Arranging a mortgage in Ireland entirely by email is still more an aspiration than reality, according to the Internet business information service FinFacts (www.finfacts.ie).
An experiment carried out by FinFacts during which it made three attempts to apply for such a loan on one site, ended with the same message coming up on the system: "Unfortunately we have insufficient information to grant you preliminary approval at this time. However, with your consent, one of our mortgage consultants would be delighted to contact you with a view to progressing your application."
FinFacts also said that the online facility, which required confidential personal details, also produced the following message: "This page was not encrypted. This means it was possible for other people to view this page when it was loaded. It also means that you cannot check the identify of the Website."
In the US, where email and Internet buying is far more advanced, financial product buyers (including those buying mortgages) are a tiny minority, says the FinFacts report, mainly because securing the Website involves significant investment in credit appraisal and security encryption of data.
Quoting US sources, it said that while the largest independent home lender in the US had 350,000 visitors to its Website last May, "only 650 made online applications. Mortgage funding online in May 1998 was $42 million (£30 million), from a total origination value of $7.1 billion."
While only a tiny number of Irish mortgage buyers have processed - or part-processed their loans by email - FinFacts believes more should know that email transactions are more a creation of the public relations departments of the lenders than a credible way to do business.
The FinFacts Website, which also provides up-to-date mortgage interest rate information, can be visited at www.finfacts.ie
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