We "reviewed" Maribank personal loan for you - Not your usual product review.

As we have seen so many “comparison” platforms or bloggers reviewing Maribank, we thought we would chip in, but with a twist. 

Many borrowers want to know how certain banks' loans work, what these banks charge, or how quickly they respond. You were trying to find it online when you saw this link. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way, as outlined here. While MAS has introduced the Guidelines on Standards of Conduct for Digital Advertising Activities, they remain limited. In the UK, any 1% or 1-hour loan must apply to at least half of borrowers, but that’s still not the case here. Intermediaries unaffiliated with banks continue to generate misleading leads. And this is why you need to read this article.

Not all comparison platforms are what they claim to be—many are nothing more than paid advertising platforms, serving the advertisers that pay them.

Across markets from the U.S. to Australia, regulators are discovering that these platforms often highlight results based on payment, not on what’s truly best for the borrower or consumer. What you see isn’t always an unbiased comparison, but a curated list bought by those who pay the most.

While general information, such as miles or points per dollar spent, is easy to research, loan amounts and interest rates are highly personal. They change from one borrower to another based on each individual’s credit score & profile. That rate they “reviewed” or “compared” for you is actually a teaser rate. Here’s how it works in detail. They are rates that you may or may not get, and in many countries, regulators are either suing them for clickbaiting consumers or publishing warnings on them.

But if you are pressed for time, you don’t have to read the article above - here is an image that says it all. One mistake that exposed them all.

Credit: Head of Lendingpot. Strangely enough, Lendingpot appears to be exposing its own practices. For more of their contradiction or to join the conversation, click here. What’s more, when we pointed out the conflict of interest of brokers owned by lenders, they echoed it months later—despite being owned by IFS Capital & PhilipCapital!

But there's more. 

Credit: Public review found on Seedly and Google

Every now and then, you’ll see them write comparisons like “this loan vs. that loan.” But think about it—if they claim to compare 10 loans, did they really take all 10 and pay interest on each one?

In the UK, at least 51% of borrowers must actually enjoy the quoted rate. Singapore, however, has no such law. And even if the rates are genuine, what about the loan amount or tenure?

Recommended next read : Apart from comparison websites, we also wrote about loan brokers and what to watch out for when using them. Check it out here.

These platforms have been around for years, and the issue goes beyond a single platform and we’ve observed the same trend among others, including Roshi, Lendela, SingSaver, and Lendingpot. Many are even listed companies, such as MoneySmart or the subsidiary of one, such as Lendingpot.

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything",  Albert Einstein

If you too think something doesn’t look right, we invite you to share your thoughts on this LinkedIn post or on our Reddit, TikTok, or Facebook post, if you prefer. However, we have tagged a number of MPs on LinkedIn who, during parliament, have asked about matters such as greater consumer protections. Weighing in there, and as more people share their thoughts there, could finally catch their attention to do something about the industry and better protect borrowers. Every comment, repost, or show of support matters — it increases the chances that policymakers take notice and act.

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And thus we built FindTheLoan.com, Singapore’s 1st loan marketplace, a startup funded by Enterprise Singapore's Startup SG Founder. Instead of teaser rates or applying with multiple lenders one by one, you can reach multiple lenders at once with your actual documents, and they will make a full credit assessment as if you had walked in to them individually, and they will revert with their actual offer.

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