How to do a Product Comparison

A product comparison allows you to compare the rates, repayments, fees and other details of products. 

Product Comparison Tutorial 

The tutorial below runs through a basic Product Comparison scenario. 

It's advisable to set the Quality to 720p to avoid blur.  

Creating a Product Comparison in an Opportunity

1. Open the Opportunity and select Calculations from the left-hand panel.
2. Click the New drop down box and select Product Comparison
3. Choose the product search variables for your Product Comparison and click Run Search. Refer to Product Search and Details.
4. Select the products to compare by ticking the checkbox and click Use Products
5. The products are displayed side by side on the Products tab, allowing you to compare the rates, repayments, fees and other details. 
6. Update the fields in the left-hand panel to apply changes to all products, or update the fields in each product individually.

Note: The data on the Assets and liabilities will automatically populate the relevant fields in Apply Online when you click the Enter ApplyOnline Application button. However, these details cannot be back populated into Mercury from Apply Onlne. 

Note: The rates shown in the Product Comparison are using the listed Loan Amount and LVR listed in the left hand panel. If after you apply a Product to the Loan the rate differs. Check the Loan Amount and LVR listed in the main details of the Opportunity.

Special notes

The star icon indicates there special offers or information available for those products. To view information hover the mouse over the star.

Examples of special offers or information.

Max LVR Limitations

Cashback Offers

Special Offer Details

Additional information about the product can also be found by opening any given product in the Comments section.

Default Loan Costs and Comparative Savings

When you have selected your products they are displayed in order of 'Comparative Saving'. The left most product has the lowest cost over the Loan Term used.

The comparative saving amount is the difference between that product's total cost and the most expensive product on the right hand side.

When you start making changes to your selected products this will have an effect on the total loan cost. The order of the products will automatically adjust and the product with the lowest cost will appear on the left by default.

You will then see values appear in the Comparative Savings row. In the below example the repayments have been changed to 'weekly' and there's an extra repayment of $200 each time for all products.

The Savings (relative to default) is the dollar amount saved over the loan term for that product. The 'Default Total Cost' minus the new 'Total Loan Cost' equals 'Savings (Relative to default)'.

Product Comparison graphs

You can view the product comparison in graph form:

• • Principle - click the Principle tab to compare the terms of the products.
  • Compare Costs - click the Compare Costs tab to see a breakdown of the principal, interest, and fees for each product.

Creating a Product Comparison summary report

1. Open the Opportunity and select Calculations from the left-hand panel.
2. Double click the Product Comparison to open it.
3. Click Merge Document to download a report.

View the Amortization Schedule

1. Open the Opportunity and select Calculations from the left-hand panel.
2. Double click the Product Comparison to open it.
3. Click the button to open the product detail.
4. Click the Amortization tab to display the Amortization Schedule. Note the amortization table currently can not be printed.

Product Comparison and Preliminary Assessments

The Preliminary Assessment document is automatically updated with details from the Product Comparison. Refer to Compliance Wizard.

1. Open the Opportunity and select Calculations from the left-hand panel.
2. Click Preliminary Assessment.

Attaching a Product Comparison to an Opportunity

You can attach an existing Product Comparison to an Opportunity.

1. Open the Opportunity and select Calculations from the left-hand panel.
2. Click Attach drop down box and choose Product Comparison.
3. Select the appropriate Product Comparison and click Choose.
4. If you have more than one Product Comparison attached to the Opportunity, ensure you select which Product Comparison is the default by clicking the radio button. This is important because the default Product Comparison details are uploaded automatically into the Preliminary Assessment document.