Gene Phillips gets so excited talking  about the power of efficient markets,  a person might suspect that he’s an economist. Actually, the  West Des Moines mortgage banker is  using his knowledge of Iowa’s lending  market to launch a Web-based marketing  tool for lenders. By accessing his  company’s Web site, <a href="http://www.iowalenderscompete.  com” target=”_blank”>www.iowalenderscompete.com, potential borrowers can receive bids from up to four participating institutions seeking their business.

The concept behind the new business, Iowa Lenders Compete LLC,is similar in some respects to national lender comparison sites as LendingTree Inc., Phillips said, but with a local twist.

“I wanted to provide the same type of service, but in a better way,” he said. “The concept is well suited to the local lender, because institutions want to deal with people in their locations, and consumers want to deal with financial institutions in their locations. This is meeting both the consumers’ and the  lenders’ needs.”

The company’s operations kicked off last week following advertisements that ran on four Iowa television stations during the Super Bowl.

“The response that we got was exactly what we were hoping for,” he said. “The advertising was as much for the lenders as it was for the borrowers, to make them aware of the service. We got a fantastic response from the lenders, and people are starting to utilize the service.”

John Sorensen, president of the Iowa Bankers Association, said he’s not sure how many of his association’s members already participate in such Web-based services.

“I haven’t heard of other locally based services like this; this could be the first,” said Sorensen, who said he saw the Super Bowl ad and briefly discussed the service with Phillips.

“I think if your target market is a larger  region or multistate, that’s a good way to pick up business,” he said. “If your market is targeted more locally, I think it requires more analysis to see whether your bank obtains value from participating in such a service.”

From a consumer standpoint, “it might be a good starting point,” Sorensen said, “but you have to know the lender and feel you can get value from what they provide.”

Phillips, who started his own lending  business, Premier Home Mortgage, seven years ago, said he knows firsthand that lenders want an efficient, measurable marketing tool. “This is the perfect avenue for them to spend their marketing dollars very efficiently and get direct results,” he said.

With a staff of three people, Iowa Lenders Compete will operate as a separate company from Premier Home Mortgage. His mortgage company will not be part of the lender network or receive leads from its system,  Phillips said.

Phillips said the lender network currently  consists of a “handful” of institutions,  but that a number of lenders have made inquiries about the service. To become part of the network,a company must have been making loans in Iowa for at least two years, he said.

The company does not have a set fee  schedule for lenders, said Phillips, who  said he has tailored the fees according  to each institution’s needs and the array  of loan types it wants to offer. Unlike  many nationwide online services, however,  it does not charge lenders an additional  fee once a loan is closed, he said.

One of the strengths of the service is  that each institution can specify what  types of loans it wants to make, Phillips  said. Also, the list of lenders is not disclosed to other participating lenders,  ensuring that consumers are receiving  the best deal each lender can independently offer.

“I want a very diverse mix of banks,  credit unions and mortgage banks, to  be able to provide a wide variety of  loans,” he said. “We’ve had good responses from banks in regard to commercial lending; they’re very interested in that.”