Commercial Independence

Our independence principle

Affordit is designed to help a user understand a financial decision before any optional commercial journey is presented. The plan and its explanation must stand on their own.

The approved sequence is plan, guidance and then an optional partner layer. It must never become partner, recommendation and then plan.

Results come first

Commercial relationships must not alter a user’s affordability score, verdict or calculation. Sponsorship and commission do not determine the financial result shown to a user.

Recommendation ranking, confidence and primary next steps must be based on the user’s plan and documented decision rules. Commercial value cannot be an input to that logic.

Labelling and choice

Sponsored or affiliate content must be clearly labelled, optional and kept outside the calculation. Affordit Plus is designed without sponsored or affiliate recommendations.

A user should be able to understand why commercial content is shown, distinguish it from Affordit guidance and continue using the core planning journey without selecting it.

How partners are assessed

Before a partner or offer is included, Affordit should consider regulation, age eligibility, product risk, data use, complaints history, conflicts and whether the journey is suitable for the intended audience.

A commercial agreement does not amount to an endorsement and does not remove the need for clear user checks, provider terms and appropriate specialist review.

Products and audiences

Affordit must not promote high-cost credit, gambling, unsuitable crypto products or manipulative offers to under-18s. Personal student data is not sold to advertisers.

False scarcity, disguised advertising and behavioural targeting of under-18 users are not compatible with this statement.

Institutional access and reporting

An education partner may provide access to Affordit, but that relationship does not allow the institution to influence an individual plan result. Aggregate engagement reporting is the default.

Named financial inputs, plans, verdicts and individual guidance are not included in standard institutional reporting.

Conflicts and complaints

Material commercial conflicts should be disclosed, assessed and managed through rejection, recusal, independent approval or clear disclosure. Users can complain about labelling, relevance, pressure or a suspected conflict through the monitored complaints route.