According to a Lead Planet spokesman, “As mortgage rates break records, lead volumes rise, because consumers want to save money with a lower interest rate.”  We continue to see significant interest in government home mortgages again this week as FHA leads rose nearly 11% and VA leads increased almost 7%.  Debt and loan modification lead volumes fell nearly 2% from the previous week.  The Federal Reserve announced compensation restrictions for mortgage brokers last week, but as expected the news had little effect on the mortgage lead activity. 

Mortgage Lead Activity Spikes as Interest Rates Drop

The Lead Planet is a direct mortgage lead company that publishes a monthly report measuring lead volumes for home finance, debt and real estate industries.  The internet mortgage marketing company is best known for generating live and leads from their premiere finance websites.  They also posts a weekly mortgage lead report that is derived from the survey of over 1,000 mortgage companies nationwide.

Will Banning Mortgage Rebates Help the Mortgage Industry?

These new home lending regulations are part of the new financial reform legislation mandated by Congress.  The new rules apply to mortgage loan originators, brokers and loan companies, including banks and mortgage firms employing them. Under the new regulations loan originators may no longer be paid a increased commissions for suggesting one home  loan over another.

How will the YSP Ban Affect Your Business?

This is a devasting blow to loan companies that seek talented loan professionals.  As most of you know, loan officers were paid higher fees for charging a higher interest rate on mortgage to consumers over the last few years.  The fed is blaming the foreclosure crisis on mortgage brokers. 

Will this be the end of No Cost Mortgages? The rule change is intended to prevent loan originators from receiving higher compensation at the cost of damaging consumers.  Mortgage lenders can still continue to receive fees that are based on a percentage of the loan amount, however, which is common in the mortgage business.  Many loan originators have been sharing their yield spread premium commissions with their borrowers in an effort to reduce or even eliminate closing costs.  Where do you think no cost mortgage loans originated from?

Loan originators will also be prohibited from receiving compensation from both the consumer and another party such as a bank or mortgage company. Consumers were typically not informed that loan originators and brokers often received payments for their work from both parties. The new rule seeks to protect consumers who agree to pay the loan agents through a higher interest rate or through fees such as points charged up front on a mortgage are not paying more as a result.

The Fed said they are also instituting a rule prohibiting loan originators from directing a consumer to accept a home mortgage that is not in the consumer’s best interest in order to increase the loan agents’ compensation. The rule preserves consumer choice by ensuring that consumers can select from other home loan options, including loans with the lowest mortgage rate and the least amount of closing costs rather than loans that pay the originator higher fees.  The new YSP rules are set to go into affect April 1, 2011.

Does the Fed Have the Governing Authority to Ban YSP in all 50 States?

The Lead Planet believes that in a free market society in the US that charging a premium for your services is a great American virtue.  Better disclosures would have been a better solution rather than banning sales commissions to loan officers.  For now, we are reporting that once again our government has taken measures to strip some of our liberties. I don’t believe we have heard the end of this issue.

The Lead Planet Monthly Mortgage Lead Survey Tracks the Following Types of Loan Leads Online:

Refinance Leads Purchase Leads Home Equity Leads Debt Leads SubPrime Leads Loan Modification Leads

Our mortgage SEO solutions continue to help our clients in multiple ways because we are able to target specific niches through precise internet mortgage lead generation campaigns.  Whether it’s VA, FHA, conforming or jumbo, the Lead Planet has the ability to significantly increase search engine ranking for most mortgage websites that display original content.

Call 619-600-5720 to get more information on mortgage lead generation, search engine optimization and custom websites that rank high and perform well on Google, Yahoo and Bing.

It is important to purchase online mortgage leads from a direct source like the Lead Planet.  You need to partner with a mortgage lead generation company that actually generates the leads online, rather than buying broker leads like most lead companies do.  It doesn’t hurt to buy leads from a few sources either.  Not putting all of your eggs in one basket is always a good business move.   Make sure you are buying leads from a company that does mortgage marketing towards your lending niches. 

The Lead Planet creates mortgage lead generation campaigns to meet your growing needs: 

• FHA Leads
• VA Leads
• Refinance Leads
• Purchase Leads
• Conventional Leads
• Jumbo Leads
• Debt Leads
• Loan Modification Leads
• Home Equity Leads

Choose from real-time mortgage leads, live transfer leads, non-exclusive and exclusive mortgage leads.  For a custom mortgage lead generation solution, contact the Lead Planet at 619-600-5720 and get a complimentary mortgage marketing consultation.

The average mortgage rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.67% from 4.75%, with points decreasing to 0.96 from 1.07 for 80% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. This is the lowest 30-year mortgage rate recorded in the survey since the week ending April 24, 2009. The effective interest rate also dropped from last week.

The average mortgage interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 4.06 % from 4.19%, with points decreasing to 0.97 from 1.00 for 80% LTV loans. This is the lowest 15-year mortgage rate ever recorded in the survey. The effective rate also decreased from last week.

The average home loan rate for one-year ARMs was unchanged at 7.05%, with points remaining constant at 0.27 for 80% LTV loans.

The new finance reform bill comes down hard on loan professionals for misconduct and fraud. Sure some of the requirements for mortgage lending need to change, but fairness seems to be disappearing from the reform bill. Privately many mortgage brokers are concerned that our government is trying to cap their income. Most of us believe that in America, the land and the free that you should not have your government limiting your income. According to BofA mortgage executive, Jeff Moran, “There seems to be two sets of rules —-One for the conventional mortgages and another set of rules for the government backed home loans.” Moran continued, “With our economy and housing sector in such a fragil state, it is imperative that we make industry changes that protect consumers yet do not hinder genuine home financing opportunities that will help people in our economy get back on their feet.

Is it fair that the government that was involved in pushing risky loans to unqualified borrowers should be dictating how much money we should make? The competitive nature of the mortgage business has been the driving force for new lending products and finance opportunities that have helped this great country expand. The notion that our government is implementing restrictions on our industry yet the government mortgage products are exempt from disciplinary repercussions is maddening.

What can you do? Be vocal and get involved with groups like the Mortgage Bankers Association and local groups like California Association of Mortgage Brokers. There are local mortgage associations in every state, so get involved. Partner with mortgage marketing companies like the Lead Planet who will support you with industry news and internet mortgage leads that will help increase your cash flow. Call 619-600-5720 to get more information on new mortgage lending opportunities and online mortgage lead promotions.

Direct mail costs have risen and the return rates have been lower as well.  Many loan companies are surviving with internet mortgage leads, but the companies that seem to be funding the most loans every month are the shops that are buying both purchase and refinance leads.  Many loan officers say they don’t like home purchase leads as much because the prospects are not always ready to buy a home.  That may be true, but the purchase market is much hotter than the refinance market right now, so mortgage companies should be more opened minded to work purchase leads in addition to their beloved refinance leads.  The fact exists that there are more qualified purchase mortgage applicants than refinance applicants.  Most qualified homeowners have already refinanced to a mortgage with a fixed rate in the 5% range.  Most of the refinance applicants do not qualify for home refinancing because they have no equity or their credit scores are too low.  The Lead Planet recommends buying mortgage leads with filters of a blended mix of both purchase and refinance.  Take a minute and call the Lead Planet at 619-600-5720 and we will show you how to maximize mortgage lead buying opportunities with no obligation.

Online Mortgage Leads Versus Trigger Leads

I decided it would be a good idea to discuss the benefits and risks of both internet loan leads and trigger leads.  First of all for those that do not know, a trigger lead is a lead that is generated when a loan applicant has their credit pulled.  The credit report company sells the lead to a mortgage company that meets those credit filters.  The big problem for the mortgage company buying the trigger lead is that the loan applicant does not know who they are and usually they are not happy with some random company calling them without their consent.  Any way you cut it, loan applicants are blind-sided by the mortgage company who bought the trigger lead.  It is pretty shocking that trigger leads are legal.  I don’t see how it is any different than buying a spam email lead.  Both trigger and spam leads are generated in some part without the loan applicant’s authorization. 

On the other hand, internet mortgage leads are initiated by the loan applicant. Think about it — the borrower goes online and searches for mortgage companies to help them with a refinance or purchase mortgage.  Once the loan applicant submits their request to be connected to multiple lenders the internet mortgage lead is created.  The loan applicant is now expecting a phone call and email from the loan company who purchased the mortgage lead online. 

Trigger leads can be effective, but they require a very clever loan officer to get good results.  Most loan officers are not able to overcome the typical objections that come with the trigger leads.  It is much more likely to get better conversions with internet mortgage leads because the borrower is expecting your call.  Lead Planet is a direct mortgage lead company offers quality internet and live transfer mortgage leads.  We do not offer trigger leads.

Shopping online for the best mortgage lender to meet your borrower’s needs is indeed a challenge and that is why the Lead Planet has partnered with experienced mortgage companies that know how to close loans in this market.  If you have purchased 1000′s of leads two in ten will likely convert.  One in twenty is pretty standard these days with most lead companies. The Lead Planet has made a commitment to helping loan companies get better conversion ratios from their online mortgage leads. 

Mortgage lead buying is all about commitment and buying large quantities to get a return.  Buying 100 quality mortgage refinance leads could cost $2,500.00 (100 x 25.00 per lead). If you only get applications on 20% of the leads and close half of those loan prospects you are getting a worthy return on your investment. The key is to set your monthly budget for two to three months at a time. Stick to it and buy all the loan leads you can afford if you have a talented staff and lenders that are ready to fund your loan submissions. One of the most common mistakes companies do is to not buy enough leads or stop the online mortgage lead campaign too quickly.  We are proud of the fact that our clients tell us that our live transfer leads convert better than their other lead companies.