Yes the shutter of the entire rest of the service is interesting. Though I can see an angle on why ads are still more profitable.<p>In the case of their auto insurance quoting part of the business, they were doing something far more sophisticated than just generating leads for credit cards and mortgages. They were actually a licensed agent and generating commissions from quoting and issuing policies. Auto instance <i>is</i> highly regulated and they need to be licensed to do what they were doing.<p>Three things at play here I see:<p>1. You are creating new market pressure on the companies that pay you. If companies offering these products stop paying you, then no one pays you.<p>2. The level of sophistication needed to operate a full quoting service is higher than one would imagine in insurance and I wouldn&#x27;t be surprised with other financial products.<p>3. Just sell ads. It&#x27;s relatively simple, unregulated (relative to financial products) and works in cooperation with (not against) the hand that feeds you.