The mortgage market is having a bit of trouble. Was that understated? And it has lead aggregators scrambling for new lead generation niches. Lead Critic has a great post on why providers are moving, which is probably pretty obvious, and a few highlighted players. But, I want to take you a little closer to who is going where.

Bills.com: De-emphasizing mortgage. Higher weight in debt and credit products

ConsumerTrack.com: Picked up Bruce Cook from LowerMyBills which will give them added mortgage strength, but have excellent domains and products that position them well for credit and debt products.

LeadPoint.com: Effectively diversified to a variety of different verticals including debt services, payday loans, auto lending, and business services. They have also made a strong entrance into the UK lead market for a lot of verticals.

LendingTree/Tree.com: Will obviously continue their natural strength in mortgage and real estate, but looks to take their new brand–Tree.com–into student loans, auto, and insurance leads.

Low.com: Summarily shutdown their mortgage leads division and overnight recast themselves into an insurance lead provider.

LowerMyBills.com: Still prominently features mortgage, but has a mish-mash of other consumer credit and phone products. The subtle re-introduction of phone plans is a bit interesting in that it was one of Matt Coffin’s early visions and implementations of LowerMyBills–and seems to be where he has returned with his new interest in BillShrink.com.

Oh, and we shouldn’t forget the Experian influence–trigger leads are a short hop away at the parent company.

QuinStreet.com: A giant in the education vertical and recent mortgage lead provider. I am sure they intend to continue dominating education and grabbing left market share as other flee.

Reply.com: Solid auto lead provider that has strategically re-engineered themselves into a lead marketplace, for direct retail lead buyers and a lead exchange, for lead aggregators. Expect them to use their capital, relationships, and direct marketing expertise to quickly flush liquidity in several verticals outside of their auto core.

ZipSearch.com: A perennial strength in insurance leads is certain to continue their foundation there and build continued strength in mortgage and debt.

Mortgage Leads are certainly not vanquished and a lot of new home buyers and current homeowners are looking for solutions to their mortgage challenges, but the trend seems to be toward a stampede into debt and insurance lead generation.

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Bill Rice is the founder of Kaleidico, a leader in contact management sales software. He is a frequent writer, speaker, and consultant on marketing and sales. He is passionate about helping organizations execute more profitable sale management strategies.

photo credit: Johnny Blood