We’re Not Like Them!

I really don't like to bad-mouth competition because it makes us seem petty, but this is the Candid Opinion blog, and this latest information we have received from The Big Deal is eye-opening to 4thWay^® readers.

Before I criticise, them, I am absolutely convinced that the big five comparison services are saving millions of people an awful lot of money. That's uSwitch, Go Compare, MoneySupermarket, Compare the Market and Confused.

Overall, they are surely a real benefit to ordinary people like you and me. I shall continue to use them for everything except P2P lending comparison, where 4thWay^® has much more competence.

They don't act independently

However, The Big Deal secretly called the five main comparison services' energy comparison phone lines.

The Big Deal said today that all five of them claim to tell their customers the cheapest energy deals, but in reality they have all been telling callers the cheapest deals that pay those comparison services commission.

The difference between what they say is the cheapest deal and what actually is the cheapest was as much as £60 per year.

To put that in perspective, they still probably saved their customers £100-£200. But the point is that they're not doing what they say they are doing.

The Big Deal also said that they did the same tests on these companies' websites four months ago and had identical results.

These are big businesses driven by profit

One of 4thWay's founders, Neil, said to me that “Speaking as a Moneysupermarket shareholder for many years now, it's disappointing, but not wholly surprising.”

The thing is, we understand the commercial realities. They are businesses first and foremost.

Like Waitrose, Boots, insurance brokers, or just about any other business, they don't have to stock all items, or point customers towards the best or cheapest product. They stock fewer items and point you towards the ones that are more profitable for them.

I understand that.

We're not like that!

But it makes me wonder, with all that going on, how on Earth you can trust 4thWay^® to do better?

All I can say is that we're not interested in making a quick profit. Each of us here has other income streams.

All we want is to provide a really excellent and highly trustworthy website to help people decide whether to do P2P lending and how to do it.

Ensuring we are trustworthy is our number one priority. And number two and three!

We actively look for the downsides and we write about all of them, candidly, whenever we can, and we don't try to bury that information. We'll forever be searching for new and better ways to make things clearer and easier for you.

We think about the thought processes that we go through ourselves, as investors and lenders, in deciding whether to lend and where to lend, and we share it all with you, the good and bad.

Unlike some competitors, who we shan't name (although it includes a government-run website!) we don't lump savings accounts and P2P lending together like it's all the same thing. It certainly isn't.

To give you an example of how we go about it, we separate the two clearly in our regularly updated piece, Safest Peer-to-Peer vs Savings Accounts. Near the bottom of that piece we highlight the main differences between the two. Please let us know in the comments below my blog if you think we're missing anything from that list.

Join our cult!

This is a permanent commitment to our users. We'll take care of you and, in the end, you'll take care of us. We won't be the most profitable website. All we want is a decent cult following of smart individuals who we can both teach and learn from over the years.

We're still searching for people like you to join our Panel of Peers. You will help govern this website, and will have lots of power to ensure we're covering everything we need to accurately, and so that we present the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

This way, we can better help individual lenders like you even more. Please email the main founder, neil.faulkner@4thWay.co.uk if you're interested in becoming part of the panel.