Internet Easy?

By Author: Bonny Kominek
Total Articles: 32
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In a recent poll the internet came first in the list of ''greatest inventions of all time.'' Quite a remarkable victory for something that only fifteen years ago was hardly known outside of the computer world. Today everything relies on the internet, it''s impossible to imagine where we''d be without it.

Perhaps the best thing about the internet is how it''s made life a lot easier. If you don''t want to go out shopping you can always have a hunt on the internet and it will be ordered to your door. The same can be said of shopping around for a financial product like current accounts or insurance, it''s no longer a case of ringing up and comparing deals printed on paper, comparison websites have changed all that.

Internet comparison websites claim to do the legwork for you, they take out the tiresome research part of looking for the best deal on current accounts or home insurance meaning that you are guaranteed to get the best deal around, right?

Or not. One of the major problems is that comparison websites don''t cover the whole market any more, they generally only cover some of it and with more and more ...
... companies trying to encourage customers to go directly to their own websites, many comparison websites actually offer quite a reduced spread of the market.

The other major issue is that comparison websites get their money through commission. For every product that a bank sells to a customer who goes through a comparison website, the website receives a sum of money. This money almost always comes out of your pocket through the form of a higher price, it never comes solely from the bank alone.

Perhaps most importantly of all, getting the best deal isn''t just about considering a series of random numbers and figures, it''s often a judgement call or a gut feeling and computers do not have guts.

All of this is not to say that comparison websites don''t have a purpose, they do and they can save you hundreds of pounds, just that they shouldn''t be considered the entirety of the bargain hunting process if you''re looking for a really good deal.

Still, the internet can be really helpful. If you''re looking for a financial product it''s a good idea to look at the well known financial advice websites, the most famous ones are run without commission and therefore you are almost guaranteed to get the best deal. Also, the information is collated by people who can make subjective calls. At the end of the day, though, for all this, there really is no substitute for looking yourself. Bonny Kominek is an expert in finance and writer with over 20 years of financial experience. They recommend you take a look at Alliance and Leicester for your savings accounts options.