Trigger Leads - Friend or Foe?
Over the past year we've seen a dramatic increase in the number of clients calling us looking for "trigger leads". What is a trigger lead? A trigger lead is created when a prospective borrower has their credit pulled by a bank or brokerage. When this happens it creates a mortgage credit inquiry event to be flagged on the borrower’s credit record. The credit bureaus take note of this inquiry and sell the consumer's information to other banks and brokers as a trigger lead. Basically, they are letting additional lenders know that a consumer is looking for a mortgage. This is often done without a consumer ever knowing that they have become a trigger lead.
When I've brought up the topic of trigger leads to people outside of the industry, the typical reaction is, "How can they do that? Is that even legal?" Yes, it is legal and it has become huge business.
Credit bureaus say that trigger leads allow for competition amongst mortgage professionals. In their eyes, they are helping a consumer by exposing them to different lending institutions and mortgage options. My question is once the consumer goes ahead and fills out the 1003 haven’t they shopped and made their decision?
Isn’t the trigger lead just a cheap way for the credit bureaus to make some extra revenue by pimping out consumer data all under the auspices of letting them get the best loan? Are credit bureaus supposed to be neutral? Does the consumer actually end up getting the best loan? Interestingly, several states are looking into the practice of selling trigger leads with an eye towards restricting the practice.
We at BigMortgageLeads do NOT sell trigger data like many of our competitors. But after our consumer study earlier this year found that many loans close with banks that do not buy our leads we started looking in to the cause of those results. Are trigger leads truly pushing down our clients conversion numbers?
We are excited to get your feedback and see if trigger leads are truly a mortgage brokers friend or foe. Has anyone used them? How do they work? What's the conversion rate? Any feedback would be much appreciated.
Now get out there and close more loans!
When I've brought up the topic of trigger leads to people outside of the industry, the typical reaction is, "How can they do that? Is that even legal?" Yes, it is legal and it has become huge business.
Credit bureaus say that trigger leads allow for competition amongst mortgage professionals. In their eyes, they are helping a consumer by exposing them to different lending institutions and mortgage options. My question is once the consumer goes ahead and fills out the 1003 haven’t they shopped and made their decision?
Isn’t the trigger lead just a cheap way for the credit bureaus to make some extra revenue by pimping out consumer data all under the auspices of letting them get the best loan? Are credit bureaus supposed to be neutral? Does the consumer actually end up getting the best loan? Interestingly, several states are looking into the practice of selling trigger leads with an eye towards restricting the practice.
We at BigMortgageLeads do NOT sell trigger data like many of our competitors. But after our consumer study earlier this year found that many loans close with banks that do not buy our leads we started looking in to the cause of those results. Are trigger leads truly pushing down our clients conversion numbers?
We are excited to get your feedback and see if trigger leads are truly a mortgage brokers friend or foe. Has anyone used them? How do they work? What's the conversion rate? Any feedback would be much appreciated.
Now get out there and close more loans!
posted by BigMortgageLeads at
3:33 PM
1 Comments:
I think deciding if trigger leads are friend are foe is easiest determined by analyzing the consumer and the original mortgage originator experiences.
On the consumer side: You have just made an inquiry and given one or more mortgage professionals permission to pull your credit. Then you immediately get slammed with numerous new mortgage lender/broker calls. What is going on? Did one of the mortgage professionals syndicate my personal information?
On the mortgage professional side: I have just invested time and money (often even bought and Internet lead and of course the credit report) in this client and they just got hit by numerous new mortgage professionals. What is going on? Why does my customer not trust me? Why are they asking me if I gave out their information?
FOE.
BTW, great blog guys. I love the transparency!
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