Internet mortgage lead sources are out of hand
April 3, 2007 | Mortgage | 
2 comments
It seems you can’t go to an internet site that doesn’t have some sort of banner prompting you to click to find out what rate you can get. They will use bait and switch tactics from advertising rates that are not available unless you pay ridiculous fees to hiding points and calling them something else yet claiming “no points”.
Almost all of these sites are run by mortgage lead generators that resell the leads to as many mortgage brokers as they can get to buy them. This includes major well known sites that claim they will have banks compete for your business. This is how you end up with 20 calls a day and it can go on for months. I have known people that have had to change their phone numbers just to get it to stop. These lead generators use your information as an income source for as long as your contact information remains valid. As the lead ages the value decreases but there are so many lead wholesalers that they can be recirculated again and again.
Many brokers buy these as “exclusive” leads…thinking they are not getting leads that have been all over the planet. Unfortunately this is almost always untrue. The wholesalers will say that they only sell them 3 times and that “they can’t control what you as a consumer do”. They put the blame on the consumer having submitted this information at multiple sites. This gives them the open door to sell your information like a street hooker.
I strongly suggest that you talk to a mortgage professional on the phone before submitting anything online. Any application that does not provide a LIVE contact number should be avoided. For example, if I ever use a banner ad it would have my number listed and prompt you to call to get additional information. I may also provide an online short-form for those who wish to be contacted via internet but the phone option is always available…and suggested. It is easier to answer all questions thoroughly via phone and avoids submitting personal info to those who you would rather not have it.
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What an idiot. Seriously, did you just fall off of a turnip truck, or are you just fed up with every one of your clients working with someone who is not trying to fleece them?
Many inferior companies have seen an influx in their business because the people who actually understand how to sell a client over the telephone, with true sales skills and true relationships with the best lenders, have been too busy working on this side of the business, which you can not even understand. If we decided to go after your business, we would clean you out of your nice little home in Irvine.
What a joke! You think that marketing has ever been up front and 100% accurate? Wouldn’t be called “Marketing” then, would it? I bet you can’t even count the number of people that have saved $1000’s of dollars by having two or more companies going head to head.
I won’t take away that there have been liars out there, but simple business models dictate that when I can cut my overhead costs by sitting behind my desk and call directly into someone who is interested, I can give them a better deal than you ever could! End of story. Wake up and smell the coffee, stop buying the leads if you don’t know how to sell and stop with your own “Marketing” campain of negativity!