THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 20, 1995 TAG: 9502180626
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TED EVANOFF, BUSINESS WEEKLY
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Scores of readers are asking why the magazine no longer publishes the chart showing the interest rates paid by local financial institutions on certificates of deposit.
Well, we haven't abandoned the CD chart. We're converting it to paid advertising. We think readers will have accurate CD information this way.
We converted our mortgage rate charts in October to paid ads and the results are superior. We did it with the CD, money market and consumer loan charts on Jan. 30. Unfortunately, the conversion hit unanticipated snags, although the reason for the change remains valid.
Since summer, The Virginian-Pilot has launched a daily business section front, expanded its business news and recast Business Weekly itself.
What that meant for the charts was that we no longer had sufficient time to police them. Readers regarded the charts as a reliable survey of the market, but we felt increasingly troubled by the unreliability of the numbers.
For example, last summer we refused to publish an unusually low interest rate in a chart. We thought the rate a gimmick, one that would undermine the integrity of the chart, but the bankers contended it was their rate, and we had no right to censor the bank or its product.
Other lenders complained, too. We put a limited number of institutions in each chart, a limit based on the time we had available to produce the chart. Lenders assailed us for omitting them. Readers groused about wrong numbers. They'd spot a desirable rate in the chart, call the institution, and discover what was in the chart wasn't quite what was being offered in the bank.
And while most rates looked accurate, there were enough complaints that we were troubled, both by the quality of our information and the time spent verifying it.
Last fall, responsibility for the mortgage charts was turned over to Infoline, a business service of The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger- Star. Infoline brought in Mortgage Market Information Services to compile the charts as paid ads.
Within a few weeks, more lenders appeared in the mortgage charts as paid ads than had appeared when our staff produced them.
We didn't censor the mortgage rates. We didn't limit the number of institutions in the chart. And we spent virtually no time handling complaints. Each institution was responsible for backing up its advertised mortgage rate.
Be assured that we haven't discontinued the charts, nor will we abandon them. With time, the CD charts will be as complete and accurate as the mortgage rate charts. by CNB