Most Canadians aren't researching their options before buying financial products

The majority of Canadians head online to compare whenever they're planning a flight overseas, or looking to book a hotel for the night. It saves them both money and time – you don't need to call around and ask for prices, they're all there for you personally online.

But with regards to lending options, our latest survey discovered that most Canadians don't bother to compare. Less than half are actively researching their options when purchasing mortgages, auto insurance or applying for new charge cards.

This disconnect is costing Canadians lots of money every year.

“The massive gulf between Canadians who compare travel options and lending options is disappointing. Since the latter is where you save real money,” says Justin Thouin, our CEO and co-founder.

Let's take a look at the numbers.

We discovered that 60% of Canadians use comparison websites to book their flights, and 63% rely on them to reserve their hotels. If this found young adults (those aged 18-34) we found that those numbers rose to 72% and 67%, respectively.

We get it. Booking a hotel and flight is exciting – you're travelling!

But booking the cheapest flight is going to save you, at most, a few $ 100.

Meanwhile, when you are purchasing a financial product, you're looking at something which is going to still cost you fees and interest for many years. Saving cash on mortgages and car insurance really accumulate over time. In Toronto, the average price for a single-detached home now is more expensive than $1 million – it isn't uncommon to have a million-dollar mortgage.

The difference between getting a 2% or 3% rate of interest over your term or is quite substantial – it's $10,000 a year, actually.

But when it comes to doing research, most Canadians consult one source – often their bank – and take what they're given.

In our survey, we discovered that only 47% of Canadians do a lot of research prior to them getting auto insurance, while only 45% do so before getting credit cards. For mortgages, that number rises to 60% – however it falls to 42% with regards to renewing a home loan.

Worse yet, there is a massive generational gap. Seniors all fall underneath the 40% mark when it comes to researching various lending options before they're buying them. There's a bright spot within our report: millennials are much more conscious of the necessity to research. 52% are comparing car insurance, 50% compare credit cards and 48% compare mortgages.

Still, this can be a big gap compared to the amount of research that goes into flights and hotels. It isn't a stretch to say this lack of research is costing Canadians, collectively, millions of dollars annually. We're leaving lots of money on the table.

Let's start comparing our options.

For the full survey results, click here.