If the website where you are applying advertises a specific loan officer, it is probably safe to fill out that application. You can reasonably expect that your application is actually going to that loan officer, who will be contacting you sometime afterward.

Do a little research about a company before applying in person, on the phone or online to find out what kind of company you are dealing with. Try searching state licensing records, the Better Business Bureau and possibly even the state Attorney General's Office to see if there are any major complaints against the company or just to make sure they are indeed a licensed and legal company. This is the same advice for applying for any type of loan, credit or anything.

When applying online, pay special attention to the company privacy policy. The privacy policy should explicitly state exactly what your personal information will be used for. Be wary if the company plans to resell your information, or if the company doesn’t have its privacy policy available on its website.

The lure of many lead providers is that they will “shop around” your loan and the competition will lead to an overall cost savings. These companies do not tell you that in addition to the cost of the lead to the broker, the lead provider may charge an additional $1,500 if the loan closes. The end result is often an increase in the overall cost of your loan.

One way to determine if the site is being ran by a legitimate mortgage broker rather than a lead provider is to verify the company’s license through their state. Most states allow consumers to access online lists of properly licensed mortgage professionals.

The information you give lead providers is often resold to 15 or more brokers. Often, this results in a flood of unexpected telephone calls. It can sometimes take weeks before all of the brokers quit calling.

Lead generators are companies that sell loan applicants' information to mortgage brokers, bank loan officers, and other lead companies for a profit. Their business model is not to provide actual mortgage services to the loan applicants. To avoid your information being sold, re-sold and be called on for the next year to come, upon the initial contact, ask the mortgage company if they would sell your information to others.

Although many websites say that lenders compete for your loan, lenders pay for every potential borrower whose information they receive. Lenders pay several hundred dollars for information from several potential borrowers in order to complete one loan.
This limits how low they can go on fees and rate when competing for you loan.
When you contact individual companies or loan officers, the cost to them is nothing, so they have more flexibility.

Often when you apply online your information is resold several times over. It is often more prudent to contact a broker and have them work up a loan for you versus applying online.