About LendMap USA

What the platform does

LendMap USA answers one question precisely: what is a short-term lender legally allowed to charge you in your state? Each state page lists the maximum loan, the maximum term, the fee cap, a worked example of a standard loan, and the regulator that licenses lenders and takes complaints. 38 jurisdictions permit storefront payday lending under caps; the rest restrict or prohibit it entirely. Around that legal core the site maps the market itself: the storefront chains behind the strip-mall signs, the online lenders and their disclosed costs, the tribal lending sector with its own regulatory logic, and reviews that score how transparent each brand chooses to be.

Where every number comes from

No number on this site is invented, and each dataset carries its own verification stamp. The provenance table below is the full chain — source, date, and where you will meet it on the site:

Rules change; the full legal dataset is re-verified on every refresh and the date is stamped on each page (“last verified”). If a page and a statute ever disagree, the statute wins — and the correction flow below fixes the page.

The LendMap Score: how we rate transparency

Every lender review on the site carries a score from 0 to 20, built from ten public criteria worth two points each — things any borrower can check before applying: is an APR range published, is the owning entity named, does a regulator or complaint channel exist, is there an excluded-state list, are there upfront fees. The rubric is public, the scoring is per-criterion visible on each review, and compensation plays no part in it. We deliberately score transparency, not “best lender”: a brand cannot buy a band here, only disclose its way into one. See the full reviews hub and any review’s score table for the criterion-level breakdown.

Editorial standards

• Named authorship. Bylined guides link to a public author profile with credentials and a portfolio — meet the editorial team. Review content is produced under this same methodology.
• Disclosures and public records only. Brand facts come from the brand’s own site or public filings and dockets. When we describe a lawsuit or allegation, it is labeled as exactly that — an allegation, with the record linked.
• No affiliate links on editorial pages. Reviews, guides and laws pages carry no commercial links; the only commercial path on the site is the application form page, disclosed below.
• Dated provenance. Every dataset on this page carries a verification stamp, and every money page repeats the stamp that governs it.
• Honest math. Cost tables show totals of payments and effective APR, not teaser per-period fees; the worked examples are computed from each state’s own caps.

How we make money

The site is free and always has been for visitors. It is funded by referral compensation: the application form the site links to is operated by an independent third-party network of lending partners, and the site’s owners may be compensated when visitors submit applications through it. To be plain about the boundaries:

• The site’s owners do not evaluate applications and do not approve or deny credit — lending decisions belong solely to lenders in that network.
• Submitting a request never guarantees approval and does not obligate any lender to offer credit.
• Compensation does not influence the LendMap Score, the rankings, or what guides say about any product; the score is driven by disclosures, not deals.
• We never charge visitors a fee, and this site does not sell your data — the application form is a third party’s, so read their terms before submitting.

What this site is not

Nothing here is legal or financial advice. Short-term loans are expensive: they are meant for immediate cash needs, not as a long-term financial plan — every page shows the legal math so you can see the true cost before you borrow. The full picture lives in the disclaimer at the foot of every page and in our Terms and Privacy Policy.

Corrections and contact

Spot a number that no longer matches your state’s statute, or a lender disclosure that has changed? Write to hello@lendmapusa.com with the source reference — verified corrections ship in the next data refresh and the page’s stamp moves with the fix. Review corrections are noted on the review they affect.

Questions about this site