TRIGGER LEADS EXPLAINED

TRIGGER LEADS EXPLAINED - "Trigger leads" most likely is a term home buyers or home owners have not heard BEFORE they apply for a home mortgage.

"Trigger Leads" is the term that comes up when a home buyer or a home owner applies for a home mortgage and provides the information necessary to pull a credit report. When they supply the loan originator their personal information to pull credit, they would likely expect that information is between the two of them only.

For instance when I work with a home buyer or home owner, I explain to them that I don't do anything else with their information but use it process their loan. I don't sell their information. Not all loan originators would follow this exact path, it is just how I do it. Some may sell the information to other parties.

What I do when I take the information from the home owner or home buyer is to explain to them that I don't sell their information, but that they may receive "trigger lead" phone calls after I've pulled their credit. The credit bureau(s) take the information that I put in for the credit pull and then sell that to my competitors. That competition will then call the home buyer or home owner and state that they know they are looking for a home mortgage and offer to help.

In theory this would create a competitive bidding situation for that home buyer or home owner and they could get a better interest rate. In practice, one would realize that (a) the loan originator who bought the lead is someone the home buyer or home owner does not know.  (b) how familiar is the "trigger lead" originator with the local market?  (c) one may hear a lower interest rate on this call, but one needs to know the home mortgage business well enough to ask all the right questions to know it is a better deal for them.  (d) my opinion - but the trigger lead originators are in the sales business, not so much in the relationship business.

I find the idea of "TRIGGER LEADS" invasive. I think consumers should have to OPT IN for this activity vs just being blind sided with calls. There are loan originators who make a good living using "trigger leads" and they would disagree with me here. The bottom line is when a home buyer or a home owner seeks a mortgage loan, do they really want to be "sold" something? It's a really big decision; they'll be stuck with it for years to come. Most of the borrowers I work with like the personal attention and the trust we've developed so I just warn them they may receive a call, and "yes, it is okay to be rude to them".  

The biggest question I ask about "trigger leads" is: If a loan originator has to siphon off leads generated by competition then does that not speak to the fact that originator for whatever reason cannot create their own base of business? Why?  There are many really good sales people out there who will disagree with me beause it is "sales". Me, I'm in the people and relationship business.