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Abbey not happy with online mortgage comparisons
Mortgage aggregation website Moneysupermarket.com has started a public spat with Abbey National after the bank asked to withdraw its mortgage products from the site.

By Joey Gardiner

Published: Tuesday 10 October 2000

Moneysupermarket.com claims Abbey National wants to remove its products as they are not competitive with rival mortgages.

It believes Abbey National is trying to avoid the economics of the internet which would tend to force down its prices.

Moneysupermarket.com has refused to remove Abbey's products.

Simon Nixon, CEO at Moneysupermarket, said the ball is very much in Abbey National's court and it needs to change its offering: "We are just giving public domain information to our customers. We want to be fair to everyone."

Abbey National says sites like Moneysupermarket.com do not impart the best advice to customers, as they do not take account of all the information people need when choosing a mortgage.

Matt Young, spokesman for Abbey National, said: "This action by Moneysupermarket.com is just sour grapes because a major mortgage lender has asked to be removed from their service. We do not believe the site offers the best advice to our customers."

He added that Abbey National reserves the legal right to protect its brand, raising the spectre of a potential legal action on the matter.