How to evaluate an online Home Mortgage Lender and Identify Deceiving Internet Advertising

Which Internet lender do you choose to originate your loan? One way is to search the internet for a mortgage lender near your location. Search results for many lenders appear, and you want to make a sound choice.

A good beginning is to look at the name of the suggested lender site. Is the company name contained in the URL? If not, you can be easily deceived by clicking on a counterfeit site.

The marketing thief makes a copy of some text taken from the genuine lender site. Now your company specific search results will include his website.

Alternatively, he simply lists the genuine lender company name within his page, so when you search for the company name you know, his site comes up as well as the genuine site.

When you click on the “copy cat” URL, you get a loan application and the illusion that you dealing with a company that has been referred to you or that you specifically searched for. Usually the fraudulent site does not contain any company identification on the pages you see, so you are deceived into thinking you know who you are dealing with.

Another way name recognition theft happens is through deceiving advertising. Along with the requested company information, you find companies in the same line of business, listed around or within your company information. What makes this unfair is the location and lack of disclosure about the links located near the target site. The Yellow Pages, as one example, sell ads to your competitors, intended to steal your clients away.

Notice the ads surrounding the listing you want, for the same product type you searched for, and the location of the competition ads. Diversion ads can actually be part of your company’s information or deceivingly near to your selection. In fact, you must read carefully through information written in the same size and font style, in order to determine which company placed the ad. Sometimes, the only way to be positive is to click on the “trick” link and obtain more information about the company doing the selling.

If you click on the link, the fraud company may have to “pay per click,” so visiting his site, and not purchasing may cost him money. Good!

The following example works the same for services offered, like home mortgage lending, or for products. A good example of this type of misleading advertising is the pizza company and the yellow pages directory.

In searching the Yellow Page directory for a local pizza company’s address and phone number, the page that came up had the correct pizza company’s information in the middle of the page, in small print.

On the left hand column, was another local pizza company’s ad, in a very large red box, offering a discount for pizza. The ad appeared to belong to the right company. However, in clicking on the link, the knock-off company’s offer appeared.

Not only was the bonus offer ad very conspicuous and hard to pass over, but, contained within the proper company’s information, directly below the name, was another link to “ask for a bonus,” which again inferred that this was provided by the searched company. Not so! It’s the competition again taking advantage of the competitor’s name recognition.

Once you choose a website, some easy site investigation will lead you to a reputable lending company. For a small company, look for a dedicated personalized website, not a free website, with ads all over the pages. Large companies will have consistent professional looking page formats, and more information than advertisements.

If all you get is a loan application page, and no company information, avoid the site. Try calling the company and find out how the phone is answered, if it is answered at all. If connected, was your phone call answered by an answering service or a live person working in the company? Many fraudulent sites don’t contain any contact information.

In fact, for many of the free websites, the support phone number has nothing to do with the company. Your call is re-directed to the web hosting company representative who will try to sell you something.

Once on a lender website that appeals to you in some way, due to proximity or another criteria, look for the number of years the company has been in business. Is the loan origination license type given? A valid loan origination license type comes from the Department of Real Estate -DRE, Department of Corporations -DOC, Consumer Finance Lender -CFL, Residential Mortgage Lender – RML.

Beginning January 1, 2011, along with the loan originator license type and number, look for the required NMLS Endorsement Identification Number

If there are published lending articles on the website, read a few and ask yourself if you consider the article to be written by an expert or a beginner in the real estate loan field.

If you have a unique property type, search for the special property loan program. For instance, if you need a “manufactured home loan Yucaipa, California,” enter all the information and carefully examine the results.

Finally, choose an informative website, not a website slanted toward sales without giving you value in return. A reputable lending company will accept and answer your phone call or emails, and not charge you while they gather information regarding your individual loan requirements.

There are more quality lenders available on line than there are shadow companies. Spend a few minutes investigating your options. You will be pleased with the results.