Quick View - How it Works
Key
NA - Information 'Not Available' for this provider as they were not one of the Top 30 brands researched.
NR - 'Not Required' means that the score is not required. For example, there is no need to calculate a price score for credit cards if you pay off your balance each month.
Introduction
In association with MORI, MoneyExpert has researched a sample of the GB population to understand what people want from a credit card, loan, current account, instant access savings account and a fixed rate mortgage. The research programme undertaken was unique and included surveying the top 30 UK finance brands.
As a result of this research, MoneyExpert is able to understand what is important to a typical consumer when making a product choice, and what they think are the positives and negatives of the products on offer. This means that you can find the right information more quickly and with the minimum of fuss.
To simplify the research results, we have translated the positives and negatives into a score out of 100 for each of the price, features and service measures contained in the table. This allows you to see very quickly which provider scores well, and those which are not so positive.
We have then combined these three scores into a total score [again out of 100] so that we can rank providers based on total value [ie the combination of price, features and service measures] to show the most popular products. The closer this score is to 100, the closer the product is to the ideal product as defined by GB consumers.
How do we calculate 'price score'?
The price score is based upon a calculation of the basic cost or basic return for each product. Using loan or saving amounts from research findings (e.g. Loan amount �5000 / Loan period 3 years), we then calculate a score for each product based upon the lowest cost or highest return. The higher scores reflect products with the lowest cost or, in the case of savings products, the best rate of return.
How do we calculate 'feature score'?
Our research has identified a shortlist of the most popular features within each product category. These have then been ranked by importance and given a score which reflects the popularity of that feature versus the others in the shortlist. When a feature is available within a product, it is allocated a score. These scores are then totalled [out of 100] to show a feature score. The higher scores reflect those products which include features that consumers have told us are important.
How do we calculate 'service satisfaction score'?
The service satisfaction score is based upon information provided by MORI regarding how satisfied customers are with service levels from their existing product provider. The higher the score, the more satisfied GB consumers are with the product provider.
Technical note from MORI
MORI conducted several pieces of research on behalf of Money Expert:
- Qualitative Research (October 2004) - a series of 6 focus groups among adults, to explore the decision making process involved in the purchase of various financial products.
- Quantitative Research (May 2005) - an online survey among 2741 adults regarding the importance of price, features and service when it comes to choosing various financial products.
- Quantitative Research (Feb - May 2005) - a survey of 5090 interviews in total with customers of 31 different financial services providers, regarding satisfaction levels with these providers. Interviews were conducted by telephone.
The research was used to create a weighted scorecard system that can be applied to individual financial products offered by providers.