I think just about everyone can agree that shopping for a mortgage isn’t fun. This would explain why few people actually shop around for a mortgage, or spend any significant amount of time researching loan options.
Instead, they just tend to go with their real estate agent’s recommendation, or they simply visit/call the bank they do their banking business with.
But another reason many existing and prospective homeowners only get one mortgage quote is because they don’t want to harassed by overzealous loan officers.
Here’s the problem. Once you get in contact with a loan officer, there’s a good chance they’ll hound you until you close your loan with them.
It’s for this very reason that Zillow created its Mortgage Marketplace, which allows individuals to shop anonymously. But eventually you’ll need to get on a call or shoot them an e-mail.
There’s an App for That…
To avoid unwanted contact, you can download a number of different apps for your smartphone that allow you to create phone numbers on the fly.
One example is Burner, which allows you to create a temporary, disposable phone number that can be created and deleted in seconds.
Another similar app called Hushed seems to do the same thing as far as I can tell. Both allow you to text and make phone calls via the app instead of using your actual phone number.
The difference between the two might be that they offer different first-timer promos.
So if you sign up for either, you get one free phone number, and X amount of free texts and/or voice minutes before you have to pay for the service.
There’s also Google Voice, which offers the same thing free of charge. I’ve used it in the past when I wanted to communicate with some people and not share my actual phone number.
The beauty was it allowed me to use my regular iPhone to text and call, just via the app instead of the regular phone app.
Staying Anonymous While Shopping for a Mortgage
Using one of these apps is an easy way to stay truly anonymous while shopping for a mortgage, without having to worry about being badgered if you don’t go with a certain lender.
And there’s a good chance you’ll get bombarded. Ever heard of trigger leads? Well, once one mortgage lender runs your credit, the bureaus themselves may sell your information to others.
All of a sudden your phone might be ringing off the hook. Aside from the privacy concerns, it also gives you the ability to shop around without fear of being bothered. In other words, you can realistically shop around.
Once you’ve found the lender you plan to go with, you can delete the temporary phone number in the app and you’ll never have to worry about that number or who attempts to reach it ever again.
You can then give the chosen lender your real phone number and whatever else you’d like to share and move on.
Now you can let lenders fight over you but cut them all loose at the push of a button if none of them appeal to you. Pretty sweet.
You also won’t have to worry about unscrupulous lenders selling your information and all of a sudden receiving random phone calls about your home and how you can save X doing Y.
For the record, this application works for just about anything where you want more privacy/anonymity, including selling stuff on Craigslist/eBay, negotiating with car dealers, dealing with real estate agents, etc., etc.
Read more: 10 mortgage rate shopping tips.