UK Loan Comparison Websites Exposed – Useful or Gimmic Marketing Tool?

UK loan comparison websites, at first glance, would seem to be the obvious place to go when looking for a low rate loan in the UK.

Given that they advertise that they buy a large number of lenders, it is logical to assume that, in general, one should expect that the lowest of the low low rate loan in the UK.

And if they are all as good as the rest, there should be a high level of agreement among UK loan comparison sites as to which company should be crowned the ‘best UK low rate loan’: in the United Kingdom.

So we decided to put this to the test and ‘compare several UK loan comparison sites’ and find out which one is the best, or if all the tested UK loan comparison sites agree, so in theory , it should not be like that. no matter which of the UK low rate loan comparison sites you use to find the lowest APR.

Initially, we planned to test a much larger sample than taking the top 3 Google loan comparison sites in the UK from our search, but it soon became apparent that using a loan comparison site to compare different loan amounts, periods and loan products (whether unsecured personal loan or secured loan) actually takes a lot more time than we expected.

So in the end, we only looked at the top 3 loan comparison services, according to Google (only in terms of the order that Google placed them in response to our search term).

At first glance, uswitch.com appears to have the upper hand, in terms of being, when we tested, more dominant among Google search results than its peers.

We were also impressed by the high ranking in Google search results of moneysupermarket.com and moneynet.co.uk

So the next thing we did was compare these ‘UK loan comparison’ websites in terms of their recommendations. We looked at an unsecured UK loan of £ 3,000 for 3 years, £ 5,000 for 5 years and £ 10,000 for 5 years.

One of the first things that immediately became apparent was that almost all of the lenders (returned by the search) based the actual interest rate you would actually end up paying, on your application credit score, so you won’t know what rate Interest rate You are expected to pay until after you have applied for a loan and after the lender has registered a search against your address with credit reference agencies. (So ​​what’s the point of comparing interest rates that might not even apply? I hope to hear you ask!)

To be fair, Moneysupermarket seemed to have a tool to ‘do a quick check’ of your creditworthiness without leaving any traces in your records; the others can also have such a facility, although we do not detect it immediately. And it was not clear whether the Moneysupermarket service would in any way influence the loan decision of his chosen lender.

The big items they focus on are whether you are a homeowner and have county court judgments or a history of late payments on any UK loans you have had in the past. – UK loan comparison websites are also interested in whether you would like your search to be prioritized to see the facilities available through them.

Call me cynical, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I was being introduced to loan facilities that would pay the best commission to the UK loan comparison website for my click and application, than the best genuine lender. (But like I say, call me cynical!)

Call me ‘double cynical’, when this was reinforced by my search results for an ‘unsecured loan’ containing (for loans over £ 5,000) ‘guaranteed’ loan advertisements, tantalizingly positioned amongst search results for unsecured loans! “But I can’t tell you where this was, because their legal department is bigger than mine!”

It was at least reassuring to see zopa.com stand out on all three UK loan comparison sites, and if you are looking for a UK low rate loan, theirs seems to be an excellent low rate loan service in the UK, ‘sticking our tongue out’ at traditional banks and direct lenders, which is well worth a look.

All that said, Moneysupermarket.com has a neat feature, which shows the acceptance rate of the different products on offer and the customer service rating of different companies. Among these, Moneyback Bank appeared to have a particularly high rating for acceptance and service, although it was not clear how this rating had been arrived at.

In short, and of course I would say: “Look at what the UK loan comparison sites have to offer”, but whatever you do, check their advice with a variety of lenders independently, before making a decision. on where to apply.

UK loan comparison sites may highlight lenders you hadn’t even thought of, but my advice would be to ‘be a healthy cynic’ and take any online advice and easy loan search ‘shortcuts’ with a seriously pinch of salt! – This is an area where, despite the Internet, you will still have to do a lot of work on your own.