It includes a “fresh” health check after Moneysavingexpert.com founder Martin Lewis told the Treasury Select Committee that most of the tools on its website were “crap”.
Lewis specifically referred to the health check calling it “abominable”.
MAS said the new version has simplified action plans and the facility for users to combine all their actions in one list and save them.
Advice is more tailored and when someone uses the site it will recognise areas of interest and automatically suggest other related topics, tools and calculators.
This will be based on what other customers have used and found helpful before.
The site’s “decision engine” considers how people arrive at the website and will customise content accordingly.
If someone arrives from a parenting website link, content is tailored around parenting.
As more people use the website, MAS claims “the more effective the system becomes in predicting users’ advice and information needs”.
Users are invited to register to get more out of the service- registration is not compulsory, but if they do, content and tools will be tailored to their needs.
The initial advantages of registration include users being able to create and manage their own personal “to do” list; access their stored health check action plan; and receive email updates and reminders.
Further upgrades will allow users to save the results of other tools and calculators.
MAS chairman Gerard Lemos said: “We committed to making changes over the summer and these have now begun.
“We will continue making improvements to help fill the advice gap and encourage people to take action and change their financial behaviour.”
Wherever relevant MAS provides direct links to over 300 other organisations ranging from charities (e.g. Citizens Advice, Age UK, Shelter) to Government services (e.g. HMRC, Directgov, OFT), through to private-sector services (e.g. uSwitch, Money Supermarket, eBay).
The upgrade will be accompanied by new evaluation tools to measure the organisation’s impact across its online, telephone and face-to-face services.
