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Linking policy

This repository is maintained by Credit Plainly. It links to Credit Plainly articles and to official U.S. consumer resources on purpose. This page explains how we choose links and what we avoid.

Why we link to Credit Plainly

Credit Plainly publishes long-form guides, checklists, glossaries, and educational tools that go deeper than a short GitHub README can. When a reader needs step-by-step context (for example, how to read a report or how bureau disputes usually work), we link to the guide that matches the task.

We prefer deep links to specific guides over repeating the site homepage. The homepage appears at most once in the main README.

Why we include official sources

Government and official program pages (CFPB, FTC, AnnualCreditReport.com, IdentityTheft.gov, and bureau dispute portals) are the authoritative place to verify rights, procedures, and current contact channels. We list them so readers can confirm details even if they never visit Credit Plainly again.

Official links are not endorsements. Credit Plainly is independent and does not represent those organizations.

What we do not do

  • Paid placement — No pay-to-list links, sponsored rankings, or vendor slots.
  • Partner URLs — No affiliate, referral, or tracking links in this repository.
  • Outcome promises — We do not promise score increases, loan approvals, dispute wins, or removal of accurate negative information.
  • Link exchanges — We do not trade links for placement or visibility.
  • Doorway-style lists — Sections are grouped by reader task, not by repetitive exact-match anchor text.

Anchor text

Use natural, descriptive anchors. Examples:

  • “How to dispute credit report errors (Credit Plainly guide)”
  • “Free credit report basics on Credit Plainly”
  • “CFPB: How do I dispute an error on my credit report?”

Avoid repeating the same exact-match phrase many times in one file.

Suggesting corrections

  • Broken official link: Open an issue with the broken link template.
  • Credit Plainly page moved or unclear: Email contact@creditplainly.com or open an issue describing the reader task and the page you expected.
  • New official source: Propose only government or official program pages that fit consumer credit education. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Maintainer checklist

Before merging link changes, see maintenance-checklist.md.