Internet helps customers to be 'financially savvy'...
24 September 2007
Increased coverage of the property market online and by the media has led consumers to make more informed choices about their finances, a mortgage broker has claimed.
According to Charcol, access to a greater amount of information about the mortgage market, home information packs, stamp duty and other related issues has bred a greater number of more clued-up consumers.
A spokesperson for the firm pointed out that the internet in particular has helped make the property market more accessible, allowing people to understand what they can and cannot afford.
He said that the web now gives people "the ability to look at all of the market so you don't have to do the traditional running around and getting three or four quotes from various different places and waiting on the phone".
"The internet has made mortgages a lot easier to deal with," he said.
"There is nowhere near as much confusion in the consumer's mind when it comes to mortgages. The more knowledge the general public have about something, the easier it becomes to understand."
September statistics released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders stated that the number and value of mortgages taken out by home buyers fell in July, while affordability for first time buyers also continued to worsen with buyers committing 19.7 per cent of their income to pay their mortgage interest.
