Anytime you apply for a mortgage and your mortgage lender runs a credit inquiry, you are likely to be inundated with numerous phone calls from 3rd party solicitors. These are what are known as ‘trigger leads’. While it can be frustrating, you can avoid them by taking a few simple steps.
Trigger leads are the byproduct of the three major credit repositories selling non-sensitive consumer data and lead information (Experian, Equifax, and Transunion). The majority of trigger calls to unsuspecting borrowers are initiated by call centers, often overpromising mortgage rate quotes while lacking pertinent information to try to lure borrowers into switching to use them (commonly known as a bait-and-switch tactic).
This has gotten bad to the point that there has been an assembly bill in the works to remove the viability of sharing data used by 3rd parties to contact potential borrowers based on credit pulls.
The main reason this happens is due to the fact that the credit bureaus have lobbied for this right to sell your data, as it is immensely profitable. Essentially, it is not your mortgage lender who is sharing your data but rather the three credit repositories.
While mortgage lenders are powerless to prevent these trigger leads, you can stop this from happening to you. If you would like to avoid a large number of solicitation phone calls and emails we recommend you visit the website OptOutPrescreen.com and select ‘opt-out’. The quickest/best option is to opt out electronically for five years and can all be done online.
If you have any questions about the loan process, please feel free to contact our office for assistance at (760) 930-0459.
