Summary
According to data from Compete's consumer panel, March rebounded from the lower traffic in February. Every product, except standard savings accounts, posted increases in the number of applications. Credit cards were the biggest gainer (up 24% in shoppers, up 13% in applications) following sharp declines the past few months. Home loans market performed similarly, with double digit increases in applications for both purchase (up 15%) and refinances (up 12%). 

New this month, we have valid year-over-year comparisons shown (see note 1). Compared to a year ago, both checking and credit cards applicants and shoppers have risen significantly. Home loan shoppers are up slightly, but applications are up. 

Commentary

• Credit cards saw a large jump in both shoppers and applicants. The credit crisis seems to have benefited the credit cards market as applications, especially for balance transfer cards, have increased. Compared to a year ago, shoppers are up 47% and applicants are up 53%. However, conversion dropped by 2% from February.

• Deposits saw overall shopper loss in all three segments during March but applications for checking were up 2% as were high yield savings (up 8%). Last year at this time, deposits were increasing across all segments. In March of 2008, however, applicant levels are below what they were in 2007 with 31% drop in high yield savings applicants and a 7% decline in all savings accounts.

• After a terrible February, refinance mortgages posted a 27% gain in shoppers as well as 12% gain in applicants. Year over year refinance applications are up 32% from a year ago. Purchase mortgages also saw a similar improvement from last month with a gain of 23% over last year. Home equity had the largest gain in applications in the month of March as leads/applications (note 2) grew 34%. Year over year however, applications are down 32% due to the housing crisis of the past few months.

About the Financial Services Scorecard
A year ago, 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.

Notes:
1. New this month: Year-over-year comparisons are now included in the monthly table. Because of ongoing methodology tweaks, the percentages in this table may be slightly different than if you went back to the data from a year ago and calculated the change. 

2. Leads/applicants = Leads or applications depending on whether the site being tracked is a lead generation site or an actual lender.

Summary
According to data from Compete's consumer panel, both applicants and shoppers in all segments dropped in February. Recession fears appear to be negatively impacting sales activity. However, conversion rates stayed relatively constant except for credit cards, indicating that those still shopping are serious buyers. 

Commentary

• The credit card industry saw a slight decline in both shoppers and applicants (note 1). This has been the case for the past few months following the large holiday push by the credit card companies. Conversion dropped significantly to 23%, down 6% from January and down 9% from December. However, it's back to where it was in second quarter 2007, so it may be more of a seasonal drop than a falloff in demand. 
• Deposits saw losses across all three segments, especially high-yield savings which was down 25% in applications, as the Fed's rate cuts trickled through the banking industry. In checking, all but two competitors tracked saw decreased application volumes. 
• Refinance mortgages had the biggest drop in February, posting a 30% decline in shoppers and 19% in applications. Purchase mortgages saw a similar decline in applications (down 18%), but only an 18% drop in shoppers. 
• The home equity segment fared the best in the home loan category with 10% fewer applications and an 8% drop in shoppers.
  

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.

Note:
1. There was a change in Compete's methodology for measuring credit card shopping activity, so February's count January's cannot be compared. However, the 4% decline shown in the chart is correct, reflecting the change from what January would have been under the new methodology. 

Summary
According to data from Compete's consumer panel, the deposit and home loan categories experienced significant increases in both shoppers and applicants during January (with the exception of home equity). Credit cards took a big hit as both shoppers and applicants dropped by double digits. Conversion across the board stayed relatively constant across the three segments, with credit cards moving the most with a drop of 3%.

Commentary

• The credit card segment experienced a decline in the new year as both shoppers and applicants dropped significantly at several large issuers. All but one of the major issuers being tracked experienced downturns.
• Mortgage refinance continued its upward trend from last month with a 16% jump in shoppers and 57% increase in leads/applications. The pushed the conversion rate up 2%.
• Purchase mortgages performed the best out of the home loans segment as more than half of the providers received at least 30% more applications during the month of January.
• Even though home equity jumped significantly in terms of shoppers to their sites, there was still a 7% drop in leads/applications. Home equity had a similar trend last month when leads dropped 6%. Even though home equity lenders were seeing getting their shopping traffic back, they were not successful in converting them to applications in January.
• Deposits saw the most growth of the three segments as it grew in shoppers and applicants across all three categories. Three major checking providers turned in 50% growth in both shoppers and applicants. Only one financial institution tracked showed a significant increase in conversion. This created an increase in conversion for the market of +1% with a similar growth rate in both shoppers and prospects.
• Savings performed even better than checking as all but two companies saw a significant jump in applications as well as shoppers. Because of the increases, conversion stayed stagnant at 6%.
• High-yield savings followed the same path as the entire competitive set saw double-digit increases in shoppers, and only one had a decrease in applications.

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.

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.

Commentary
The revolving credit season was off to a quick start as credit card applications posted a double-digit increase. However, all other product categories declined.

• Monthly credit card applications rose 11% in November and conversion was up for all but one tracked company. Almost all companies experienced double-digit application growth as well.

• Several key companies in the mortgage refinance space experienced significant losses among both shoppers and submitted leads/applications. Purchase shopper activity dropped 8% from October while applications saw a 19% drop.

• Home equity saw a 27% decrease in shoppers, and a 13% decrease in total leads and applications.

• In deposits, there was a slight decrease from last month in shoppers and applicants for savings and checking accounts. High-yield savings had 13% fewer shoppers. However, with large application growth turned in by several companies, total application volume slipped just 1%.

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.

Update, Dec. 10: The original chart, published Dec. 7, contained a mistake in the home equity application count. The correct number, shown above, is 82,362 instead of the 111,139 in the previous chart. NetBanker and Compete regret the error.

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. 

Commentary
Online credit card applications were up as consumers prepared for holiday shopping. In contrast, home loans continued their downward trend.

• Monthly credit card applications rose 4% in October and conversion was up 5 points, reversing the prior month-over-month trend. 
• Several key competitors in the home loans refinance and purchase categories saw significant losses among both shoppers and submitted leads/applications bringing total submitted mortgage activity down 11% from September.
• Home equity saw a 14% decrease in shoppers and a 14% decline in total leads and applications submitted. Both direct lenders and lead aggregators saw declines this past month.
• In deposits, there were 4% more shoppers across all categories (checking, savings and high-yield savings).  Only checking, however, was able to convert that into more online applications with a 7% increase.

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. 

Commentary
In September, leads for home equity, mortgage purchase and refinance continued to decline. Regular savings accounts also dropped significantly, although the high-yield version savings booked an 8% increase.

Other highlights in September:  

• Within the deposit category, checking accounts and regular savings declined; however, the high-yield category showed good growth with 137,000 online applications from two million shoppers, 11,000 more than last month.
• While there were 8% more online credit card shoppers this month, lower conversion rates resulted in a 3% decline in submitted applications. 
• On the loan side, both home equity and purchase mortgage categories experienced more shopping activity. But once again, a decline in conversion rates resulted in fewer submitted leads/applications. 
• Refinance mortgages continued to slide in both online shopping activity (down 14%) and submitted leads/applications (down 8%). Several lenders saw double-digit percentage declines.

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. 

Commentary
In August, the continued rise in interest rates led to a drop in home equity, mortgage refinance, and credit card applications while deposit accounts and purchase mortgage applications were up.

Some highlights from the monthly activity: 

• Credit Card applications were down 2% overall, but Chase (27%) and Capital One (5%) grew applications and conversion compared to July
• Savings applications were up across the group with the exception of Citibank which posted a 13% decline
• For high-yield savings, only HSBC and ING Direct saw both application and conversion growth
• Home equity application/lead volume and conversion dropped across the group with declines observed at 9 of 16 providers
• Purchase mortgage  application/lead volume was up over July with Countrywide and Capital One both showing notable growth
• The refinance mortgage market was flat overall, masking strong application/lead growth at Countrywide, E-Loan and NexTag while declines were recorded at LendingTree/GetSmart, LowerMyBills and Low.com

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. 

Overall June highlights:

• Traffic of financial shoppers was up across all product types except high-yield savings which dropped 2%.
• More important, applications were up across all products ranging from 3% in savings to 26% in mortgage refinance.
• A total of 2.9 million product applications were booked; 200,000 more than the 2.7 million last month.

Specific financial institution performance:

• Bank of America improved its credit card conversion rates dramatically, booking a 30% increase in applications despite only 10% growth in shopping traffic.
• In checking accounts ING Direct, WaMu, and Wells Fargo all increased the volume of prospects looking at checking account options. 
• Emigrant, HSBC and ING Direct were all able to increase application volumes despite a flat or declining volume of potential prospects.
• Home equity prospect traffic grew at 12 of 16 providers and conversion rates were improved at 10 of 16. Bank of America, Citibank, Countrywide and Low.com had the largest month-over-month percentage gains in both prospect and application volume (note 1). 
• In home-purchase mortgages, Low.com nearly doubled its prospect traffic compared to May, while significantly improving lead conversion.
• In mortgage refinance, Low.com also posted the largest percentage gain in prospects but grew applications at a lower rate, resulting in a significant decline in conversion. Quicken Loans showed greater efficiency, almost doubling application volume with roughly the same number of prospects as in May.

Note:

1. For loan products, leads from lead-generation sites such as Low.com are combined with actual applications at financial institutions into a single "lead/application" category shown in the table.

Last month, we introduced the Financial Services Monthly Performance scorecard produced by Compete. Here's the second installment, summarizing the overall performance of 23 large U.S. financial institutions and lead-generation sites. For more information, including the detailed methodology and companies tracked, refer to that post (here).

The highlights:

• Financial shopping was down or flat in most categories, especially savings accounts; not surprising given the typical tax-time spike in April.
• The main exception to the trend was checking, which grew a phenomenal 31% in May compared to April. 
• The main drivers of checking account growth: Bank of America's promotion of free MyAccess Checking (see coverage here) and, to a lesser extent, Wachovia, whose Google/MSN marketing caused a major spike in traffic
• But it wasn't all rosy in checking accounts: While BofA was experiencing 25% growth in applications, ING Direct went through a typical post-launch downturn with a 50% decline in application volume
• Credit card conversions were up dramatically, with a 5% increase in application volume despite a 6% drop in shoppers, resulting in a 22% conversion ratio (see note 1) 

Note:

1. Compete revised its card applications show in the previous report. The revised number of card applications:
     March 2007: 1.57 million instead of 1.71 million
     April: 1.70 million instead of 1.88 million with 8% growth instead of 9% 

The researchers at Compete Inc. have developed a new scorecard that tracks the overall performance of 23 large financial institutions and lead-generations sites (note 1). We will publish this scorecard each month here at NetBanker and we will occasionally drill down into the data at Online Banking Report. To make it monthly scorecard easy to access, it will have its own category, <netbanker.com/compete>. 

There are a number of interesting insights from this data:

• Card applications were up 9% even though shoppers only increased 1%, helping push conversion to a healthy 21%. In this case "conversion" means they APPLIED for the product. We do not know whether they were approved or not.
• Checking applications were up 24% to 182,000, with the launch of ING Direct's Electric Orange having a role in that.
• Home-secured loan activity was up sharply from March, increasing 30% in the refi and home equity categories. Purchase loans were also up 23% month-over-month.

Notes:

1. Companies tracked: 

Credit cards: American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Discover

Deposits: Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citibank/Citi Direct, E-Loan, Emigrant/Emigrant Direct, HSBC/HSBC Direct, ING Direct, U.S. Bank, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo

Home Loans: Ameriquest, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Countrywide, Ditech, E-Loan, LendingTree/GetSmart, Low.com, LowerMyBills, National City, NexTag, Quicken Loans, Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo

2. Definitions:

Shopper: Consumer who visited product-related content at a site in the competitive set. For the purposes of this Monthly Performance Update, a consumer can be counted for each site they visit. 

Application: Any Web form requiring the consumer to enter personal info including Social Security Number; counted only when completed.

Lead: Any Web form requiring the consumer to enter personal information, not including Social Security Number; counted only when submitted.

Conversion: = (Leads + Applications) / Shoppers

3. Methodology:

Compete's projections are supported by industry-leading data management and technology. The consumer and industry data is drawn from numerous sources and comprises the largest continuous consumer behavior database in the industry. Its proprietary data methodologies and patent-pending technology aggregate, transform and normalize this data and ensure it is representative of the entire U.S. online marketplace.

People are recruited to join Compete's member community through www.compete.com, the first website to help consumers personally benefit from clicksharing. Consumer data is also licensed from national ISPs and ASPs. This multi-source data collection methodology sets the industry standard for representative and actionable data. Members are protected by Compete's stringent privacy policy and data collection techniques that purge personally identifiable information.