WHY ARE ALL THESE MORTGAGE COMPANIES CALLING ME???? People who earn their living making Sales know how tough it is to succeed. Some businesses are tougher than others. Right now the business of originating residential mortgage loans is particularly challenging. With the dwindling demand for mortgages, mortgage brokers are pursuing every business opportunity to increase sales. Lead Generation has always been one of the methods mortgage companies, as well as other sales oriented businesses, use to increase sales in sluggish markets. There are Marketing and Lead Generation companies that target their leads for particular sales industries. Mortgage Lead Generation is big business. The end users of these leads, the person actually calling you, generally believes that they are calling you because you have provided information that requesting a mortgage professional follow up with you to facilitate a loan or provide financing scenarios. When you go online and provide personal loan information, your personal information is captured and disseminated into the lead network. Few people realize that each time their credit is checked, the information provided to the credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian) immediately becomes a commodity that is sold not only to other lenders but also to companies that sell and resell the same names and personal information. There is also a fourth major credit bureau that not many people know about. This company is called Innovis. Innovis began as ACB Services in 1970. In 1989, it was purchased and renamed Consumers Credit Associates (CCA). In 1997, First Data Corporation purchased CCA and renamed it Innovis, Inc. Historically, Innovis has not been used as a major credit reporting activity by lenders. This is starting to change. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have requested lenders to provide information on mortgage accounts that are 90 days late to Innovis. This monthly mortgage information is tracked by the Federal Government and is one of the prime indicators of national mortgage delinquencies. The credit bureaus are using the sale of these lead generation lists as a way to increase their revenues at your expense. When you apply for a mortgage with a lender and that lender pulls your credit report, a trigger is pulled that may result in the addition of your credit information to a compilation of lead lists that then become available industry wide. These lead lists are then marketed to competing creditors for substantial revenue dollars. When a mortgage broker or loan officer contacts you, he or she is generally making a good faith effort in trying to assist you in finding the right loan product. They are not aware of how long ago you answered an inquiry or how many mortgage professionals have contacted you. If you do not wish to be contacted, please let them know. If you do not want your name added to these lists, you can stop this. The consumer credit reporting industry has provided a way for you to “opt out” or remove your name from these lists. You can contact them by phone at 1-888-567-8688 or online at: https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t. You can choose a five year or a lifetime option. The life time option does require a signed form. At this time the practice of generating and selling these lists is allowed by law. If you would like to complain about this or have been targeted after “opting out”, you can contact the FTC or your state Attorney General’s Office. These agencies will investigate reported violations. In most cases, an agency’s primary source of information is complaints from the public. CMA Realty and Mortgage, Inc., has been in business for over 16 years. It is not our intent to harass or bother our potential customers. It has been our understanding that the leads we have been given were leads that had not been contacted by another loan officer, that these leads were the result of direct contact between the customer and the internet entity soliciting the inquiry. We are a company that through the leadership of its founder, owner and President, Arthur I. Walker III, CDR Ret. US Navy, is imbued with, integrity, honor, and strong sense and understanding of our fiduciary responsibility to our clients. Please visit our website at WWW.CMA-MORTGAGES.COM for more information or just give us a call at 407-298-2200. For those of you out of area, our toll free number is: 1-877-567-2200. It is our honor to assist you in any real estate or mortgage matter. We look forward to hearing from you. Very truly yours, CMA Realty & Mortgage, Inc. Art Walker Broker/President