The great British public still needs some convincing over the potential of buying a mortgage online. According to Ofcom, 64 per cent of adults have online access, and as shown by the popularity of consumer sites like Tesco.com and Ebay.co.uk, many show no fear of financial transactions over the internet.
But buying a mortgage online is still something very few of us are prepared to do. Knowing this, not all mortgage lenders offer this service yet Alliance & Leicester, Egg, Nationwide Building Society and Halifax are among the lenders who do.
Figures from broker John Charcol in June suggest the average online mortgage borrower is a 38-year-old male, although 52 per cent of online applications are made jointly, with 36 per cent from single males and 12 per cent from single females.
Many consumers, however, recognise that buying a mortgage is one of the most important financial decisions they will ever make and so still feel uncomfortable making it essentially alone in front of a computer screen.
Informations what you need
However, research is where the internet comes into its own. Statistics suggest that well over 20 per cent of all borrowers started off researching their options on the internet.
The internet is the perfect starting point for embarrassment-free, hassle-free and largely cash-free mortgage research. The mortgage search tool page, where surfers can type in their details and browse the mortgage search results, are the most frequently visited pages on any mortgage-related website.
Broadly speaking there are three types of sites mortgage lender sites, mortgage adviser sites and financial supermarkets offering links to other financial websites and information. All these differ enormously in quality, style and content, which is why we mystery-shopped the top five results of our Google search.
Friend or foe?
But quantity doesnt always mean quality on the internet. Common problems include too much unsignposted information, which means you may waste time or find it difficult to distinguish between advertising material and researched editorial.
However, since every mortgage lender became compelled to offer Key Fact Illustrations (KFIs potted summaries of all the important information about the mortgage), internet-derived information has become much more useful. On quality sites, you can compare and contrast products next to each other and play with the results until they tell you, for example, how much youd have to overpay to shorten your mortgage term by five years.
If you have any additional questions, most mortgage sites offer a telephone helpline or link to quality mortgage advice free or otherwise. But turning to our mystery-shop, we tapped mortgage search into Google and reviewed the top five results in order of popularity.
