Moneygator acquires E-Loan

Mortgage broker E-Loan UK has been acquired by Moneygator, the internet-based UK financial services firm.

E-Loan was established in November 1999 by US-based E-Loan Inc, and venture capital vehicle eVentures, a joint venture between epartners and Softbank.

Henning Holter, managing director of Moneygator, believes that buying personal financial services online is starting to take hold. “By acquiring E-Loan Inc’s operations here, Moneygator will significantly strengthen its position as the leading aggregator of credit products in the UK and add important assets to its operation.” The total potential market for personal financial services which originate in Europe is estimated to be up to £13.5bn annually, of which £3.5bn is attributable to the UK, according to Moneygator.

In September 2000, E-Loan UK expanded its product range and launched its first specialist car finance service. Shortly after launch, however, investors in the business chose to scale down operations across Europe due to a change in strategy. In spite of this, the company completed approximately £3.5m in car finance transactions in less than two months.

Moneygator will consolidate the mortgage operations and re-launch the car finance service in April with an expanded range of lenders. This will be made available to more than 100,000 people who visit Moneygator’s network of websites each month.

The new service will provide customers with services such as updated new and used car prices and access to quotes from more than a dozen UK financial institutions.

Moneygator says it has brought over 40 lenders to its provider network and has processed applications for mortgages, personal loans and credit cards to a value of £250m, making it one of the fastest-growing personal finance aggregators in the UK.