Netherlands-based bank ING Direct, for example, maintains a site called MoveOutMoveUp.com, aimed at first-time homebuyers, with community-oriented forums and advice pages under categories like "Oh Baby!" (for new parents) and "Moving in Together," for prospective cohabitants.

Research firm Gartner two years ago predicted that social networks and Web 2.0 applications such as wikis, podcasts, and blogs would become increasingly important to banks and other financial services firms seeking to develop "nontraditional distribution channels" and forge new one-on-one relationships with younger customers wary of conventional loan applications and the like.