Google announced last week the launch of their new price comparison website for financial products – Google Advisor. Initially it only works in the US, but as with many of their services, if it is successful we can expect it to be rolled out to the UK in the near future.

At the moment they are focussing on the simpler, high-volume financial products like mortgages, mortgage refinancing, savings and checking accounts (Current Accounts).  More complicated products like pensions are not easy for online comparison websites to feature, as they usually require a personal interaction with a qualified financial advisor. But Google is famous for its online innovation, so watch this space!

In their announcement Google described the benefits of their new site –

“With Google Advisor, you enter information about what you’re looking for in a mortgage, credit card, CD, or checking and savings account. We show you a list of the offers that match your criteria, along with rates and contact information. Google Advisor is designed especially to help you make these difficult financial decisions easily, with:

Speed: As you change your criteria, the results update instantly. You’ll still have a list of all your options in one place, so you can quickly compare different offers.

Trust: By setting your own search criteria, you’re able to see only those offers and rates that apply to you, which means you can compare applicable offers without even contacting a provider first.

Control: You only need to provide the minimum amount of information we need to show you offers that are right for you. You have full control over what you want to share, and which providers you choose to talk to—and you don’t have to submit any personal information until you’ve decided you’re ready to move forward.”

Will UK online comparison sites like CompareTheMarket be affected? We will have to wait and see, “Simples!”