Google axes UK mortgage plans
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Google has scrapped plans for a UK mortgage comparison service after closing its US version.
Google Advisor Mortgage was set up in the US two years ago and came to form part of the online Google Advisor website in July, which allowed investors to search and compare financial offers from a range of providers. Google also offered mortgage comparison services in other countries.
It launched a UK trial version of the service in July under the name UK Compare Mortgages. The website was suspended in September with a message saying it was being revamped.
Google has confirmed it began scaling back the service globally in November and closed it completely this month.
It says the service was not as successful as it had hoped. A spokesman says: “We have been prioritising our product efforts, which means taking a hard look at products that have not been as successful as we would have hoped. We have closed down the mortgage search feature.”
Last March, Google bought comparison site Beatthatquote. com for £37.7m, which includes a mortgage quote service.
London & Country associate director of communications David Hollingworth says: “A lot of comparison firms pay Google to get traffic through its search engine and this would appear to be in competition with that.”
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Readers' comments (4)
Ancient Wisdom...is a mortgage broker in N3 | 8 Feb 2012 2:30 pm
Is getting a mortgage these days really as simple as looking up the best rate and then clicking on Google checkout? - If so, mortgage brokers are a doomed.
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Anonymous | 8 Feb 2012 3:32 pm
Its lenders who offer the best rates through comparison sites, then being declined which is keeping mortgage brokers in business. Ancient tool.
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Jonathan T | 8 Feb 2012 4:53 pm
Ancient Wisdom - no it isn't, and no we're not. A lot of clients I speak to come back to me after experiencing first hand the process of mortgage underwriting without the assistance of a broker. All too often they find it isn't as simple as they thought.
For people who have extremely straightforward cases, yes, often they can get a better deal direct. But there is always and always will be a great number of people who have the need to use a broker for whatever reason. We are here to stay my friend, make no mistake.
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Ancient Wisdom...is a mortgage broker in N3 | 9 Feb 2012 2:09 pm
..that was a tongue in cheek comment at highlighting that mortgages are not easy to obtain or arrange these days and a good broker is essential.
Demand for our services will only increase.
May we all prosper!
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