Editorial Policy

Readers come to Hobart Loans to make sense of borrowing decisions that can shape their finances for years. This Editorial Policy sets out the standards we hold ourselves to, so you can judge our work and hold us to it.

Our mission

Hobart Loans is an independent personal- and business-finance publication based in Hobart, Tasmania. Our aim is to help Tasmanian and Australian households and small-business owners understand how borrowing works, ask better questions and arrive at a lender or broker prepared.

We focus on practical, plain-English explanations: how lenders assess applications, what a loan term really costs, how different types of business finance work, and what to do when something goes wrong. We publish general information, not personal advice, and we try to be clear about the limits of what any article can tell you. Our Disclaimer explains this in full.

A good finance article should leave the reader better able to make their own decision, not more dependent on someone else's.

Who writes our content and how it is reviewed

Our articles and guides are written and edited by Philip Riddle, Editor of Hobart Loans. The Editor is responsible for every piece of editorial content we publish, including our articles, service pages, glossary and FAQ. You can read more about us on our About us page.

Each piece goes through the following process before publication:

1. Planning

   We choose topics based on the questions readers ask us and the decisions they commonly face, not on what advertisers want covered.

2. Research

   We gather information from primary and authoritative sources (see below) and note where each key fact comes from.

3. Drafting

   We write in plain English with Australian spelling, explain jargon, and include clearly labelled illustrative examples where they help.

4. Fact-checking

   Before publication, we check facts, figures and legal references against their sources, and recalculate every worked example independently.

5. Editorial review

   The Editor reviews the piece for accuracy, balance, clarity and compliance with this policy, including checking that it does not read as personal advice or a product recommendation.

Sourcing standards

We prefer primary sources wherever possible. These include:

• Legislation and regulations, such as the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth) and the National Credit Code;
• Regulators, including ASIC and its Moneysmart website, the OAIC, and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority for dispute processes;
• The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for tax, GST, BAS and record-keeping matters;
• The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) for monetary policy and official data; and
• The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) for prudential standards and banking statistics.

Where we rely on information from lenders, industry bodies or other secondary sources, we check it against primary material where we can and present it fairly. We do not invent statistics, testimonials, case studies or quotes. Examples in our articles are labelled as illustrative and do not describe real customers.

Because interest rates, lending policies and government scheme settings change frequently, we generally avoid quoting current rates or caps. Instead, we explain how things work and direct readers to the authoritative source to check current figures.

Independence from advertisers

Hobart Loans is funded by advertising and sponsorship (see Advertise here) and possibly by referral fees that we disclose to readers before any referral is made. We keep commercial arrangements separate from editorial decisions:

• Advertisers, sponsors and referral partners cannot commission, preview, review, approve or change our independent editorial content.
• No one can pay to be included in, or excluded from, an editorial article, or to receive more favourable coverage.
• Whether a business advertises with us, or pays a referral fee, plays no part in whether or how we mention it in our editorial content.
• We do not accept advertising or sponsorship that we consider misleading, or that would conflict with our readers' interests.

How sponsored content is labelled

From time to time we may publish content paid for by a sponsor. When we do:

• it is always clearly labelled as sponsored at the top of the content, so readers can see the commercial relationship before they start reading;
• the sponsor is named; and
• it is kept visually and structurally distinct from our independent editorial articles.

Sponsored content must still be accurate and not misleading, and we will not publish sponsored content that presents itself as independent editorial or as personal financial advice.

Corrections policy

We aim to get things right, but when we make a mistake we want to fix it quickly and openly. If you think something we have published is inaccurate, out of date or unclear, please email [email protected] with the subject line "Correction". Tell us which page you are referring to, what you believe is wrong and, if possible, the source that supports your view.

We aim to review correction requests within 5 business days. If we agree that a correction is needed:

• we update the content promptly;
• where an error is significant (for example, it could affect a reader's understanding of their rights, costs or obligations), we add a short note to the article explaining what was corrected and when; and
• minor fixes, such as typographical errors or broken links, may be made without a note.

If we decide a correction is not needed, we will let you know why.

Updates and dating

Every article shows the date it was last updated, so you can judge how current it is. We review our content periodically and when we become aware of relevant changes, such as amendments to the law, new regulator guidance or changes to a government scheme.

When we substantially update an article, we change its "last updated" date. We do not change dates merely to make content appear fresher without reviewing it. Even with regular reviews, some details may have changed since an article was last updated, so always check current information with the relevant provider or authority before acting.

Use of AI tools

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools for drafting assistance, for example to suggest a structure, summarise source material we have gathered, or propose alternative wording. We treat AI output as a starting point, never as a source.

• All content is reviewed, fact-checked and edited by a human editor before publication, and the Editor remains responsible for everything we publish.
• Facts, figures, legal references and calculations are verified against primary sources and recalculated independently, regardless of how a draft was produced.
• We do not use AI to generate testimonials, quotes, case studies or statistics.
• We do not enter readers' personal information from enquiries or review requests into AI tools.

Conflicts of interest

A conflict of interest arises when a commercial or personal interest could influence, or appear to influence, what we publish. We manage conflicts by:

• keeping advertising, sponsorship and referral arrangements separate from editorial decisions, as described above;
• disclosing any referral fee or commission to a reader before making a referral, as explained in our Terms and Conditions;
• disclosing, within the relevant article, any relationship the Editor has with a business or product discussed in it; and
• not writing about a business or product where a conflict cannot be managed through disclosure.

Feedback

We welcome feedback from readers, including suggestions for topics, questions an article did not answer, and views on how we can explain things more clearly. Email [email protected] or use our Contact us page. If your feedback is about how we have handled your personal information, please see our Privacy Policy for how to raise a privacy concern.