score higher on the Sniff Test if they are licensed in each state in which they operate, have physical storefronts, are U.S. based, display contact information, or have a privacy policy. The Sniff Test also incorporates Better Business Bureau ratings, accreditation, and complaints. Finally, we try to interview companies. The Sniff Test is a subjective score where we try to capture lender integrity.
Product Costs
Companies score better with they charge less for equivalent services. We do our best to evaluate the cost of a product but rates and terms often vary by an individual's income profile, credit history, or state of residency. We aim to provide pricing ranges for each product and incorporate these ranges into our subjective rankings.
Product Features
Companies score better if they provide useful services and product variations. For example, some companies provide live chat or 24/7 phone support. Some provide flexible product options like varying the term of a loan or they report payment history to credit bureaus. The Features score is a subject score that tries to capture the strength of the product's offering.
Contact Us
moc.dnuohsod@kcabdeef
Doshound Users
If you do not see a lender you would like reviewed, send us an email and we will do our best review them. Thank you.
Financial Service Providers
Our reviews are based on our independent analysis of your offerings using your website, conversations with your staff, domain registration data, and Better Business Bureau reviews. If we have misrepresented your business, please send us an email with supporting data and we will correct it. In addition, if you'd like us to review your offerings please let us know. Thank you.