Bills Lender Letter - February 2008, Issue 3

• Know Your Limit
• Receive leads in Excel
• New East Coast Office!

Will the loan limit increases mean more funded loans?

Getting ready for another wave of interested applicants? The new Fannie, Freddie and FHA loan limits are set to be announced in early March with a full product roll out scheduled for early April. This should mean another surge of homeowner and homebuyer interest in low fixed rates. Of course, the big question is still… with declining home values in some areas and flat or rising rates, how many of these prospective clients can you help?

With our new Know Your Limit product (details below) you’ll be better positioned to take advantage of the loan limit increases. Applicants’ new loan limits (based on median values in their area) will be determined by Bills.com and passed along to you – taking the guesswork out of identifying applicants’ new loan limits. There are many loans to be done and less lenders to do them! By matching the leads you buy with the programs you can offer, you’ll be in a great position to fund loans in a market with tremendous consumer demand.

We’ve been working on tools to help our partners fund more loans in a challenging environment. Make sure to contact your Account Manager with questions or activation requests for the following products:

Fund more loans with Know Your Limit
Bills.com is excited to pre-announce the launch of Know Your Limit, our new consumer service to help homeowners and homebuyers learn the impact of the new FHA and conforming loan limits increase on the amount they can borrow. Know Your Limit will increase applicant awareness and help us in our goal of delivering motivated, high intent applicants to our lenders. Know Your Limit is scheduled to launch in mid-March to coincide with HUD’s release of the new loan limits. More information will be available after March 3rd from your Account Manager.

Email Excel Format for Lead Transfers
We’re always looking for more efficient ways to transmit applicant requests to matched lenders and you now have the option to receive your real-time leads in an excel (spreadsheet) format. If you currently receive individual leads via email and copy the lead information in to a spreadsheet, this is a good alternative as you will no longer need to do a manual conversion. Of course, we are integrated with all of the major Lead Management Systems (LMS’s) including: Kaleidico, LeadMailbox, Leads360, LeadROI, LoanXEngine and Mortech. Contact your Account Manager to set up the Email Excel format or for any other lead transmission questions.

Welcome Adam Finley!
Adam Finley joined the Bills.com team in February as an Account Executive and will be manning our East Coast office out of Charlotte, NC. Adam brings spent four years with Wachovia Mortgage, five years at LendingTree and then a brief stint at Root Markets before joining us. We’re excited to have Adam on board and we’re sure our lending partners will benefit from his energy, experience and fire. He’s always available at 650.393.6603 or afinley@bills.com.

Selling with questions?

We have all been taught to ask open-ended, engaging questions, and to steer away from “Yes-No” questions. Why are they so important in sales? First, questions are tools that take the focus off you, and onto the customer and their needs. Second, the right questions demonstrate competence, and competence ultimately creates confidence. Ask about how they will be evaluating different lenders; what problems may come up that would prevent them from closing the deal; what other options are they considering. Listen and advise. Think of questions that both inform you of their intent, and give you an opportunity to build rapport.