I mentioned yesterday that we needed an Experienced Loan Processor and submitted an advertisement on Craigs List.  It was really quite a bargain at $50 (I advertised in two categories).  I was quite pleased with the results.  We had five people submit their resume and four of them actually called us.  I'm reasonably certain that we'll be able to select one from the highly-qualified candidates.

One of the features I really liked is that I could write a long-copy advertisement.  You'll notice from the prose that I tried to speak to EXACTLY whom I wanted; I wasn't disappointed.  My rationale for writing the advertisement like a blog post is that I wanted to disclose as much as possible while entertaining the reader.  I wanted them to get a feel for my personality and marketing prowess.  After all, the processor's income will be dependent upon my ability to generate sufficient business.  I assumed that they were interviewing me as much as I would be interviewing them; I wanted to impress the candidates.

Mr. Rudy Butler emailed me expressing his difficulty submitting through Craig's List:

I was trying to send over my info but it keeps getting kicked back from craigslist. Can you send me a diffrent (sic) email address ?

Always the pleaser, I responded immediately:

try mortgage_loan_officer@yahoo.com

What I didn't expect was the html-laden spammy advertisement for loan modifications. Certainly, Mr Rudy Butler found an innovative way to harvest e-mail addresses to "reverse advertise" his loan modification processing software, by e-mailing unsuspecting employers, under the guise of a help wanted advertisement.  Awfully clever, isn't it?  I mustn't have been in my normally appreciative mood today; I e-mailed him this reply:

I hope you didn't take my email address from the reply I sent you to add to your marketing database.  I returned an email inquiry to the processing job.  I did NOT opt in to receive marketing pieces.  Please remove me immediately.

You see, I can get really protective of my inbox.  I receive close to 400 e-mails daily; 75% of them are unsolicited spam.  I hadn't realized I was in the presence of such online marketing innovation!  Mr. Rudy Butler set me straight, though:

I didn't add you to any kind of marketing list. You were looking for a processor and that what I was offering a software that can do all the Loan Modification processing for you . Its worth checking out. It will cut down on you overhead and increase your profits

Aha!  Silly me.  I dont REALLY need an experienced government loan processor, I need a loan modification processing software program.  It will cut increase my profits!  I must not have understood because I replied:

Please remove me from your list, Rudy.  We don't do loan modifications.

Mr Rudy Butler corrected my testy demeanor (with a last ditch sales pitch):

Okay Brian chill out I dont have a list I got your info off of craigslist but If you dont do Loan Mods then I wont contact you about that. Do you have any clients that need Debt Settlement ? We can settle for 50% with no upfront fees. If not Thanks for your time

I felt I needed to be specific in my denial of his request for consideration of his services:

Please don't contact me, Rudy.

Alas, Mr Rudy Butler had to have the last word:

Okay Brian I will keep that in mind.

Thank you, Mr Rudy Butler; you do that.  Just in case you forget, this blog post can be a perpetual reminder.

PS:  if you were more impressed than I was, you might follow @MrLoanMod on twitter