Mortgage leads: prices, sourcing and the rules on selling them

Mortgage leads are bought by individual loan officers, mortgage brokerages, retail and online lenders, and credit unions. Demand swings with rates: when rates fall, refinance leads are suddenly worth buying again; when they rise, purchase leads carry the market. A broker in this vertical has to follow the rate cycle as closely as the lenders do.

What lenders will ask for

Loan officers hold an NMLS licence, and the businesses that pay for leads are regulated lenders with compliance teams. Expect to be asked for the consent record, the form the consumer saw and the list of companies that received the same lead.

Why loan size and age move the price

Bigger loans command bigger prices because the lender's revenue scales with the loan, which is why jumbo leads sit at the top. The same guide reports contact rates falling from 35–50% for fresh shared leads to 8–18% for leads over a year old, which is the real reason aged mortgage records are cheap.

• Rate-comparison and 'see what you qualify for' sites that sell or route the borrower to several lenders.
• Search and social ads run by lead generators, often with a short quiz.
• Real estate agent referrals, which bring their own RESPA questions about payments.
• Inbound call campaigns for refinance and reverse mortgages.
• Credit bureau trigger lists, now heavily restricted (below).

RESPA section 8 and comparison sites

RESPA section 8 bans paying or accepting a fee for referring settlement business.

In a February 2023 advisory opinion the CFPB said a comparison-shopping platform breaks this rule when it steers borrowers to the lenders that pay it more, for instance by ranking them higher or labelling the top payer a 'best match'.

Neutral lead generation that a lender pays a fair price for remains a legitimate service.

Trigger leads after 2025

Trigger leads, lists a credit bureau sold when a consumer applied for a mortgage, were sharply curtailed by the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, signed on 5 September 2025 and effective 180 days later. A bureau may now furnish one only where the lender makes a firm offer and either already has a relationship with the consumer or has their permission.

Other federal rules

• TCPA prior express written consent for autodialed or prerecorded calls and texts, with federal calling hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act's privacy and safeguards rules for nonpublic personal information collected by financial institutions.
• Truth in Lending advertising rules if the lead form quotes rates or payments.
• State mini-TCPAs such as Florida's and Oklahoma's, and the national Do Not Call list.

• Forms that advertise a specific rate the consumer can't actually get.
• Any lead the seller can't explain without mentioning a credit inquiry.
• Pricing that rises when a lender pays for better placement on a 'comparison' page.
• Refinance leads sold at fresh prices that were generated months ago when rates were lower.

DataBroker isn't a mortgage lead marketplace and doesn't hold borrower records. The paid academy teaches people to broker data and lead deals responsibly, and its mortgage material focuses on the questions lenders' compliance teams ask: provenance, consent, RESPA-safe pricing and data security. The app tracks each deal's documents and terms.