Canadian internet searches for loans and credit cards showed gains year over year in the first quarter of 2010, reflecting the financial strain felt by consumers. Year over year, searches for loans increased 19.2% to the first quarter of 2010. Searches for loans showed a quarterly increase (comparing Q4 2009 and Q1 2010) of 42.5% likely a result of consumers searching for post-holiday shopping financial assistance.
This analysis was assembled for the Experian Insight Index that we recently published in the US, identifying key internet search trends against today’s economic backdrop. I posted the first set of findings from the Canadian market a couple of weeks ago.
Searches for credit cards saw a strong 52.5% gain year over year in the first quarter of 2010. Searches for credit cards decreased slightly over the first quarter by 1.2%. Credit card searches often rise in advance of the holiday shopping season and so the relative decline in the first quarter is unsurprising. The strong year over year gain indicates consumer demand for credit cards remains high.
Canadian credit card searches are brand driven. Only 8 of the top 100 credit card searches in Q1 2010 were generic with the top generic term, “credit cards”, appearing at #21. The table at the end of this entry shows the top 10 credit card search terms in the twelve weeks to March 27, 2010. The term “Canadian tire mastercard” was the #2 credit card search term in Q1 2010. Searches for the merchant’s card have experienced a steady and strong increase in searches over the past year, from a volume of 0% a year ago.
In my blog entry a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that rental housing searches had experienced much stronger gains than searches for properties for sale. It follows then that searches for mortgages were down 5.2% year over year. However, things may be looking up for the housing market. Mortgage searches showed strong gains in Q1 2010, up 45.1%.