New Mortgage Website Recommends Not to Apply On-line
Added: (Fri Mar 16 2001)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
Moneyquest.co.uk, one of the largest telephone-based mortgage brokers aims to become one of the top five mortgage introducers in the UK by December 2001 with the launch of its new website and Internet call centre operation. But despite the launch of its own Internet operation on Monday (19th March), the company is warning mortgage hunters not to apply on-line.
Previously known as The WH Partnership, the company was started in 1989 and has steadily increased its mortgage volumes over the years to become one of the largest producers of mortgage business in the UK. Based in Scotland, the new venture – Moneyquest will offer the UK consumer choice, value for money and a friendly service, combined with cutting edge technology. The management team has a proven track record in mortgages and financial services and has strong links with the UK’s leading product providers.
Moneyquest’s site enables consumers to compare a wide range of financial products and providers, yet actively recommends that the customer don’t apply online!! Instead the website provides the customer with comparison and pricing information that can be followed through with a freephone telephone conversation with a trained Moneyquest Consultant.
Paul Reynolds, Operations Director of Moneyquest, said: “We believe customers still want the choice of being able to speak to someone to get all the information they need as well as taking advantage of the Internet to do their comparison shopping. The key lesson to be drawn from the experience of our Internet-only competitors, like E-loan, is that you cannot divorce the Internet from the telephone. We are not looking at the Internet as a distribution channel, but more as a way to communicate with, and provide fast information to our customers.”
Recent research has shown that online brokers trying to cash in on the lucrative mortgage lending business have been hit hard by the slow take-up of online mortgages. In the past six months in America, eight start-up companies, including Mortgage.com, Homespace.com, Loanz.com, Onloan.com, eJumbo.com, and iOwn.com, have stopped offering mortgages. In the UK E-loan and other online brokers have failed to get the volume of online transactions required*
Although Moneyquest is based in Scotland more than 90 per cent of its customers live in England and Wales, proving that there is a strong market for telephone-based mortgage brokers. They are also one of the few brokers who do not charge an arrangement fee whereas most of the large mortgage brokers can charge a fee of up to 1 per cent of the amount borrowed. On an average loan of £75000 this could represent a saving of £750.
The company has an ongoing commitment to investment in technology and has already invested in the region of £1 million into software, technology and recruitment and plans to make further investment into technology throughout 2001 and double the size of our workforce.
Paul Reynolds added: “The systems and procedures we have implemented to-date give us a significant advantage at point of sale and increase our competitiveness by reducing our administrative costs and increasing individual consultants production by up to 300%. The quality of our staff and the technology we are employing will set us apart from the competition.”
Moneyquest is also in negotiations with a number of online mortgage brokers regarding the provision of a white label telephone-based fulfilment service for their website. Many brokers either cannot handle enquiries from all over the UK or are not getting the take up of online applications in any significant volume. The Moneyquest White label proposition can help to deliver a better service to the customer and increase the revenue generated from the site.
Moneyquest has set itself ambitious targets. The company is projecting that they will arrange £250 million of mortgage business in 2001 and £500 million in 2002.
Steve Pollard, Managing Director of Moneyquest said: “To date, no one seems to have fully realised the potential that the combination of the Internet and the telephone can bring. We intend to give our customers all the benefits of a face to face consultation using the Internet, telephone, email and post. Web only strategies are destined to fail at this point as no-one seems to be converting more than one per cent. Our telephone based service is producing conversions in excess of 20 per cent and we are convinced that some of the improvements we have planned could increase this to 30 per cent.