The German Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv) tested the five most used comparison websites for financial services. The result shows a lack of transparency.
The consumers are led to believe that they get an objective comparison of all available services. As a matter of fact, three of the five portals only showed products which could be ordered via their own website. According to vzbv, the best fitting product for the consumers might therefore be missing in the provided list. At the same time, the comparison websites appear to be providing a comprehensive overview.
Consensus with EU Commission
The study, conducted by the Institut for financial services (iff) on behalf of the vzbv, confirms the findings of the EU Commission, who tested European comparison portals, especially regarding travel, last year. Read more about the results of the study in our respective article.
The vzbv as well as the Commission demand new rules for online comparison sites. They should be obliged to clearly state when their provided overview doesn't cover the entire available range of products, e.g. due to commission agreements. Consumers would then know that they can't rely on the ranking in order to make an informed decision. According to the vzbv, half of the (German) consumers tend to do so.
Download the complete vzbv study under this link or by clicking on the symbol below. Please note that the study is only available in German.
