Adam Shostack
finds a company distintermediating
the other half of the
house buying confusopoly,
mortgages:
SmartHippo today launched the public beta version of the first ever web site that allows individuals to use the power of a community to save money and make better decisions when shopping for rates on financial products and services.This is different from companies like LendingTree that already facilitate getting multiple bids for mortages in that SmartHippo lets mortgage customers comment on their experiences. Participatory, if you will.“The lending industry is in a state of transformation,” said George Favvas, President of SmartHippo, “and consumers are demanding more control and transparency in their dealings with banks and mortgage companies.”
SmartHippo allows any individual to post information and feedback on the rate they received, and to compare rates with other members of the community with similar profiles. This lessens the chance of consumers with the same lending and risk profile getting different rates on the same loan, which can happen currently.
— SmartHippo.com Launches World’s First Community Comparison Shopping Site for Financial Services at TechCrunch40 Event; Founding Participating Banks Include QuickenLoans and Bank of Internet, PRWeb, 17 Sept 2007
-jsq
From what I could understand about the site it’s more about crowd sourcing: people post their rates so other can compare them with theirs. Also reading from Lendingtree’s feedback they provide quotes not based on the best rates but based on what banks pay for that person’s informartion. In a sense it’s definetivly a leap ahead.
Take a look at SecureRights.com. What SmartHippo is doing is no different than LendingTree, Low.com or the myrid of other lead generation sites. Look at the following; http://smarthippo.com/LeadPoint.jsp. Essentially they are selling your information to the highest bidder through the SecureRights network.
Big deal if they add a button to rate a mortgage, why would i trust this community. This is really nothing but Bankrate 2.0. I can search rates and make comments about them.
Consumercontrol,
As George points out in a comment on my post, the SecureRights is a small, and optional, part of the functionality they offer. You can use their site fully anonymously to browse rates, and contribute your own based on an email address. You don’t have to touch securerights or get a quote through them at all.