The online loan-referral market must still be healthy. How else can you explain how an unknown company, providing not a single clue as to whom might run it, can afford to be within the top-three advertisers on Google searches today for "refinance" and "home equity."

These search terms, each used millions of times each month (NetBanker Sep. 20, 2005), currently have three ads across the top of the Google search results. In both cases, previously unknown referral agent, LoanTrust.org, is a top sponsor. For "home equity," it's in the company of two well-known brands, Ditech and LendingTree (click on inset for a closeup). 

Clicking through the LoanTrust ad drops users onto a professional looking site that name-drops ING, Geico, and Equifax to build credibility (click on screenshot right for a closeup). But anyone peeking under the covers should be concerned about where their personal information will end up. For example, the short About Us section includes this grammar-challenged sentence:

LoanTrust, is dedicated to operating in an ethical conduct in all its activities.

Also, many of the "services" offered simply dump users into other websites, earning LoanTrust commissions on the traffic.

Analysis
We have nothing against this company: they are probably a well-meaning outfit cutting corners on copy editing (we've been guilty ourselves). The point is: why are they able to snag a top-spot on Google? Shouldn't large, established lenders be able to squeeze better returns from the $100 CPM keyword buys on Google?

Apparently, the answer is no. And that's because the big players often don't execute well on their landing pages. Rather than give rate searchers what they want, access to multiple rate quotes to ensure a fair price, large financial institutions tend to dump surfers right into their loan application and expect their brand image to win the day. It's usually not that easy.

Read more in OBR 124 and 126, Online Lending v5.0.

--JB