| The term "mortgage leads" is not well known to | | | | communicating with consumers, mortgage leads have |
| people outside the mortgage business. | | | | become more specialized. Leads are no longer |
| Few consumers hear this term used, even though, | | | | generated by loan providers. |
| they could be a mortgage lead themselves. | | | | Instead, there are lead specialists who do nothing but |
| Mortgage leads include information about consumers. | | | | seek out mortgage leads. These lead specialists often |
| Loan providers use mortgage leads in hopes of | | | | have no mortgage experience. Rather they take |
| making a consumer into a borrower. These leads are | | | | advantage of a marketing background to develop |
| given value that is based on the probability that a | | | | advertisements to entice consumers to respond and |
| specific consumer will lead to a closed loan. | | | | give information that will lead them to become a |
| Whenever you, as a consumer, fill out a questionnaire | | | | mortgage lead. |
| about a mortgage, you become a mortgage lead. | | | | Some people might think that if a mortgage lead gets |
| In many cases, these questionnaires are filled out when | | | | you a mortgage, then there is no harm in filling out the |
| you respond to some kind of mortgage advertisement. | | | | questionnaire. It's better to be approached by a loan |
| If you've ever filled out such a questionnaire, then you | | | | provider than it is to have to hunt them down, right? |
| noticed it included questions that a lender might use to | | | | To answer that question, consider this. The lead |
| determine whether or not to extend a loan to you: | | | | specialist is paid to do one thing: generate mortgage |
| employment, income, credit, house price. | | | | leads. Once he has been paid for those leads he has |
| Identifying information such as telephone number and | | | | no stake in whether those leads turn into closed loans |
| email address is also requested because of course, | | | | or not. |
| you aren't a valuable mortgage lead if the loan | | | | In essence, the lead specialist can make all the loan |
| provider can't get in touch with you. | | | | promises necessary to get you to give your personal |
| In pre-internet times, loan providers did the work of | | | | information, yet he has no responsibility to ensure |
| generating mortgage leads by using public records. | | | | those promises are kept. |
| Public records might give some indication as to | | | | The nature of the mortgage leads business is an |
| borrower who might want to refinance their current | | | | impersonal one. With lead specialists selling to the loan |
| mortgage because their current interest rate happened | | | | providers that pay the highest price for their leads and |
| to be higher than the market rate. | | | | often selling single leads to multiple loan providers. |
| Increased interest rates decreased this type of | | | | In some businesses there is an intermediary between |
| mortgage lead activity because there was no easy | | | | the lead specialist and the loan provider. The lack of |
| way to tell which borrowers were interested in | | | | personality in this relationship will likely carry over to the |
| refinancing their mortgages. | | | | one that you have with the loan specialist - one that is |
| Now that the internet prevails as a means of | | | | purely financial. |