Mortgage Leads Research & Technology

iLeads.com said it has incorporated title data from First American CoreLogic into its mortgage leads. The added information helps originators overcome the difficulty of qualifying borrowers who may not accurately know their home value or mortgage details.

MyFHA.net claims its loan leads are only harvested from the its own Web site and only sold to one lender. The exclusivity provides “loan officers with the best opportunity to succeed by converting more leads into closed deals.”

Trigger prospects with just one mortgage inquiry on their credit report have likely conducted extensive research and are less likely to consider marketing offers, a report from Data Warehouse suggested. Conversely, prospects with multiple inquires over a short period of time were found to have conducted little research and were more willing to consider loan pitches.

A third group that had multiple inquiries over a 28-day period exhibited normal consumer characteristics. Prospects with inquiries spaced 15 to 28 days apart were likely already in a mortgage transaction getting the final credit report before closing and were the most costly group.

Data Warehouse based its findings on an acquisition trigger campaign it conducted for a subprime lender targeting borrowers with credit scores between 500 and 600 in nine states. The report, issued last year, recommended initiating contact eight to 14 days after the trigger lead date — when prospect loyalty to lenders is lowest. Direct mail leads, which are generated by an interested prospect, showed higher conversions than telemarketing prospects, which may have considered the offer only as a concession.

Mortgagebot LLC is generating more leads for mortgage originators by enabling non-mortgage companies to offer automated mortgage comparison shopping on their Web sites through its Mortgage Marvel application programming interface. By integrating the service, Mortgagebot claims Web sites will generate more traffic and advertising revenue.

Silicon Valley Bank Ventures and Redpoint Ventures have invested $6 million in LeadPoint, a mortgage lead marketplace, according to a press release. LeadPoint, which claims to be the “world’s largest online lead generation marketplace,” will use some of the funds to expand marketing and sales.

myRateTrack.com announced it complements an originator’s own marketing efforts by issuing an alert to both the prospective borrower and the loan officer when a targeted interest rate on a particular loan program is reached. The Web-based system also periodically sends refinance reports with available interest rates and specific closing costs to originator’s loan prospects.

“Many mortgage shoppers lost out in January when mortgage rates dipped to their lowest level in years — only to jump up as much as 0.5 percent by the end of the day,” the statement said. “The market moved so quickly, many consumers missed out on the opportunity.”