At least one leading rate site is pointing to growth in the number of brokers now on its waiting list, suggesting a slowing market is partly responsible for the increase.
“I would say that it’s one of the factors that are driving interest,” Kelvin Mangaroo, of RateSupermarket.ca, told MortgageBrokerNews.ca Wednesday. “We have definitely seen the waiting list grow, not shrink.”
The comments come as the head of one leading high-volume brokerage confirms his team is taking a hiatus from rate comparison sites. That time is needed to revaluate the benefits of that lead generation strategy and what if any direct-to-consumer marketing could effectively take its place.
That brokerage’s retreat may represent the minority, with at least one other rate site pointing to expanding broker interest. Mangaroo also suggests that the big banks are no less eager to list their rates on his site as a way of dangling their wares in front of the thousands of rate shoppers heading online.
Those borrowers are traditionally dismissed by brokers as fickle and focused almost exclusively on rate. Brokers are also concerned any growing use of the sites erodes their own value proposition by reducing the mortgage transaction to rate.
There’s some indication they may be right, with a leading finance blogger pointing to his own attempts to use rate sites and their advertised offerings in renewal negotiations with his bank. It’s the role of bargaining chip that many brokers used to play.
