Mortgage Lead Integrity & Exclusivity

LAL Enterprises, Inc. said in a recent press release it has launched a new Web site that offers a “safe, free & live online shopping mall of real licensed mortgage companies and lenders in every state.”

The announcement from the Hermosa Beach, Calif.-based company warned consumers that “many popular mortgage Web sites are nothing more than flashy fronts for lead generation companies” that would sell personal information to anyone who would buy it; that the consumer could be inundated with multiple phone calls, sometimes over several years; and that there use increases the risk of identity theft.

“We wanted to eliminate the potential for identify theft while still allowing consumers a choice of companies to work with and shop,” LAL President Aaron Quick said in the announcement. “It’s great to offer consumers a free alternative to intrusive online applications and the devastating results of applying a the wrong web site.“

But while there may be some dishonest people out in the field, it shouldn’t be cause to “dismiss the entire mortgage lead industry because of some bad players,” MostChoice.com CEO Martin Fleischmann told MortgageDaily.com in an e-mail statement. “There is value to finding and matching up an interested buyer with local experts.”

The Atlanta, Ga.-based company, which has been aggregating leads since 1999, sends real-time leads to up to three originators based on locality and has a clear policy against the reselling of leads, Fleischmann added. Old leads are not sold and secure servers are used to obtain customer information.

Another Atlanta-based aggregator, Cityloans.com, said they use encrypted forms, never ask for birth dates or social security numbers and e-mail a capsule of personal data directly to the loan broker so there is minimal risk for identity theft.

Cityloans founder AJ Martin told MortgageDaily.com leads are sold up to but no more than four times to verified licensed brokers. The information is active for 30 days and then is deleted, Martin added.

The client agreement strictly prohibits the resale of any lead, and if caught the violator is fined $50,000 per lead, he said.

Tempe, Ariz.-based Leadbot’s client contract also prohibits the resale of any lead purchased, spokesman Ben Wagner told MortgageDaily.com. They sell the lead to up to three brokers and that the “information remains within the online accounts of the loan officers who purchase the information.“