Gambling they say is a mugs game, yet it seems this is what a company with the self proclaimed name of ‘Mortgage Watchdog’ is encouraging consumers to do.

The group sells a software program that alleges an almost certain probability of detecting errors in bank mortgage statements, resulting in a payment back to consumers.

“Not only are you guaranteed to find errors in your bank statements but we also back this up with a 100% accuracy guarantee”, is one of the messages Mortgage Watchdog uses to spruik its software.

Quite a statement wouldn’t you agree?

Forking out $198 for the software isn’t gambling according to Mortgage Watchdog, no, consumers are simply taking back what is rightfully theirs and has most certainly been taken from them by their bank.

Now burningpants isn’t claiming financial institutions don’t make mistakes on their interest calculations or charge customers incorrect fees, but the language employed by Mortgage Watchdog is highly questionable and has a very strong sales slant.

By shelling out the near-on $200, consumers can GUARANTEE the software will find an error in four years of bank statements or punters will get their money back and an additional $250 for having their time wasted.

Niche Mortgage Solutions Pty. Ltd, trading as Mortgage Watchdog, has all the hallmarks of a spruiker in a corporate guise – in this instance though it’s for software and not the property itself.

burningpants decided to call the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Bankers Association, the Banking Ombudsman and Melbourne-based consumer watchdog group, Consumer Action to see if any of them had an opinion.

None of these groups had either heard of the Mortgage Watchdog or were aware of any increased incidence of complaints regarding banks ripping people off.

“There is no indication that more people are lodging complaints in relation to banks over charging on home loans,” a spokeperson for the Banking Ombudsman told burningpants.

Meanwhile by advertising in mainstream media, Mortgage Watchdog continues to pray on both people’s scepticism towards banks and their emotional purchase triggers.

The group claims that inertia is costly:

“Do nothing and you are likely to pay 7 times this amount in overcharges this year.”

“Pay a statement checking company to check just 6 months of statements for you and you will spend more than double the cost of the software.”

“Ask your bank to check your statements for you and in just two hours you will be charged more than double the cost of the software.”

Has anybody bought this software and if so were your findings as black and white in your favour as the testimonials Mortgage Watchdog has on its website?