Barely 24 hours after the couple had applied for a mortgage, the calls began flooding in. The phones of both the husband and the wife were suddenly inundated with queries from sketchy-sounding entities offering other mortgage opportunities with allegedly lower rates, all of it sounding far too good to be true. That’s when the couple reached out to Rachel Patrick, their mortgage loan officer at Prospect Bank, who helped them find out where the calls were coming from—and how to make them stop.
“They called me and said, ‘We only applied with you, we only gave you our information, so how come we're getting all these calls?’ And when I started digging into it, I found out that their information had been sold by the credit bureaus,” Patrick says. “So, it was very concerning, because it looked like Prospect Bank had done something, when indeed we hadn’t. However, the customer is calling me and saying, ‘We only gave you our information, so how come this is happening?’”
It was an unfortunate introduction into the world of “trigger leads,” which are sales of information generated by credit bureaus after they run a report on a mortgage application. Those sales turn over an applicant’s name and contact information to competing mortgage companies, which in return can unleash an unethical and irritating onslaught of calls, emails or mailings to unsuspecting customers who have just applied for a home loan.
“When I started asking other customers if they had received these phone calls, I found out that a lot of them had, and that they started immediately,” Patrick says. “The callers portray themselves as mortgage professionals saying, ‘We know you have a good credit score, we want your business, and we can beat those rates.’ And people are left very confused as to what’s happening.”
Building a relationship
Founded in Edgar County in 1873, Prospect Bank is more than just a financial institution—it’s a member of the community, with its products and employees finely-tuned to meet the needs of the communities it serves. Customers can take comfort in knowing that Prospect Bank does not sell any information contained in a mortgage application and is equally as frustrated that some clients have to endure the solicitous calls generated by trigger leads.
“This business is all about relationships,” Patrick says. “You come to me, I build a relationship with you, and you share your information with us. This is a rural community, and absolutely we’re going to run into each other outside of the bank. We want the customer to know that we value them, that we do protect their information, and that we want to form the long-term, lasting relationship that comes with servicing them properly and doing everything correctly.”
When a mortgage company runs a prospective borrower’s credit report, the bureaus that establish credit rates—such as Experian, Equifax, and Transunion—can then sell the applicant’s name and contact information to third-party vendors, which in turn kicks off the onslaught of phone calls. Unfortunately, the practice is legal, although some lawmakers are working to change that. The companies buying the trigger leads often misrepresent themselves, making it seem like they have some preexisting relationship with the borrower, muddying the situation even more.
It can happen with mortgages generated by any bank, and at any dollar amount. “We’ve seen this happen on applications from under $50,000 to over $300,000,” Patrick says. “People are confused as to why this is happening, and they’re also not very happy. But the good part is that we have great relationships with our customers, and we can talk them through the process, let them know it’s not Prospect Bank doing this, and help them protect themselves so it doesn’t happen again. That’s where we’re really fortunate that we’ve spent the time building the relationship.”
Three ways to opt out
So, how can current and future Prospect Bank borrowers protect themselves from the flood of calls, mailings and other contacts spawned by trigger leads? Patrick offers three options:
— Register with the National Do Not Call Registry (DoNotCall.gov). You can register both your home and cell phone numbers. Since it takes 31 days to become effective, prospective borrowers should try to do this at least one month before applying for a loan. The registration expires after five years.
— Register with the Direct Mail Association (theMDA.org) to prevent mortgage lenders from sending direct mail. It will cost $1, and you can register either online or through the mail. The DMA distributes its lists every quarter, so registration can take a while to be effective, but it is good for five years.
— Use the Opt Out Prescreen to prevent credit bureaus from selling your information. Users can register online at OptOutPrescreen.com, or by phone at (888) 5-OPTOUT. Users should also know they will have to enter some personal information in order to register.
Passing on such information to customers is just another way Prospect Bank works to strengthen relationships with people in the community it serves. And that effort isn’t limited to preventing trigger leads—Patrick can also help clients keep up to date on their credit score and ensure that the information credit bureaus have is correct. “Part of our process is to educate our customers,” she says. “No matter what their concern is, we care.”
Interested in learning more about how Prospect Bank can make the mortgage process easier for you? Visit one of its ten locations across Central Illinois and Indiana, including the main branch at 177 West Wood St. in Paris, call (877) 465-4154, or visit BankProspect.com for further information.
