Commentary
With the exception of refinance shoppers, most financial products experienced a downturn in both shopping and applications compared to November (see November chart below). This is not unusual during the busy December holiday period. Other observations:

• On the bright side, the mortgage refi category experienced a sharp spike, up 27% in shopping volume, as mortgage rates dropped for conventional loans. However, that activity did not lead to an increase in applications, as that total dropped 17%. The busy holiday period may be to blame for the lack of follow through or consumers may have held off anticipating further rate drops.
• Surprisingly, mortgage applications for home purchase actually increased 8% even though shopping activity dropped 5%.
• There was no good news with home equity, as shopping declined 10% and application/leads went down 6%. Several companies experienced double-digit drops in conversion and leads/applications.
• Credit card applications decreased 6% overall and with all but two of the tracked companies experiencing declines. The only good news: shopper-to-applicant conversion was up more than 3 points compared to November.
• On the deposit side, the number of shoppers and applicants was down across-the-board. Several large financial institutions saw double-digit drops in prospects and applicants.
• The biggest decline, most likely due to rate cuts, was in the high-yield savings category, which posted a 23% month-over-month decline in application volume. Conversion rates also slipped for all but two companies indicating that shoppers may have been disappointed with the posted rates.

Reference

About the Financial Services Scorecard
In April, we introduced the Financial Services Monthly Performance scorecard produced by Compete. It summarizes the overall performance of 23 large U.S. financial institutions and lead-generation sites. Refer here for the detailed methodology as well as companies tracked.