Consumer have been faster to buy personal finance products like personal loans, debt consolidation loans etc online than the loan companies selling them, reports Research Today.

Some 85 per cent of consumers interviewed, researched about financial products such as unsecured loans, home improvement online, with around 55 per cent going on to seal the deal over the net. In the same time six out of ten people said that they came to know about a new financial product or service for the first time through the internet.

Despite this, research by Pricewaterhouse Coopers for search engine Google found that financial services organisations are allocating less money in their media budgets to internet advertising. The allocation is sometimes as low as ten per cent of the total media budget.

Print advertising in some cases takes away more than 50% of the budget, although companies rate it as being less cost-effective than online, television or direct mail advertising.

Experts feel that consumers have been quick to discover the advantages of shopping online. They believe that the loan companies, in order to be commercially successful, should move faster and go online fully to give maximum benefit to the consumers.