Affiliate Disclosure
Arthzo is free to read. Some of the links on this site may earn us a commission. This page explains exactly when that happens, what it does and does not influence, and what it costs you.
The short version
- Some links to banks, card issuers and financial platforms are affiliate links.
- If you apply through one, Arthzo may receive a fee from that company.
- You pay nothing extra. The rate, fee or offer you receive is identical either way.
- No company can buy a place in our comparisons, a higher ranking, or a better write-up.
- Arthzo is not a bank, NBFC, broker, distributor or financial adviser, and does not sell any financial product.
- Nothing on this site is personal financial advice.
1. What an affiliate link is
An affiliate link is an ordinary web link that carries a tracking code. If you click one and go on to open an account, apply for a card or complete a similar action with that company, the company can see the referral came from Arthzo and may pay us a fee.
This is a standard arrangement across the publishing industry. It is how a great deal of free online content is funded, including most personal finance sites in India. The important question is not whether a site uses affiliate links, but whether those links change what the site tells you. On Arthzo, they do not — and section 4 explains the specific safeguards.
2. Where affiliate links may appear on Arthzo
Where we have an affiliate relationship with a company, links to that company may appear in comparison tables, product round-ups, guide articles and calculator result pages.
| Category | Affiliate relationship possible? |
|---|---|
| Credit cards | Yes — via card issuers and affiliate networks |
| Personal, home and business loans | Yes — lead referral to lenders and marketplaces |
| Savings and current accounts | Yes — account opening referrals |
| Demat and broking accounts | Yes — account opening referrals |
| Mutual funds | No — see section 6 |
| Insurance policies | No — see section 6 |
| Government schemes (PPF, SCSS, SSY, NPS, APY) | No — no commercial relationship exists |
| Calculators and tools | No — free, no signup, no data collection |
Government scheme content is never monetised. Our guides to PPF, SCSS, Sukanya Samriddhi, NPS, Atal Pension Yojana, PMJJBY and PMSBY carry no affiliate links of any kind, because no commercial relationship is possible with these schemes. The same applies to all RBI regulatory content.
3. What it costs you
Nothing. An affiliate fee is paid by the company to us out of their own marketing budget. It is not added to your interest rate, your processing fee, your annual fee or anything else. The terms you are offered are exactly the terms you would receive going directly to that company's website.
If a company ever offered terms that were worse through an affiliate route than direct, we would remove the link rather than keep the commission.
4. How this affects what we write — and what it does not
✓ What we do
- Rank products on their actual terms — rate, fees, eligibility, features
- Include products with no affiliate relationship whenever they are the better option
- Name the drawbacks of products we link to
- Say plainly when a product is not worth it
- Cite RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and issuer sources for factual claims
✕ What we never do
- Sell a position in a comparison table or a higher ranking
- Accept payment for a favourable review or removal of criticism
- Let commission rates determine the order products appear in
- Hide a better non-affiliate option to protect a paying one
- Publish content written or approved by a company we link to
Where a product with no affiliate arrangement is genuinely the strongest option for a given reader, it is listed first and described as such. Several of the products recommended most often on this site earn us nothing at all.
5. How to identify an affiliate link
We label commercial links rather than leaving you to guess. Where an affiliate link appears, you will find one or more of the following:
- A visible marker beside or beneath the link
- A note at the top of any page whose main purpose is product comparison
- The
rel="sponsored"attribute on the link itself, which is the standard search engines use
Apply Now Affiliate link
If you would rather not use an affiliate link, simply search for the company and go to its site directly. The outcome for you is identical, and no part of this site is withheld from readers who do that.
6. What Arthzo is not
This matters more on a finance site than almost anywhere else, so it is worth stating precisely.
| Arthzo is not | What that means |
|---|---|
| A bank or NBFC | We do not accept deposits, lend money, or hold any RBI licence |
| A lending intermediary or DSA | We cannot approve, sanction or influence any application |
| A SEBI-registered investment adviser | Nothing here is personalised investment advice |
| An AMFI-registered mutual fund distributor | We hold no ARN and earn no mutual fund commission |
| An IRDAI-registered insurance intermediary | We hold no licence and earn no insurance commission |
| A credit information company | We cannot access, alter or repair your credit report |
Because we hold no AMFI or IRDAI registration, Arthzo does not and cannot earn commission on mutual fund or insurance products. Where we write about them, we do so purely editorially. Any link to a fund house or insurer on this site is a plain reference link with no commercial arrangement behind it.
7. Display advertising
Separately from affiliate links, Arthzo may display advertising served by third-party networks. Those advertisements are selected by the network, not by us. We do not choose which advertisers appear, and their appearance is not an endorsement.
Advertising networks may use cookies and similar technologies. How that works, and how to opt out, is set out in our Privacy Policy.
8. Regulatory position
This disclosure is published to comply with Indian law and industry standards on material connections between publishers and the products they write about, including:
- The Consumer Protection Act 2019 and the Central Consumer Protection Authority's Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022, which require disclosure of any material connection between an endorser and a product
- The ASCI Guidelines for Influencer Advertising in Digital Media, which require that commercial relationships be disclosed prominently and in a manner a reader cannot miss
- The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2020, so far as they apply to referral and comparison content
If you believe any content on this site falls short of these standards, please tell us using the contact details below. We will review it and correct or remove it where warranted.
9. Accuracy, and the limits of it
Interest rates, fees, eligibility criteria and product features change frequently, and often without notice. We review our content against issuer disclosures and RBI, SEBI and IRDAI notifications, but a figure that was accurate on the day of publication may not be accurate on the day you read it.
Always verify the current terms on the provider's own website or at a branch before applying. Arthzo accepts no liability for decisions taken on the basis of information published here. Nothing on this site constitutes financial, tax, legal or investment advice, and none of it takes account of your individual circumstances. Consult a SEBI-registered investment adviser or a qualified tax professional before making a financial decision.
10. Changes to this disclosure
We may update this page as our commercial arrangements change. The date at the top always reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be noted on the page rather than made silently.
11. Questions or complaints
If anything on this page is unclear, or you believe a piece of content is commercially influenced, we want to hear about it.
Email: contact@arthzo.com
Contact form: arthzo.com/contact-us
We aim to respond within 3 working days.
See also: Privacy Policy · Terms & Conditions · Disclaimer · About Arthzo