Would you use SmartHippo.com? Why/Why not?

Hi Mary & Thanks for the Welcome!

Jeff--Thanks for your input, this is definitely important for us to know. We differ from sites like LendingTree because we are not selling consumer information to lenders, instead we are allowing consumers to anonymously search through rates and read feedback on lenders in hopes they can find both a good rate and a reputable lender to work with. The hope is that because users can review the lenders they will post honest rates & those who receive good reviews from users will prosper. Obviously because users are searching anonymously, rates will not always be perfect matches, but it allows consumers to initiate a relationship with a good lender who will look out for the consumers best interest.

The reason for this approach is the current credit crisis can be partly attributed to consumers taking out bad loans, in some cases the consumers were not well educated on what they were doing (or getting greedy) and that's another side we're currently working on expanding (through interactive Q & A and our blog), but also because of dishonest lenders selling bad loans to make themselves more money. Now we know there are far more good, honest lenders out there and we are (hopefully) creating a place where they can benefit from doing things right (and for free)

I don't know if that changes your opinion, but distinguishing ourselves from our competitors is definitely a challenge for us.

Hi Ken,

I appreciate your feedback, but I can't say I agree with you! I do have some follow up:

 Do you not think that allowing consumers review lenders will prevent misleading information?

Yes, rates posted without an application cannot always be accurate, but it's up to the lender to explain to the borrower why his/her rates differ from the posted rates. And if he/she cannot provide a good enough answer, there's the risk the user will come back to the site to tell others about the dishonest rates posted.

We are simply connecting potential borrowers to lenders (without making money from either side) with the objective of helping consumers find reputable lenders suited to their specific needs. We do allow consumers to request quotes, but the main push is for them to find a lender and then contact that lender directly for quotes and we are not involved in the application process. I'm well aware that our 'competitors' are claiming similar things, but are really just making money selling consumer information to the highest bidder, but this is what we are trying to avoid. Clearly one of our main objectives might be to distinguish ourselves from others by making sure this fact is more apparent. We believe that allowing consumers to rate and review lenders will help promote a more transparent and accountable industry and we hope that good lenders will be on our side for this.

I'm not trying to be defensive, just trying to get the facts clear. (And if you're wondering, we make our money through on-site advertising and we allow lenders to have a direct link to apply for loans for a pay-per-application fee, this is totally optional though)

Oh, and keep the comments coming, this is good stuff for me to know! Thanks.