Megan B. Shepherd on Muck Rack

Megan B. Shepherd

Verified
Dallas
As seen in: Finder.com, Aol, Disney Publishing, Nasdaq, ValueWalk, Wichita Eagle, Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Daily Gazette, Pantagraph, MediaFeed.org, The Daily Nonpareil
Covers:  Personal finance, loans, insurance

Get in touch with Megan B.

Contact Megan B., search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.

Learn more about Muck Rack

Actions

Share this page

Megan B. Shepherd’s Biography

Read Full Bio →

Megan B. Shepherd is a personal finance editor at Finder committed to helping people navigate the financial world of loans.

Her personal finance expertise has been featured on Forbes, Nasdaq, MediaFeed, Fox News, Time, Reviews.com, and carinsurance.com, adding invaluable information related to personal loans, financial strategies and smart borrowing tactics.

Outside of her role as a personal finance loans expert, Megan has a background working as a certified financial adviser and also earned …

Articles

Best No-Appraisal Home Equity Loans and HELOCs (2026)

|
By Megan B. Shepherd Verified
| Finder.com Verified
No. Your home is still valued — the lender just uses an AVM or desktop appraisal instead of sending a licensed appraiser inside. If the AVM doesn't produce a confident enough result for your property, the lender may require a traditional appraisal anyway. Yes, they're legitimate products from licensed lenders. The main trade-off is that an AVM may undervalue your property, resulting in a lower borrowing limit than you'd get with a full appraisal. That's a financial consideration, not a safety issue.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

SmartBiz Review: For More Established Businesses (2026)

|
By Megan B. Shepherd Verified
| Finder.com Verified
We currently don't have that product, but here are others to consider: Looking for other options? Check out other similar products. How we picked these The Finder Score crunches 12+ types of business loans across 35+ lenders. It takes into account the product's interest rate, fees and features, as well as the type of loan eg investor, variable, fixed rate - this gives you a simple score out of 10. To provide a Score, we compare like-for-like loans.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Hometap HEI Review: Save Now, Pay Later (2026)

|
By Megan B. Shepherd Verified
| Finder.com Verified
Hometap’s June 2026 pricing uses a 1.65x multiplier for settlements in years 0–5 and 1.80x in years 6–10, with an 18.5% annual cap regardless of how much your home appreciates. There are no monthly payments, no income or DTI requirements, and the minimum FICO score is 575 — but the full amount owed comes due as a lump sum at the 10-year mark or when you sell.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?
See all 510 articles

Interview

See all →

Have you ever used a typewriter?

Yes, for fun!

What tools and software do you use to do your job?

Ahrefs, Google Analytics, SEOsurfer, Copyscape

Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?

I contributed to journalism as well as graphics and layout.
 •  Privacy  •  Terms  •  Security and Legal  •   •   •   • 

© 2026 Muck Rack

SOC 2® Certified