This article describes the different types of mortgage web sites, and the consumer needs that each type may meet. As these sites expand the range of services they offer, the other types will fall farther behind. The individual shopping sites are compared in Summary Evaluation of Shopping Sites. Referral sites are for consumers who for whatever reason intend to shop through conventional channels and whose first order of business is to compile a list of lenders who are active in their area. Lead-generation sites are for consumers with special needs that might not be met on a shopping site, including those with significant credit problems or looking for second mortgages.
Shopping sites are for everyone else who can boot up a computer and use a mouse.
They are easy to identify because the lender's name will be prominently displayed on the screens. Single-lender sites account for the majority of all mortgage web sites. A site maintained by a mortgage broker that presents one set of products under the broker's name is a single-lender site. Most of the web sites of mortgage brokers fall in this category. While single-lender web sites range widely in what they do, most of them do very little.