Getting Marketing Calls After Applying for a Loan

Why it Happens, and How to Protect Yourself

Video Transcript (Edited for Clarity):

Hi, I wanted to talk to you today about something that has happened to some of our clients recently. Even if you are not a KTL Performance Mortgage client, if you’ve ever applied for a home loan or a car loan with any other company, this information may be useful to you as well.

What has happened recently for some of our clients is they’ve applied for a home loan, and within a day or so, sometimes even faster, they’ve gotten a call from a company that is NOT KTL Performance Mortgage.

I don’t know if these companies that are calling them are necessarily lying, but I do believe they are being very vague and trying to make the person who applied for the home loan believe they are calling from KTL.

In one situation that recently happened, somebody was pre-approved and this company called and said, “hey, we want to lock in your interest rate.” This company was trying to get the type of information from them that would be required to complete a mortgage application.

In another situation, somebody had applied for a home loan, and another company called and said, “hey, we’re following up on your application. We needed to go ahead and get your application fee.”

At KTL, we don’t charge an application fee. We don’t take any payments or pass along any upfront charges.

So really what this is, is other mortgage companies that are trying to get your business. They’re trying to get a mortgage application from you. And again, I do believe they’re being vague enough to try to make you think that you are talking to KTL Performance Mortgage.

How are they getting this information?

When you apply for a home loan, we go in and pull your credit. We go through a credit reporting agency, to get your credit report. That credit report comes from the three credit bureaus; Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

At KTL Performance Mortgage, we are never going to sell your information. The credit reporting agencies that we go through are never going to sell your information. We absolutely do not share your information with anybody else.

BUT, those three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, which are the three credit bureaus in the United States, they do sell your information.

They sell something called trigger leads. This basically allows a third-party mortgage company to purchase a list of anybody who has applied for a mortgage recently.

These third-party mortgage brokers and banks will receive that list with your information on it. They may then call you to try to get your business. In some situations, companies with poor ethics will try to make you think that you are talking to KTL Performance Mortgage, who you originally applied with.

There are a couple of things that you can do to protect yourself.

Again, this is all legal. They are allowed to sell your information. It’s nothing we have control over. If we could stop it, we 100% would. But again, it is those three main credit bureaus that sell that information.

One of the things you can do if somebody does call you after you’ve applied is to ask them to identify where are they calling from. I don’t think that these companies would lie to you. I think they will just be vague to try to kind of trick you.

So, ask where they’re calling from, and verify what the company name is. Make them say the company name, don’t say “Are you calling from KTL?”, because that makes it easy for them to say Yes and continue with the deception.

If you are already working with a loan officer, ask them “who asked you to call me?” “What’s the name of my loan officer?”

At KTL we have a team environment, so there could be other people from the company calling. You may talk to Desteni the first time you call, for example, and then somebody else may call afterward to try to update some of your information. But again, they should be able to tell you what the loan officer is that you’ve already worked with.

If you ever have any doubts, or you ever are thinking, this just doesn’t seem right, say “hey, what’s the number I can reach you back at?”

If that number is not our company number, then this may be somebody trying to follow up on those trigger leads.

How to reach us

Our phone numbers are 937-548-8222, which is our main office line. Our toll-free number is 877-892-8222. And the number to our Richmond and Muncie, Indiana offices is 765-273-4711.

When in doubt, hang up the phone and call us right back. We are more than happy to have you call us back if you’re at all worried that somebody is trying to deceive you.

If you’ve ever wondered why you apply for an insurance policy and then you suddenly start getting all these calls about insurance or you start getting things in the mail about insurance, this is why. It is a direct result of trigger leads that the credit bureaus sell.

I hope that helps. Again, if anything ever seems suspicious, hang up the phone and just give us a call back directly and we can make sure that you’re getting the correct information.

Even if you’re not a KTL Performance Mortgage client, if you are applying for a mortgage anywhere else and are set on the company you want to use, we hope this helps you not to get led astray by a different company.

Have a great day! We are here to help however we can.