Trigger lead limits push lenders toward new marketing

With trigger leads exiting the scene, mortgage originators are seeking new ways to improve their consumer marketing. Industry groups and companies are stepping in to fill the gaps left as traditional training programs have disappeared with downsizing.

"The companies used to train people, but as companies downsize, those have gone by the wayside, and individuals have been left on their own," said Valarie Saunders, CEO of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB). Saunders and NAMB President Kimber White recently met with National Mortgage News reporters in New York to discuss the group's initiatives.

Industry groups offer guidance

In January, NAMB held its NAMB Focus conference in Orlando, offering marketing sessions aimed at helping originators transition from "call center" operations to proactive business development. "Training you on how to find other marketing ideas to help grow your business," White said.

"This is a big change, especially in a business that has attracted a lot of newcomers since 2017," he added. White noted the shift from passive to active business development, using a Covid-era analogy: "If you sit under the apple tree, the apples will fall on your head; sooner or later, you will fill your basket. Now people are having to learn how to develop business."

Jodi Hall, CEO of The Mortgage Collaborative, a cooperative of roughly 200 organizations, about half independent mortgage bankers and the rest depositories, highlighted the impact of recent legislation on consumer experience. "The greatest impact is to the consumer. They won't be getting multiple phone calls but from the lender's perspective, many were using soft pull credits to manage outreach," she said. Rising soft pull costs are prompting lenders to rethink workflows ahead of the law's implementation in March.

Competing with servicers

Hall pointed out that many large servicers have advanced retention operations that don't rely on trigger leads. Rocket, for example, pointed out the strength of its retention operation in the fourth quarter. "They're using data to predict when consumers are likely to transact," Hall said. Smaller lenders, however, often lack access to these insights, putting them at a disadvantage in retaining customers.

Drew Warmington, CEO of iLeads, formerly owned by First American Financial and later CoreLogic, now rebranded as Cotality, raised questions about compliance under the new law. "What counts as a 'current' customer? Is it someone with a loan from 2003, or only the most recent loan? There's a lot of uncertainty, and many will assume they're compliant, only to find out later they're not."

Mortgage compliance attorney Peter Idziak noted this as a potential compliance concern for originators. 

Sharing marketing ideas

The Mortgage Collaborative maintains a marketing working group to share best practices for customer retention and early engagement. Fincast, a platform co-founded by Benjamin Schieken, provides a marketplace for consumers to shop loan estimates across participating lenders. Schieken said he created the product to reduce consumer frustration and overwhelm caused by repeated solicitations.

"Trigger lead marketing wasn't the best consumer experience," Schieken said. "From a lender perspective, it was challenging from a cost-per-funded-loan standpoint. Fincast was designed to create transparency while protecting privacy and improving market efficiency."

Borrower behavior and lead economics

Warmington described mortgage borrowers as "catalog shoppers," browsing and returning months later. Analysis with Rocket Mortgage of one million internet-generated leads found:

• 30% eventually funded a loan.
• 66% went to lenders who didn't buy the original lead.
• 50–60% couldn't fund immediately due to collateral issues.
  

Even with decades of experience, iLeads has received little guidance from credit bureaus on permitted practices under the new law. "We use title data with internet leads to underwrite and improve the borrower experience," Warmington said.
LendingTree supported the Homebuyer Privacy Protection Act, citing a 2025 survey showing 89% of consumers want fewer unsolicited financial communications. "Consumers should be able to compare offers without facing a wave of calls and offers," said Patrick Brennan, head of government relations.

Winners and losers

For large lenders, Warmington sees the law as a net positive, eliminating competition from post-contact calls. But smaller and mid-sized shops may face a financial strain. "Trigger leads were a huge portion of their volume. Replacing them will be costly, and after March 5, I don't know what they'll do," he said.