In its attempt to break into the personal finance market, Google has launched a new tool for finding and comparing financial products.
At its core, Google Advisor is a personal finance comparison tool. It helps you check the rates for mortgages, credit cards, CDs, checking accounts and savings accounts by providing a list of financial instruments that meet your search criteria. For mortgages, Google provides data such as APR, monthly payment, fees and contact details. If you’re looking for a credit card, the search giant provides data on rewards, card type, purchase APR and the annual fee.
Google Advisor isn’t a search engine, though. It’s really a comparison engine with a lot of filters. If you need to find a 30-year fixed mortgage for a $650,000 home in Alameda County with a 660 credit rating, you will probably find it. Google advisor also features certain offers based on low APRs or the interest rate.
At the moment, mortgages are treated differently than the other financial categories. While Google doesn’t get paid if you find a credit card, CD, checking account or savings account through the search giant, it does make money whenever you contact a mortgage lender. You will noticed that mortgages have “sponsored results” while other financial instruments simply have “matching results.” Sponsored results could to other financial products expand over time.
Google has long wanted to break into personal finance, a sector where it could potentially make billions in advertising and referral fees. In March, Google acquired UK price comparison website BeatThatQuote for $61.5 million. There are a lot of similarities to BeatThatQuote and Google’s new finance service, and that probably wasn’t an accident. This is likely just the beginning of a series of tools Google will release to conquer the personal finance arena.
What do you think of Google Advisor? Do you trust Google to get you the best financial data? Let us know what you think in the comments.
More About: finance, Financial Advisor, Google, Google Advisor
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