OUSBI is designed to help people act on banking problems without blending very different kinds of evidence into one score. Every material claim belongs to an evidence layer, carries a source/scope, and can be reviewed when the source changes.
In this initial release, official sources support the guides. Institution-level CFPB complaint statistics, Experiences, ratings and public Experience aggregates are not enabled. Source checks are recorded during release preparation; an automatic production monitoring service is not represented as running.
Four evidence layers
OFFICIAL means regulator datasets or institution-published disclosures/help pages. CFPB DATA means structured public complaint fields and is never presented as an official institution rule. OUSBI EXPERIENCES means structured user reports with their own verification/moderation status. CHANGE HISTORY records meaningful changes in official sources. These layers can appear on the same page but are never silently merged.
How an official fact is accepted
OUSBI records the source URL, observed/verification date, effective date or disclosure version when material, the product/channel scope, and a verification/conflict status. Stable identifiers are used for institutions—such as FDIC certificate or NCUA credit-union number—so brand names do not create false matches. Before production publication, release-critical sources also go through the raw snapshot/SHA-256 gate.
UNKNOWN is not NO
A missing statement on a public page does not prove a negative. If a bank does not publicly state whether a particular tax ID, document or feature is accepted, OUSBI keeps the field UNKNOWN until an authoritative source resolves it. This rule is especially important for ITIN/SSN, eligibility, transfer limits and account-opening requirements.
How changes are monitored
The source-change workflow compares captured versions and sends material changes for review. Automated production monitoring is a future operational step; no scheduled service or verified change timeline is claimed in this initial release. A failed retrieval never proves that an institution rule disappeared.
Conflicts and corrections
If two credible official sources disagree, OUSBI can mark a fact CONFLICT instead of choosing silently. Sensitive or high-impact changes are reviewed before public text is changed. A factual correction is logged with the old wording/value, corrected wording/value, reason, source and date.
What OUSBI does not do
OUSBI does not infer that a bank violated law from a complaint, does not turn user reports into official facts, does not rank institutions from raw CFPB complaint volume, and does not mass-generate pages that lack independent information gain. A page that cannot pass the Anti-Thin Gate is merged or replaced.
Sources and versioning
FDIC BankFind · NCUA official call-report data · CFPB Consumer Complaint Database
This policy is reviewed when the evidence methodology, data coverage, moderation, commercial relationships or privacy practices change. The policy published at launch must describe the features and controls that are actually available.
Example: how one claim moves through OUSBI
Suppose a bank publishes a mobile-deposit rule saying a successful upload is still subject to verification. OUSBI records the exact institution/product/channel scope and source. A community report saying “my deposit was instant” does not overwrite that rule; it belongs, if used at all, in the Experiences layer. If the bank later changes its disclosure, monitoring creates a comparison/review event. Only after the new rule is verified does the public factual statement change.
Frequently asked questions
Why not combine all evidence into one confidence score? Because a regulator record, bank disclosure, CFPB complaint field and user report have different authority. What if the bank page disappears? A fetch failure triggers review, not automatic deletion. What if two bank pages conflict? OUSBI can mark CONFLICT and preserve scope/date. Why keep stable IDs? Legal entities and brands can change, merge or share similar names. Does “verified” mean legal advice? No; it means the stated evidence/claim was checked under the methodology.
Publication gate
A factual page is not complete merely because prose exists. Before publication, OUSBI expects source/freshness fields, product/channel scope, no unsupported negatives, conflict handling, practical action, and technical QA. Release-critical external sources also receive snapshot/hash evidence when the runtime pipeline is active.
Related guides
How OUSBI uses CFPB complaint data: /methodology/cfpb-data/
Corrections and update policy: /corrections/
Editorial independence, advertising and commercial relationships: /editorial-independence/