As many here know, I am Mortgage Banker and I have had the pleasure of working with a lot of you over the years. This post isn't about that though. It's about a rising abuse of privacy we are seeing through the credit reporting agencies. As an industry, we are seeing an uptick in Trigger Leads being sold by Equifax, Transunion and Experian. It’s unconscionable that lenders are forced to obtain a credit report from these bureaus, yet they are allowed to sell our client’s information without their permission to (you guessed it) other lenders.
What is a Trigger Lead?
A Trigger Lead is a lead sold to lenders indicating that a consumer has applied for a Mortgage Loan and the originating lender has accessed that consumer’s credit report. These lenders then contact our client(s) to market their mortgage program and attempt to steal the opportunity from us (the original originator of the loan). The entities selling these leads are Transunion, Experian and Equifax. This results in people trying to poach business they did not earn and also it causes our clients to be spammed with offers and phone calls they didn't ask for.
How do you prevent Trigger Leads?
One of the most effective tools we are using is to remove the phone number of our client from the file before requesting credit. Inadvertantly, we are providing the contact information for the customer to the bureaus.
What can you, as a borrower, do?
OPT OUT: You have the choice to OPT OUT of prescreen offers “as soon as possible”. The process can take a couple weeks but there is a means by which you can permanently OPT OUT.
You can follow the prompts and Opt-Out of this ridiculous practice.
Yet another example of your government NOT looking out for our privacy as Americans. This has all been pushed through by large financial institutions who want to commoditize financial transactions so they can profit more while paying people less. I hope you'll take the time to Opt Out!
What is a Trigger Lead?
A Trigger Lead is a lead sold to lenders indicating that a consumer has applied for a Mortgage Loan and the originating lender has accessed that consumer’s credit report. These lenders then contact our client(s) to market their mortgage program and attempt to steal the opportunity from us (the original originator of the loan). The entities selling these leads are Transunion, Experian and Equifax. This results in people trying to poach business they did not earn and also it causes our clients to be spammed with offers and phone calls they didn't ask for.
How do you prevent Trigger Leads?
One of the most effective tools we are using is to remove the phone number of our client from the file before requesting credit. Inadvertantly, we are providing the contact information for the customer to the bureaus.
What can you, as a borrower, do?
OPT OUT: You have the choice to OPT OUT of prescreen offers “as soon as possible”. The process can take a couple weeks but there is a means by which you can permanently OPT OUT.
You can follow the prompts and Opt-Out of this ridiculous practice.
Yet another example of your government NOT looking out for our privacy as Americans. This has all been pushed through by large financial institutions who want to commoditize financial transactions so they can profit more while paying people less. I hope you'll take the time to Opt Out!
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