About Certes Lodge

American short-term credit is two markets wearing one name: state-licensed loans priced by statute, and tribal installment loans priced by the lender. Almost nobody shows borrowers the real numbers of both before they apply. Certes Lodge exists to change that — 1800 city guides across 46 jurisdictions, statutory cost tables for 37 states, and the trade-offs in plain English.

Why two markets, not one

Most "compare loans" sites collapse the two markets into a single form and a single promise. That hides the single most consequential fact in small-dollar lending: the same borrower can face wildly different legal prices for the same $300 depending on which market — and which state — they touch. A capped cash advance in one state costs $45 for two weeks; the same sum from a sovereign lender has no ceiling at all. Showing both numbers side by side, before any application, is the whole idea behind this site.

What we publish

• The law, computed. Cash advance pages are built from state statutes and regulator publications, and each links the agency that enforces it. Where a state licenses nothing, the page says exactly that.
• Sovereign lending, honestly. Tribal pages cover availability, typical APR bands, Teletrack and credit-check practices, arbitration — the parts testimonials never mention.
• A matching service, clearly labeled. One short form reaches several lenders so offers can be compared side by side instead of applied for one at a time.

How we're paid

If you take a loan through a lender we route you to, that lender may pay us a fee. Your price doesn't move: state law caps what licensed lenders charge, and tribal lenders keep their own published terms regardless. We don't rank lenders by commission, and we don't publish reviews we can't stand behind.

What we are not

Not a lender, not a broker of record, not a tribe or an arm of one, not a credit advisor. We make no credit decisions, guarantee no approvals, and touch nothing after funding — your contract is with the lender alone.

Method & editorial standards

• Sources. Every cap, fee ceiling, term limit, and rollover rule traces to the state statute cited on each page and the enforcing regulator's publications. The dataset is re-verified at least quarterly, and after any legislative change we learn of.
• Computed, not quoted. Cost tables and APRs are our own arithmetic from the statutes — same math everywhere, no lender input, no averages dressed up as law.
• Observations labeled as such. Tribal lending has no state statute behind it, so its ranges (300%–700%+ APR, $300–$2,000) are marked market observations, never statutory figures.
• No spin. "Guaranteed approval" claims get debunked, not repeated. Every money page lists alternatives that are cheaper than borrowing.

Contact

Corrections: corrections@certeslodge.org. Postal: 400 Executive Drive, Newark, DE 19702. More on the contact page.