Every month, Compete publishes a list of the 1,000 websites with the most U.S. monthly unique visitors. In January 2011, 43 were financial sites (banking, payments, brokerages, cards, credit reports, lending, or personal finance). Of the 43, 14 were banks (see note 1).

For a little context, Google topped the list with 145 million. The largest banks were similar to Apple (34 mil), Twitter (28 mil), Flickr (21 mil), or Yelp (12 mil).

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Note:
1. There are 16 bank URLs in the top 1,000, but wachovia.com is part of Wells Fargo. And bbt.com and bbandt.com are both BB&T Bank.

Ever since Compete came along with its free Web traffic estimates, my work life has been much improved. Now, every time I review a startup or financial company, I check out their website traffic from Compete’s free service to give me a sense of how big the company is and how fast they are growing.

But I’d also always coveted the Pro version, which unlocks a bunch more detail on each website, including two years of historical traffic data. So I took the plunge today and upgraded to Pro.

One of the first things I did with my newfound data trove was to highlight the financial institutions, insurance, and investment companies on the list of the 1,000 busiest websites (based on U.S. traffic). There were 29 FI websites, representing 26 unique companies.

PayPal was the top financial company with 30 million unique visitors, making it the 25th most visited site on the Internet. Chase was the largest commercial bank, just 2 million higher than Bank of America.

Source: Compete, 27 Sep. 2010
FI Rank = Rank among financial institutions (includes card issuers and investment companies)
All Rank = Rank among all websites

The June financial shopping numbers released by Compete revealed a mixed bag as interest in credit cards, home equity, and purchase loans fell double digits compared to a year ago. However, deposit activity moved in the opposite direction.

More specifics:

• Although credit card application volume was relatively flat (down 1% for the year and down 4% for the month), the number of shoppers decreased 39% compared to a year ago. Although the data shows only application volume, there has likely been a sharp drop in approvals, as underwriting standards stiffen and credit-worthy applicants stay on the sidelines. 
• In June there was a slight drop in checking shoppers (down 4%) and applications (down 5%) compared to May. However, year-over-year both were up with a 32% increase in shoppers and a 6% increase in applicants.
• However, savings shoppers increased 51% from last year and 7% from May with applications up 43% compared to last year and 24% over last month.
• High-yield savings showed similar gains compared to a year ago, with 31% more shoppers and 30% more applications. 
• Home equity and purchase mortgage activity were both off compared to the previous month and also a year ago. The only good news was an increase in refi activity with 10% more shoppers than May and 27% more than a year ago. But application volumes were down 21% from May and down 34% compared to last year.

About the financial services scorecard
A little over a year ago, we introduced the Financial Services Monthly Performance scorecard produced by Compete. It summarizes the overall performance of 23 large U.S. financial institutions and lead-generation sites. Refer here for the detailed methodology as well as companies tracked.

Notes:
1. Year-over-year comparisons were added to the chart beginning in March 2008. Because of ongoing methodology tweaks, the percentages in this table may be slightly different than if you went back to the data from a year ago and calculated the change. 

2. Leads/applicants = Leads or applications depending on whether the site tracked is a lead-generation site or an actual lender.

May continued to show increases in both deposit and home-loan shoppers while demand for credit cards edged downward. On a year-over-year basis, almost all segments are down with the exception of home equity and home purchase.

• Credit card shopping was down slightly (-1%) compared to April and down 7% in applicants. Conversion also declined 2% over the previous month.
• Compared to April, deposits had big gains in both checking and savings shopping, up 8% and 5% respectively. 
• Both savings and high-yield savings saw more than 20% gains in number of applicants compared to the previous month; however, both were down compared to a year ago.
• Despite increased shopping volumes, home-secured lending, as measured by the number of leads and/or applications, dropped compared to last month. The largest was the 38% drop in refinance activity.
• Conversion rates were down in all three loan categories, dropping 1% in home equity, 2% in purchase, and 4% in refinance.

About the Financial Services Scorecard
A year ago, we introduced the Financial Services Monthly Performance scorecard produced by Compete. It summarizes the overall performance of 23 large U.S. financial institutions and lead-generation sites. Refer here for the detailed methodology as well as companies tracked.

Notes:
1. Year-over-year comparisons were added to the chart beginning in March 2008. Because of ongoing methodology tweaks, the percentages in this table may be slightly different than if you went back to the data from a year ago and calculated the change. 

2. Leads/applicants = Leads or applications depending on whether the site being tracked is a lead-generation site or an actual lender.

Summary
According to data from Compete’s consumer panel, March rebounded from the lower traffic in February. Every product, except standard savings accounts, posted increases in the number of applications. Credit cards were the biggest gainer (up 24% in shoppers, up 13% in applications) following sharp declines the past few months. Home loans market performed similarly, with double-digit increases in applications for both purchase (up 15%) and refinances (up 12%). 

New this month, we have valid year-over-year comparisons shown (see note 1). Compared to a year ago, both checking and credit cards applicants and shoppers have risen significantly. Home loan shoppers are up slightly, but applications are up. 

Commentary

• Credit cards saw a large jump in both shoppers and applicants. The credit crisis seems to have benefited the credit cards market as applications, especially for balance-transfer cards, have increased. Compared to a year ago, shoppers are up 47% and applicants are up 53%. However, conversion dropped by 2% from February.

• Deposits saw overall shopper loss in all three segments during March, but applications for checking were up 2% as were high-yield savings (up 8%). Last year at this time, deposits were increasing across all segments. In March of 2008, however, applicant levels are below what they were in 2007 with 31% drop in high-yield savings applicants and a 7% decline in all savings accounts.

• After a terrible February, refinance mortgages posted a 27% gain in shoppers as well as a 12% gain in applicants. Year-over-year refinance applications are up 32% from a year ago. Purchase mortgages also saw a similar improvement from last month with a gain of 23% over last year. Home equity had the largest gain in applications in the month of March as leads/applications (note 2) grew 34%. Year over year, however, applications are down 32% due to the housing crisis of the past few months.

About the Financial Services Scorecard
A year ago, we introduced the Financial Services Monthly Performance scorecard produced by Compete. It summarizes the overall performance of 23 large U.S. financial institutions and lead-generation sites. Refer here for the detailed methodology as well as companies tracked.

Notes:
1. New this month: Year-over-year comparisons are now included in the monthly table. Because of ongoing methodology tweaks, the percentages in this table may be slightly different than if you went back to the data from a year ago and calculated the change. 

2. Leads/applicants = Leads or applications depending on whether the site being tracked is a lead-generation site or an actual lender.

Commentary
The revolving credit season was off to a quick start as credit card applications posted a double-digit increase. However, all other product categories declined.

• Monthly credit card applications rose 11% in November and conversion was up for all but one tracked company. Almost all companies experienced double-digit application growth as well.

• Several key companies in the mortgage refinance space experienced significant losses among both shoppers and submitted leads/applications. Purchase shopper activity dropped 8% from October while applications saw a 19% drop.

• Home equity saw a 27% decrease in shoppers, and a 13% decrease in total leads and applications.

• In deposits, there was a slight decrease from last month in shoppers and applicants for savings and checking accounts. High-yield savings had 13% fewer shoppers. However, with large application growth turned in by several companies, total application volume slipped just 1%.

About the Financial Services Scorecard
In April, we introduced the Financial Services Monthly Performance scorecard produced by Compete. It summarizes the overall performance of 23 large U.S. financial institutions and lead-generation sites. Refer here for the detailed methodology as well as companies tracked.

Update, Dec. 10: The original chart, published Dec. 7, contained a mistake in the home equity application count. The correct number, shown above, is 82,362 instead of the 111,139 in the previous chart. NetBanker and Compete regret the error.

In April, we introduced the Financial Services Monthly Performance scorecard produced by Compete. It summarizes the overall performance of 23 large U.S. financial institutions and lead-generation sites. Refer here for the detailed methodology as well as companies tracked. 

Commentary
Online credit card applications were up as consumers prepared for holiday shopping. In contrast, home loans continued their downward trend.

• Monthly credit card applications rose 4% in October and conversion was up 5 points, reversing the prior month-over-month trend. 
• Several key competitors in the home loans refinance and purchase categories saw significant losses among both shoppers and submitted leads/applications bringing total submitted mortgage activity down 11% from September.
• Home equity saw a 14% decrease in shoppers and a 14% decline in total leads and applications submitted. Both direct lenders and lead aggregators saw declines this past month.
• In deposits, there were 4% more shoppers across all categories (checking, savings and high-yield savings).  Only checking, however, was able to convert that into more online applications with a 7% increase.