To Keep From Losing Borrowers to Trigger Leads, Warn Them
Your new customers suddenly start getting calls and mail from your competitors trying to undersell you. The culprit is trigger leads. When you pull credit, the credit bureau (not vendors, so it doesn't really matter which vendor you use) may sell your borrower's information to other brokers and originators. Your borrower is in the market for a mortgage, so they’re a hot lead.
Trigger leads have been around for about a year and a half now, and whether they work well for the brokers who buy them or just make life harder for everyone else remains to be seen.
Do you want to buy trigger leads? Of course, that's up to you. But they're expensive -- not necessarily on a per-lead basis, but when you buy them in lots of 500, 1,000, 5,000 or more it adds up. And they can cause hard feelings. No one like cold calls, and people like cold calls hawking mortgages even less. (You know it's true.)
Some unethical behavior by users of trigger leads threatens to tarnish the whole practice. Some users of trigger leads, knowing people don’t like cold calls and wanting to coax as much additional information out of them as possible, simply lie to do it. They claim to be another broker working together with their real one, or they say they’re from the underwriting department of a lender their real broker is working with on their loan. While it’s certainly not everybody doing this, it makes the whole practice of using trigger leads seem unpleasant to borrowers.
There are more reasons you may want to avoid using trigger leads. It's criticized by almost everybody, from the National Association of Mortgage Brokers to consumer advocates. It's a loophole in privacy law rife with the possibility of identity theft and fraud. And while the Federal Trade Commission said recently it lacks the authority to shut down the practice, Congress is considering giving it that authority, or otherwise outlawing trigger leads.
All that said, there are brokers who report success using trigger leads, and the fact we're talking about them at all means there's something to them. Do your research and if you decide to buy them, best of luck. Now though we're going to talk abut the marketing value in avoiding trigger leads.
How can you keep from losing customers because of trigger leads? You've got a couple things to worry about. One is that, inundated with cold calls and direct mail from other originators, your borrower will blame you for his or her personal information getting around. The other is that a trigger lead user will be successful in seducing your borrower away. You can deploy the same tactics to prevent both -- and in the meantime, earn some marketing points. Here's how.
- Talk to your customer up front. Tell them what happens when you pull their credit, and how they become a trigger lead. Emphasize that it can happen with any originator they work with, and it's not your fault. Make them understand in no uncertain terms that you're not selling their private information to other brokers. You'll earn honesty points, and differentiate your service level.
- Tell them, in graphic detail, why they should avoid doing business with cold callers using trigger leads. Let them know that if someone calls and says they're affiliated with you, they're probably not, and your borrower should call you to verify. Tell them that because you're applying for a mortgage loan these cold callers have to "strike while the iron is hot," and so may use phony bait and switch tactics. Don't be afraid to tell them that you are working hard to earn their business and trust, and don't want to see them ditch you for someone else based on a phone call or postcard. It's true!
- Tell them how they can opt out. Offer to opt them out yourself. (Don't opt them out without telling them you're doing it!) The website is , and the phone number to opt out is 888-567-8688. Consumers can opt out for five years online, or opt out forever by mailing in a form. They, or you, will need name, address, date of birth and Social to opt out.
Note: It can take five days to process an opt-out request, and up to 60 days for all "prescreened" offers to cease. Make sure your borrower understands that.
Trigger leads can be a source of frustration and annoyance, but they represent a marketing and customer service opportunity, too. You'll score honesty and "white knight" points by explaining what they are and how they work, and providing opt-out information.
