Financing Ad Checker: Truth in Lending Triggers

Check car dealer, product and retail ads for Truth in Lending trigger terms used without the required disclosures. The Financing Ad Checker finds monthly payment amounts, number of payments or term, down payment amounts and finance charges in ad text and flags ads that don't also show the down payment, repayment terms and APR (Regulation Z, 12 CFR 1026.24). It also checks lease ads under Regulation M (12 CFR 1013.7): payment and 'due at signing' triggers, missing lease disclosures, and lease rates shown as an APR. Click Start with the prefilled example to see it work.

This is an automated screen of ad text, not a legal determination. It can't see disclosures in images, video or linked pages, and state rules can add requirements. A clean result doesn't mean an ad complies. Not legal advice; every row carries this disclaimer and a timestamp.

What does the Financing Ad Checker do?

• ✅ Credit trigger terms: '$289/mo', '72 months', '$2,000 down', 'finance charge' and similar.
• ✅ Missing credit disclosures when a trigger is used: down payment, repayment terms and the APR.
• ✅ Rates not stated as an APR: '0% financing' without 'annual percentage rate' or 'APR'.
• ✅ Lease triggers and missing lease disclosures: that it's a lease, amount due at signing, number and period of payments, and security deposit.
• ✅ Lease rates called APR and lease rates without the required notice.
• ✅ Warranties, trials, rentals and subscriptions aren't treated as credit terms.
• ✅ Output per row: adType, triggerTerms, disclosuresFound, dwellingSecured, riskLevel, issueCount, issues (ruleId, severity, message, quote, sourceUrl, fixHint), checkedAt and a disclaimer.

Who is it for?

• Car dealers and dealer groups checking VDP and listing text across sites.
• Automotive marketplaces and ad agencies screening dealer ads at scale.
• Retailers offering financing ('pay $49/month') checking promo copy.
• Compliance teams and consultants auditing ad libraries.

How to check ads for Truth in Lending trigger terms

1. Click Start with the prefilled example (a monthly payment ad with no APR, a 0% for 72 months offer, a lease payment ad and a fully disclosed ad).
2. Replace the input with your own: title, adText, description and disclaimer (fine print).
3. Or enter a Dataset ID from a Cars.com, AutoTrader, CarGurus, Facebook Ad Library or other ad and listing scraper. Common fields are detected automatically; use Field map for nested ones.
4. Turn on Only save rows with findings to skip clean rows; you only pay for saved rows.
5. Export results as CSV, Excel or JSON, or fetch them through the API.

Input example

This is the prefilled input:

{
  "ads": [
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-CIVIC",
      "title": "Example 2021 Honda Civic EX",
      "adText": "Only $289/mo! Financing available OAC. Low miles, one owner."
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-F150",
      "title": "Example used F-150",
      "adText": "0% financing for 72 months on select trucks!"
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-CAMRY-LEASE",
      "title": "Example 2025 Camry lease",
      "adText": "Lease a new Camry for $299/mo!"
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-RAV4",
      "title": "Example 2023 RAV4 XLE",
      "adText": "$2,000 down, 60 monthly payments of $412 at 4.9% APR, with approved credit. Price excludes tax, title and license."
    }
  ]
}

Dataset mode:

{"datasetId": "YOUR_DATASET_ID", "fieldMap": {"adText": "snapshot.body.text", "disclaimer": "finePrint"}, "onlyFlagged": true}

Output example

Real output from a run of the prefilled input on 2026-11-02 (long finding lists are shortened here; the run returns all of them):

[
  {
    "itemNo": 1,
    "adId": "EXAMPLE-CIVIC",
    "title": "Example 2021 Honda Civic EX",
    "adType": "credit",
    "triggerTerms": [
      "credit: payment amount"
    ],
    "disclosuresFound": {
      "credit": {
        "downPayment": false,
        "termsOfRepayment": false,
        "apr": false
      }
    },
    "dwellingSecured": false,
    "riskLevel": "medium",
    "issueCount": 1,
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "credit_trigger_missing_disclosures",
        "severity": "medium",
        "message": "Credit ad states a trigger term (payment amount) but no down payment amount or percentage; no terms of repayment (number and amount of payments); no 'annual percentage rate' / APR was found. 12 CFR 1026.24(d) then requires the down payment, the terms of repayment and the APR (and whether it may increase).",
        "quote": "Example 2021 Honda Civic EX Only $289/mo! Financing available OAC. Low miles, on...",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1026/24/",
        "fixHint": "Add e.g. '$2,000 down, 60 monthly payments of $412 at 4.9% APR' or remove the trigger term."
      }
    ],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-02T19:51:13+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated keyword screening of the ad text supplied against Regulation Z (12 CFR 1026.24)..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 2,
    "adId": "EXAMPLE-F150",
    "title": "Example used F-150",
    "adType": "credit",
    "triggerTerms": [
      "credit: number of payments or repayment period"
    ],
    "disclosuresFound": {
      "credit": {
        "downPayment": false,
        "termsOfRepayment": false,
        "apr": false
      }
    },
    "dwellingSecured": false,
    "riskLevel": "medium",
    "issueCount": 2,
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "credit_trigger_missing_disclosures",
        "severity": "medium",
        "message": "Credit ad states a trigger term (number of payments or repayment period) but no down payment amount or percentage; no terms of repayment (number and amount of payments); no 'annual percentage rate' / APR was found. 12 CFR 1026.24(d) then requires the down payment, the terms of repayment and the APR (and whether it may increase).",
        "quote": "Example used F-150 0% financing for 72 months on select trucks!",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1026/24/",
        "fixHint": "Add e.g. '$2,000 down, 60 monthly payments of $412 at 4.9% APR' or remove the trigger term."
      },
      {
        "ruleId": "rate_not_stated_as_apr",
        "severity": "medium",
        "message": "A rate of finance charge is stated but the ad never uses 'annual percentage rate' or 'APR'. 12 CFR 1026.24(c) requires any stated rate to be stated as an APR.",
        "quote": "Example used F-150 0% financing for 72 months on select trucks!",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1026/24/",
        "fixHint": "State the rate as e.g. '0% APR'."
      }
    ],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-02T19:51:13+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated keyword screening of the ad text supplied against Regulation Z (12 CFR 1026.24)..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 3,
    "adId": "EXAMPLE-CAMRY-LEASE",
    "title": "Example 2025 Camry lease",
    "adType": "lease",
    "triggerTerms": [
      "lease: payment amount"
    ],
    "disclosuresFound": {
      "lease": {
        "isLease": true,
        "dueAtSigning": false,
        "numberAndPeriodOfPayments": false,
        "securityDeposit": false,
        "endOfTermCharges": false
      }
    },
    "dwellingSecured": false,
    "riskLevel": "medium",
    "issueCount": 2,
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "lease_trigger_missing_disclosures",
        "severity": "medium",
        "message": "Lease ad states a trigger term (payment amount) but no total amount due at lease signing or delivery; no number, amounts and due dates or periods of the scheduled payments; no whether a security deposit is required was found. 12 CFR 1013.7(d) then requires all of them, plus a statement that the transaction is a lease.",
        "quote": "...2025 Camry lease Lease a new Camry for $299/mo!",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1013/7/",
        "fixHint": "Add the missing items (e.g. '36-month closed-end lease, 36 payments of $299. $2,999 due at signing. No security deposit required.')."
      },
      {
        "ruleId": "lease_end_of_term_statement",
        "severity": "info",
        "message": "No statement about end-of-term charges found. 1013.7(d)(2)(v) requires one where the lessee's liability is based on the difference between residual and realized value (open-end leases).",
        "quote": "...2025 Camry lease Lease a new Camry for $299/mo!",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1013/7/",
        "fixHint": null
      }
    ],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-02T19:51:13+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated keyword screening of the ad text supplied against Regulation Z (12 CFR 1026.24)..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 4,
    "adId": "EXAMPLE-RAV4",
    "title": "Example 2023 RAV4 XLE",
    "adType": "credit",
    "triggerTerms": [
      "credit: payment amount",
      "credit: number of payments or repayment period",
      "credit: down payment amount or percentage"
    ],
    "disclosuresFound": {
      "credit": {
        "downPayment": true,
        "termsOfRepayment": true,
        "apr": true
      }
    },
    "dwellingSecured": false,
    "riskLevel": "info only",
    "issueCount": 1,
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "trigger_terms_with_disclosures",
        "severity": "info",
        "message": "Trigger terms found and the required disclosures appear in the text. Check accuracy and that they're clear and conspicuous.",
        "quote": null,
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1026/24/",
        "fixHint": null
      }
    ],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-02T19:51:13+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated keyword screening of the ad text supplied against Regulation Z (12 CFR 1026.24)..."
  }
]

How much does it cost to check financing ads?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing: $0.003 per ad saved plus a $0.00005 start fee per run, plus small platform usage paid by you (a few hundredths of a cent for small runs). That's about $3.00 for 1,000 ads and $30.00 for 10,000 plus usage. With Only save rows with findings on, rows without findings aren't saved or charged. You can set a maximum cost per run in the run options.

Use it through the API, integrations or AI agents

• Run it and get results in one call: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ultimatemc~financing-ad-trigger-term-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items
• Use it from AI agents through the Apify MCP server: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=ultimatemc/financing-ad-trigger-term-checker
• Schedule it after a daily scraper run, send flagged rows to Slack or email with webhooks, or connect it to Make, Zapier, n8n or Google Sheets.
• Chain it after any listing or ad library scraper by passing the scraper's dataset ID.

How it works

Checks are deterministic rules written from 12 CFR 1026.24 (Regulation Z advertising) and 12 CFR 1013.7 (Regulation M lease advertising) on the CFPB's site, checked on 2026-11-02. Ad text, description and fine print are read together, and context such as warranty terms, trial periods and rentals is skipped. No AI and no external calls.

Sources:

• CFPB: 12 CFR 1026.24, Advertising (Regulation Z)
• CFPB: 12 CFR 1013.7, Advertising (Regulation M)

FAQ

What is a trigger term?

A specific credit term in an ad, such as the payment amount, number of payments, term, down payment or finance charge. Using one requires other disclosures in the same ad.

Is 'financing available' a trigger?

No. General statements like 'easy monthly payments' or 'financing available' don't trigger extra disclosures.

Does it cover home loans?

It flags dwelling-secured ads with an info note, since Regulation Z has extra rules for them that aren't fully checked.

Does it read fine print in images?

No. Pass the disclaimer text in the disclaimer field if you have it.

Is it AI?

No. It's a fixed set of rules, so the same input always gives the same result.

Limitations

• Text only; disclosures in images, video or linked pages aren't seen.
• State advertising rules aren't covered.
• Dwelling-secured, open-end and multi-page ads have extra rules that are only partly covered.

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Found a false positive? Open an issue on the Issues tab with the ad text and what you expected, and we'll review the rule.