If you are a mortgage broker or loan officer that is considering buying mortgage leads from an internet provider, make sure you do your research and avoid buying recycled junk.

Here are a few things to look for when considering buying internet mortgage leads.

The first thing you want to do is get a sales representative on the phone and find out exactly how the mortgage lead company is acquiring their mortgage leads.

Here is the one and only thing you will want to hear before proceeding any further. You will want to hear that the mortgage lead company acquires their mortgage leads through web sites that they own and operate.

Because if they don't, than the mortgage leads are being acquired somewhere else by someone else. And most likely those leads are being sold to multiple mortgage lead companies. So by the time you get your hands on the lead it has already been sold to a dozen loan officers before you.

Also, make sure that what you will be receiving is a genuine mortgage lead and not some information based on a survey some customer filled out.

I know from first hand experience what it is like to call a potential customer only to have them tell you that they thought they were filling out a survey.

As you can imagine, I was not happy.

If the mortgage lead company you are considering does acquire their own mortgage leads through their own web sites than you will want to find out how they are driving customers to these sites.

What you will want to hear is that they use advertisements on major search engines to drive traffic to their lead generation sites.

Avoid companies that use bribes to acquire mortgage leads such as offering gift cards to home stores if the customer fills out an on-line application. These customers are more interested in the free gift card than they are the mortgages, so steer clear.

In the end, you work hard for your money, so find the mortgage lead company that acquires their leads on their own through the appropriate channels.