Time Isn't Money

Mimicking the almost instantaneous ability of credit card vendours to assess consumer eligibility, it seems home loan providers are getting in on the act.

However evidence indicates outright speed isn’t the leading driver influencing decision making for consumers when it comes to choosing which provider to go with for a mortgage.

A new CoreData study of the residential home loan market reveals that price (45.92%) is by far the leading driver being purchases, with speed of processing only ranked first by 1.63% of people when given a choice of 11 factors (see chart below).

Despite this, non-bank lender Wizard has recently spent a huge amount of money introducing automated machines into shopping centres and other places to provide potential customers with a ’60 second assessment’ of whether they are eligible for a loan and what type of package they might like to consider.

OK, so most people when they go to the shops don’t expect to leave with a whopping great mortgage to complement their bags of groceries and other goods, but the idea – in this instance by Wizard – is at least in theory a good one.

By reinforcing its brand awareness and the fact people, after seeing the bright orange ATM-lookalike unit, may discuss the idea of property even if they don’t personally try out answering the 18 short questions the machine throws at them, the group is positioning itself as a port of call for people when they are interested in seeking finance.

Saying that, the three key factors that drive consumer perception of the attractiveness of a home loan brand are price (45.92%), flexibility (17.30%) and customer focus (16.30%) – and none of these are being established through the use of little orange machines.

Therefore for Wizard and other providers, this proves that at the end of the day people need people to sell them things, and that technology is merely an aid to assist in the process.