One of the greatest things about the Internet is the power it gives consumers to get pricing information on anything from mortgages to insurance to auto loans and savings accounts … and everything in between. Companies are willing to fight over you and that means you’ll stand a great chance of getting a better deal than ever before.
Mortgages
Companies like or Mortgage Search 123 farm your information out to several lenders/brokers who then compete for your business. With rates on Bankrate.com as low as 4.59% (as of August 2010) for a 30-year fixed rate loan, if you haven’t refinanced by now, I’d highly recommend getting on board. Generally, if you have an adjustable rate mortgage or a fixed rate significantly higher than the current going rate, refinancing can make sense. Right now there is very little downside risk, but a LOT of upside risk (rates can only go down just SO low). I didn’t wait, and neither should you.
Insurance
The same thing now happens with insurance (car, life, health, homeowners or renters). Companies like NetQuote and Insureme.com both offer consumers the ability to enter some information on a web page and get multiple quotes on auto insurance, homowner’s insurance, or almost any other insurance you could want (including business insurance). I’ve been able to find MUCH lower rates on my car insurance and at least one of your fellow readers was able to significantly lower his homeowner’s insurance rate.
Loans and savings accounts
Similarly, MoneyAisle arranges competitions for your car loan business, your Certificate of Deposit business, and even your savings account business. Just on savings accounts, there were 106 institutions waiting to bid when I checked yesterday. Here’s how it works: Say I’m looking to invest $10,000 in a six-month CD. I provide some information, my state of residence, to MoneyAisle and they tell me how many want to bid based on the information I provided. Why would one bank be willing to outbid another? A bank may be willing to pay a higher rate than a competitor if it needs cash to meet other obligations. According to the site. bidding progresses in rounds with competing banks dropping out when the highest bid exceeds their parameters.
