CANOE Inc.: Good News for Mortgage Shoppers

Business Wire, Nov 28, 2000

Business Editors

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 28, 2000

The Mortgage Centre, Canada's largest mortgage brokerage network, has joined forces with CANOE(TSE:QBR.), Canada's largest news and information Internet network, to give Canadian homebuyers a unique advantage.

The CANOE Money site's Banking and My Money sections now feature buttons for the CANOE Mortgage Auctioneer: an online service where consumers can invite major lenders to bid on their mortgage application... and walk away with the best rate going.

When you put your mortgage up for auction, the lenders fight it out on the auction floor to see who gets to fund your mortgage. The process is simple. Visitors simply access CANOE's My Money or Banking sites, then click a CANOE /Mortgage Centre button. This instantly connects them to the CANOE Mortgage Auctioneer site. Each online application is then instantly relayed to the Mortgage Centre location closest to the applicant's address. There, a Mortgage Specialist will review the application and contact the applicant to complete it before the application is placed "on the auction block", where major lenders can electronically bid on it. The Mortgage Specialists collects bids, evaluates them with the customer, helps the customer choose the best option, and ultimately, finalizes the deal.

"It really is today's smart way to shop for a mortgage", says Gordon MacLeod, CANOE's Director of Business Development. "Consumers gain access to the qualified, unbiased assistance of a Mortgage Centre broker, absolutely free. Plus, they get the best deal going without expending very much effort at all. What could be easier?"

Offering unprecedented convenience and a unique "buyer's advantage" to consumers, the CANOE Mortgage Auctioneer site is also mutually rewarding for its partners. Through banner ads placed within the CANOE site, the Mortgage Centre is able to attract and gain direct access to CANOE visitors interested in home ownership. Similarly, as yet another valuable and exclusive service for CANOE users, the CANOE Mortgage Auctioneer increases the potential for return traffic from interested surfers.

According to Dan Putnam, Director of the Mortgage Centre, the CANOE Mortgage Auctioneer site projects to generate 300 to 500 processed mortgage applications a month.

Several other innovative services are also offered through the CANOE Mortgage Auctioneer site. These include a Mortgage Qualifier to determine what size of mortgage an individual is eligible for, a Mortgage Calculator to figure out payments ahead of time, a step-by-step guide for First Time Buyers, and a newsletter with information and insights for the home buyer or homeowner.

Andre C. Mainville, Canoe's Vice-President of E-Commerce, sums up the advantage of the CANOE Mortgage Auctioneer site: "It uses the power of the Internet to make things as convenient as possible for people. Considering that a mortgage is often the biggest single investment most Canadians ever make in their lifetimes, the market for CANOE Mortgage Auctioneer is undeniable. For its users, so is its value."

The CANOE network, a subsidiary of Quebecor (TSE: QBR.A, QBR.B), is currently the most important continuous private provider of online information in Canada, with 100 million pages viewed and 5.3 million individual visitors per month.

Its general and bilingual sites offer a variety of local and national content which is constantly evolving to satisfy the needs and interests of its audience.

The English products on the CANOE network include:

SLAM! Sports, JAM! Showbiz, C-MONEY, C-NEWS, C-Health, AUTONET.CA, LIFEWISE, ALLPOP, TRAVEL CLASSIFIED EXTRA, MATCH CONTACT.

The network offers a variety of other services such as site personalization services, free e-mail, weather, lotteries and more.

Shop.Canoe's preferred credit card Visa is the "World's Best Way To Pay."