Trigger leads, your credit bureau’s dirty little secret
So you’ve finally found that Knoxville area dream home you’ve been looking for so long and now you’ve applied at your local bank for a mortgage.
All of a sudden you’re deluged with phone calls and mail offering the proverbial “better deal” for your mortgage.
What gives and how did someone is San Francisco, California find out you’re buying a home in Knoxville, Tennessee?
You’ve just became a “trigger lead”; a mostly unknown little secret the credit bureaus don’t publicize (and for good reason)
It’s not a scam, but rather a legitimate, if questionable, business tactic the big 3 credit bureaus use to generate addition revenue; it works like this.
Whenever you apply for a mortgage your lender typically buys a copy of your credit report from Experian, EquiFax, and TransUnion, the “Big 3″ credit bureaus in the U.S..
Amazingly your lender’s legitimate request for your credit history ‘triggers’ an alert to all three credit bureaus that you’re a “hot lead” looking for buy a home or refinance an existing (same thing with some insurance policies).
The credit bureaus know this is valuable information to people in the mortgage and insurance business so they sell your information to them and almost instantly your phone starts ringing and your mailbox starts overflowing with unsolicited offers offering the proverbial “better deal” than you have.
“Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Consumer Credit Reporting Companies are permitted to include your name on lists used by creditors or insurers to make firm offers of credit or insurance that are not initiated by you.”
This practice has been going on for about two years now and not surprisingly, has raised a lot of controversy with consumers. After all, who wants to be barraged (and further confused) with multiple offers for essentially the same loan you’ve already applied for?
There is some relief already available but you have to take a proactive step to make it happen. It’s possible to opt out of unsolicited offers like these and keep yourself from becoming a “trigger lead”.
Just go to this website, fill out the short form, and you can opt yourself out of these annoying solicitations for either a 5 year period of time or permanently.
If you’re thinking of buying a home in the greater Knoxville, Tennessee (or anywhere else for that matter), take a proactive step and save yourself a lot of phone calls and junk mail by opting out of this credit bureau ‘benefit’ and say: “I don’t want to be a “trigger lead”".
Now visit my website, www.KnoxvilleMLS.com and learn more about our wonderful east Tennessee area and look at some beautiful Knoxville area homes, land, and condos for sale.
Please call or email with any questions.
