All Posts Tagged With: "mortgage"

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LendingTree Uncovers Breach of Lead Data

As reported on Twitter by an early tipster to the Lead Critic, and quickly confirmed by LendingTree in letters to customers and a website FAQ, LendingTree uncovered a breach of internal security that allowed some mortgage lenders unauthorized access to customer qualification forms. This is LendingTree’s description of the incident:
Recently, LendingTree learned that several former […]

22Apr2008 | Bill Rice | 2 comments | Continued
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Building a Lead Marketplace is Hard, as Zillow is Learning

Zillow has been at the lead marketplace building business for about two weeks, and I bet internally they are saying, “wow this is hard!” Early responders to the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace were easy to categorize, as I pointed out in my Zillow Gets Negative Reviews (from Non-Adopters), outside observers (non-adopters) were pointing out all of […]

18Apr2008 | Bill Rice | 2 comments | Continued
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Watching Mortgage Risk in Motion

Many have watched in amazement as the mortgage industry has dramatically imploded. It is tracked like a body count on websites like the The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter and each new melt down is a grand surprise.
However, I was just pointed to a tool yesterday that may take some of the surprise out who’s (at least […]

15Apr2008 | Bill Rice | 1 comment | Continued
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LeadsCon: Internet Lead Market Up-close

I remember the first time I went to my Dad’s laboratory at the University of Kentucky and he showed me the magic of looking very closely at common everyday objects. You see, he had a scanning electron microscope and things you would think as simple as a common housefly’s eye are amazingly complex and interesting.
That […]

8Apr2008 | Bill Rice | 0 comments | Continued
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Zillow Mortgage Gets Negative Reviews (from Non-Adopters)

I have been following the Zillow Mortgage discussion with great interest. By reserving follow-up to my early commentary in BusinessWeek I have an opportunity to survey the discussion and distill a few important observations:

Zillow did something radical
The harshest criticisms are from non-participants
Smart folks are observing and participating with the intent to learn
This is an important […]

7Apr2008 | Bill Rice | 4 comments | Continued
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What Would a Jason Calacanis Mortgage Startup Look Like?

A pondering post by Jason Calacanis (Mahalo) about a camp to help startup entrepreneurs got me thinking. What would a Calacanis trained entrepreneur’s mortgage or real estate business look like?
Here is my guess:

It would be efficient with it’s capital and startup costs
It would have an expensive expresso machine
It would leverage the Internet
It would blog
It would […]

24Mar2008 | Bill Rice | 2 comments | Continued
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Is Ben Bernanke Talking Too Much?

My favorite blog line of the day:
The Trouble with Ben Bernanke: Too Much Twittering
Anyone who is riding this mortgage roller coaster knows that we are rising and falling with the media these days. Is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke talking too much? Maybe Bernanke should stop Twittering (I know it is not him–thought I would […]

5Mar2008 | Bill Rice | 0 comments | Continued
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ValueClick is FTC’s Latest Truth in Advertising Target

The use of “free” and general efficacy in consumer offers is obviously FTC’s latest enforcement focus. ValueClick is just the latest in settlements around using tantalizing incentive offers in lead generation. Some recent examples include:

Member Source Media 
Adteractive

ValueClick’s FTC settlement of $2.9 million is the largest to date, but is sure not to be the last. […]

14Feb2008 | Bill Rice | 0 comments | Continued
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Bankrate gobbling up bargain Internet properties?

Bankrate recently completes two acquisitions of InsureMe, Inc. (insureme.com) and Lower Fees, Inc. (feedisclosure.com). It continues a trend of paired acquisitions that included the 4th quarter 2007 purchase of  National Card Services, Inc. and Savingforcollege.com, LLC and a pair of late 2005 deals to take in FastFind and MMIS/Interest.com.
The 2007/2008 acquisitions certainly demonstrate a strategy […]

13Feb2008 | Bill Rice | 0 comments | Continued
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OLGA wants more from IAB’s lead generation best practices

Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) recent release of online lead generation best practices for B2C and B2B is an unprecedented step in bringing a benchmark of acceptable practices to lead generation. Those of us involved in lead generation and lead management see on a daily basis the very loose and wide view of acceptable means to […]

11Feb2008 | Bill Rice | 0 comments | Continued
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Get the Pulse of the Lead Market at LeadsCon

LeadsCon is the first of its kind show for those interested in lead generation and customer acquisition. Come to The Palms, Last Vegas April 2 - 4, 2008 to meet some of the smartest, most innovative, and successful companies in all of online advertising. Come to LeadsCon to network and learn, and you’ll leave with […]

10Feb2008 | Bill Rice | 0 comments | Continued