Bank of Montreal
Bank of Montreal (Montreal, Canada; $100 billion USD) does an excellent job marketing home loans on the Web <www.bmo.com/mortgage/>. Visitors to the mortgage area are greeted with a choice of four virtual doors representing the major types of home loan services: “I want to purchase a home,” “seasoned home owner on the move,” “why switch (your loan) to BMO,” and “already have a BMO loan (refinance or renew).” Visitors move forward through on of the doors or conduct a key-word search of the mortgage area (lower left-hand corner in screenshot below).

BMO’s “Mortgage workshop” uses three intuitive financial calculators that cover the most common “what-if” scenarios faced by mortgage buyers:

• Renting vs. owning
• How much (home) can I afford?
• Mortgage number cruncher

The “rent vs. buy” calculator requires the entry of just three data points: rent payment, interest rate (a link is provided to current rates), and amount of savings. In a matter of seconds prospective homeowners find out just home much home they could afford using the same monthly payment and minimum (5%) down payment. BMO simplifies the analysis by making the valid assumption that first-time buyers will choose the maximum amortization period (25 years).

BMO’s “number cruncher” is another must-have calculator. Users enter any three of four available data fields and the bank’s server fills in the missing field. In the screenshot right we input: 8% interest, $1,000 monthly payment, 30-year amortization, and the calculator returned a mortgage amount of $137,986.04 (we could do without the $0.04).

Wisely, BMO provides a smooth path from the mortgage workshop to the selling fields. The “Online Mortgage Selector” (below) leads users through the sometimes daunting loan selection process.

Once a loan is selected, users are presented with the online loan application. In case users tire of the online application process, BMO provides motivation with continuous reinforcement of the 0.25% rate discount earned by online applicants, and the promise of instant gratification with real-time mortgage loan approval (more on that next month). Flexing its marketing muscles, BMO also offers free air miles (up to 500 actual travel miles) for originating or refinancing a mortgage loan <www.bmo.com/mortgage/ html/airmiles.html/>. Tom Alton is President, Bank of Montreal Mortgage Corporation, 416.927.5442.

Bank of America
Bank of America (San Francisco, CA; $243 billion; 10.5 million ATM cards) has been doing home loans on the Web for as long as anybody <www.p-finance/athome.html>. More than a Web-generation ago, at a July 1995 conference, Karen Shapiro, BofA’s Internet Channel Manager, said the bank was able to cost-justify its entire Web with just the mortgage leads generated by a “have someone call” button (OBR 8/95 p.8).

Another industry first, HomeWorth queries public records to compile a “market value” report comparing your home to 30 homes sold within a half mile radius.

BofA may have the flashiest bank-run home loan area on the Net. The latest innovation: HomeWorth Search from Dataquick Information Services. Users type in a street address, city and zip code and HomeWorth returns the property’s assessed value, number of bathrooms, bedrooms, square feet of house, square feet of lot, whether it has a garage, property taxes, most recent purchase date, and purchase price. As if that isn’t enough to wow most users, the search also delivers the same information on up to 30 homes sold in the past 12 months within a half-mile of the target property. Get the details at <www.bankamerica.com/p-finance/athome/hmworth_faq.html>. The service is FREE, for now.

It probably goes without saying that BofA also provides well-researched financial calculators, catchy special offers, and a slick online application. For example, the “home size” calculator does a good job simplifying the process. It asks for just income, interest rate and down payment. The output is especially effective, clearly stating the assumptions and results including maximum non-mortgage debt, estimated mortgage and insurance payment, etc. BofA should consider, however, an optional “advanced calculator” that allows users to enter more specific information on debt payments, insurance, etc. Karen Shapiro runs BofA’s Web, 415.278.7924.

Salem Five
Salem Five (Salem, MA; $800 million), one of the first 100 banks on the Web, has been using the same lead generation tool, an interactive and personalized “$100 off closing cost” coupon, since mid-‘95, <www.salemfive.com/specials/coupon.html> (below). That ranks it as one of the longest running Web-based lead-generation devices in existence. And it still looks as fresh as ever (see below), a testament to the leading-edge work done by Salem Five and its Web designer, Utopia. The ingenious thing about this coupon is that to fill it out you must provide your name, phone, and e-mail address. Then, guess what? You get a call from a Salem mortgage rep the next day.

Salem Five is also pioneering the use of real estate listings <www.homelistings.com> to cement relations with Realtors and drive home-buyers to its site (see OBR 7/96 p.17). Mike Fitzgerald is SVP and Internet Guru at Salem Five, 508.740.5325, mrf@salemfive.com.