January 2005
The increasing numbers of consumers using the Internet to search for loans and credit card companies is growing at a staggering rate, but the amount of personal credit is falling. Search trend analysis from Thomson Directories and the latest *Bank of England statistics on Lending to Individuals, suggest that rather than consumers increasing their debt burden, they are finding out more about the options that are open to them by using the internet as a research tool.

Recent search trend analysis from WebFinder.com, Thomson Directories' search engine marketing service, found that the average monthly increase in 2004, for people searching for the word “loans” was 64%. For the term “credit cards” the average increased to 75%! However, they fell during the months of October to November, by 33% for loans and 41% for credit cards.

This downward trend is reflected in the latest Bank of England figures for Lending to Individuals: November 2004. The seasonally adjusted figures show that total lending to individuals in November was £0.6 billion less than in October, with consumer credit £0.2 billion lower for the same period.

The research from WebFinder.com and the figures from the Bank of England suggest that whilst lending is falling, more people are using the Internet to research the best deals available for them.

Karen Francis, Internet Channel Marketing Manager at Thomson Directories' said;

“It would appear that the recent official figures on Lending to Individuals reflect what we are seeing in our searches. The increase in the numbers of searches for financial service products would suggest that users are becoming more aware of the Internet's use as an invaluable research tool. The speed with which users can access information on different financial packages makes it easier for the consumer to get the best deal available to them."

WebFinder.com is designed to promote websites on some of the most popular UK search engines, including Wanadoo, Ask Jeeves and Tiscali. Currently the WebFinder.com search engine partner network generates over 100 million searches per month.

*figures taken from Lending to Individuals: November 2004 , as published on 4 January 2005 on the Bank of England's web site.

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