The hot topic in the mortgage market over the past couple years has clearly been the drastic increase in rates. This dramatically slowed down business on purchases and refinances which lead to another pressing issue… trigger leads!

When a lender pulls somebody’s credit for a mortgage, the credit bureaus sell these trigger leads to dozens of lenders that are willing to pay for them. They are essentially telling those paying lenders that John and Jane Doe just applied for a mortgage so here’s their contact info that we have on record. The client then gets bombarded with calls, texts, and emails for the next several days. We’ve had clients receive 50-60 calls in a day from other lenders trying to steal their business.

This practice not only invades privacy but also bombards clients with an overwhelming number of calls from lead-based lenders. Typically those are lenders that have inexperienced “loan officers” or sales reps sitting in cubicles making hundreds of calls each day.

This relentless pursuit by lenders has increased quite a bit as the amount of available deals has decreased tremendously since early 2022. The market has turned into a free-for-all where rules and ethics seem to have flown out the window for many. Some of these lead offices even try to pretend they’re calling from the lender that the client is working with to get more info from them. It’s a very bad practice and bad look for the entire industry in addition to being a complete inconvenience for clients!

The Industry is Fighting Back!

Many ethical lenders have been working with the government to rid the industry of this terrible practice. We have proposed bills in both the House and Senate aiming to regulate the use of trigger leads more strictly. We are optimistic something will come together to help prevent these vultures from harassing clients! Please reach out to your local congress-man/woman to push them to get some restrictions passed ASAP!

Tips to Get Ahead of Trigger Leads

If you are currently or plan to apply for a mortgage, here are a couple easy things you can do to help yourself from getting harassed by these ‘call-center’ lenders:

  1. Register your number on donotcall.gov (you can also report unwanted calls here if you are already receiving them)
  2. Add your information to www.optoutprescreen.com (you can opt out for 5 years online)
  3. Tell unwanted callers to add you to their ‘do not call’ list then block their number

Sometimes these things don’t stop them all from calling but it will definitely help with the majority. As always, you can reach out to us if you need any help or have questions.

Also if you or anyone you know needs a purchase or refinance mortgage anywhere in the country, feel free to reach out. We are not call-center sales people harassing clients all day. We are true mortgage advisors that will always look out for your best interest. We would love to help!

-Alex Kandah – Bank of England Mortgage Troy (248) 633-8555