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Affiliate Disclosure & How We Make Money
CompassNorth Editorial Team · Updated September 2026
CompassNorth is free for Canadians to use. We keep it that way primarily through affiliate partnerships with some of the providers whose products we compare — and occasionally through sponsored placements, which we always label clearly. This page explains exactly how that works, and how it does (and doesn’t) influence what you see on this site.
How We Make Money
Not everything you see on CompassNorth is the same kind of content. We sort what we publish into four categories, and we label them so you always know which one you’re looking at:
A product a provider pays us to place more prominently within a comparison — for example, higher in a table. Featured products must still meet the comparison’s eligibility criteria; payment affects position, not eligibility.
Content or a placement a provider has paid for directly, independent of our normal ranking criteria. We do not currently publish sponsored articles, but if that changes, sponsored content will always carry this label.
A product our editorial team highlights based on its published rate, fees, or features relative to comparable products — whether or not we have an affiliate relationship with the provider.
Guides, explainers, and calculators that don’t promote any specific product. Editorial content is written to help you understand a topic, not to steer you toward a particular provider.
How Affiliate Commissions Work
When you click a link on CompassNorth — such as an “Apply Now” or “See Offer” button — and go on to open or be approved for that product, CompassNorth may receive a commission from the provider. This comes at no additional cost to you: it does not change the rate, fee, or terms you’re offered.
Some products we mention do not pay us a commission at all. We include them anyway when they’re relevant to the comparison, because our goal is to give you an accurate picture of the market — not just the products that pay us.
How Our Rankings and Comparisons Work
Product rankings and “best for” placements are based on published rates, fees, and features that we collect directly from providers or their public rate sheets, evaluated against the criteria stated on each comparison page (for example, lowest rate, no annual fee, or best sign-up bonus for a stated spending pattern). Whether — or how much — a provider pays us in referral commissions does not determine these rankings.
We update comparison pages when we become aware of a rate or offer change, but providers change their terms frequently and we can’t guarantee every page reflects the current rate at the moment you read it. Always confirm the current rate, fees, and terms directly with the provider before applying.
Our Comparisons Don’t Cover Every Product on the Market
Canada has dozens of banks, credit unions, and fintech lenders, and we can’t realistically track every product from every one of them. Our comparison pages include a meaningful sample of well-known and competitively priced options, prioritizing providers with clear, publicly available rate and fee information — but a product being absent from a CompassNorth comparison doesn’t mean it’s a worse choice than the ones we’ve listed. If you don’t see your bank or credit union here, it’s worth checking their current rates directly.
Questions About a Specific Relationship?
If you have a question about whether CompassNorth has an affiliate relationship with a specific provider, or about how a particular comparison or ranking was put together, visit our contact page and we’ll get back to you.