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Its prepaid card partnership with Amex dips another toe into financial services.
November 1 -
Bankers usually fear Wal-Mart, Target and other big-box players. But nine banks and mortgage lenders have teamed up with Costco to offer an online mortgage service to its members, and more services may follow.
May 2
One in three consumers say they would consider a mortgage from Walmart (WMT) while 48% would consider a mortgage from PayPal, according to a study released Monday by Carlisle & Gallagher, a consulting firm based in Charlotte, N.C.
The survey asked consumers about their views toward home ownership, the factors they consider most important in the process of applying for a mortgage loan, and whether they would be willing to consider borrowing from an alternate mortgage provider.
Though 81% of consumers expressed satisfaction with banks, 56% of consumers blame slow execution as among the most irksome aspects of the process of applying for a mortgage. Thirty-two percent say lenders are difficult to communicate with, while 31% say they are unable to track the status of their application.
"Consumer attitude is driven by three things, price, service and trust," Doug Hautop, Carlisle & Gallagher's lending practice leader, said in a news release. "Institutions looking to gain market share must target customer values instead of traditional asset segmentation."
"PayPal offers credit lines for customer purchases but has not announced any plans to move into the mortgage business," a PayPal spokeswoman said in an email. Walmart did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Though neither Walmart nor PayPal currently offer mortgages, Walmart has
At least one other big box retailer offers home loans. In 2011, warehouse club Costco Wholesale (COST) started partnering with banks to
The survey by Carlisle & Gallagher reflects the responses of 618 consumers in September.
