Shop For Personal Finance

The advent of the Internet and the introduction of personal computers into most households has had a lasting effect on the way we spend our money. First came the online shops like Amazon, then mainstream outlets offering the option to buy online and supermarkets where you can purchase online and have your groceries delivered. The popularity of auction sites such as Ebay is phenomenal, to the extent where they now advertise on television. It seems that now we’re taking it one step further, while Internet banking has been around for quite some time, we’re now investing far more time in organising personal finance such as personal loans, credit cards and insurance over the Internet.

Sainsbury’s Bank has reported an increase of 208% in people visiting their website in the last 12 months and it looks like the trend for using online financial services is set to continue in 2005. Research has also found that consumers purchasing personal finance online is set to increase by 27% in 2005 which would bring the figure to 4.3 million.

However this revolution in Internet personal finance isn’t confined to consumers buying their financial services online, AA insurance has found that 3 out of every 4 consumers research motor insurance online. Even those of us who have no access to the Internet may use friends and families to help them research personal finance to find the best deals before buying via a more traditional method.
What are the most popular personal finance products to be purchased online? Sainsbury’s Bank research shows the top three are car insurance with 58% of consumers buying online, credit cards with 24% buying online and home contents insurance with 23% buying online.

There seem to be two main reasons for this growing trend in Internet personal finance. Firstly the widespread introduction of broadband across the country means people can shop for personal finance such as insurance, loans and credit cards at their leisure without worry about phone bills and with a connection speed that makes the process much easier. As BT is about to sign up its 5 millionth broadband user it looks like an increase in Internet personal finance is definitely likely to happen.

The second reason for an increase in popularity of Internet personal finance is a change in the regulations surrounding it. Up until December of last year consumers could apply for credit cards and loans online but had to complete and return a paper version of the agreement before the contract was considered complete. However new rules now allow personal finance transactions to be completed online which has made the process vastly easier.

Although online personal finance services are extremely popular and look set to increase in popularity even more we still like to have the opportunity to deal with personal finance face to face if we chose. Only 15% say they would be happy conducting all their personal finance online. So whether its credit cards, personal loans, insurance or banking as consumers we can chose whether to use online services or branch services or both and it seems we’re making the most of that choice.