Rejoice for the new category!

Anyway, I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time, but just haven’t gotten to it. Today’s dymersion is about the (fairly) new antics some telemarketing people are pulling to try and get business. In particular, my sites are set on mortgage telemarketers.

I’m sure everyone’s gotten the call: the elusive telemarketer looking to have you get a mortgage. It’s happened for years, right. Well, it seems times have changed, and so have these kinds of salespeople. Now, I’ve only yet seen mortgage telemarketers do this; no other type of telemarketer seem to have the gall to try it. Why? Well, probably because most people have mortgages of some sort. Not everyone has a security system, for example, so they’re less likely to try it.

So, what is it these people are doing. Well, an example might go like so…

The Cast
MT: Mortgage Telemarketer
Me: Me (or you)

Me: Hello?
MT: Hi, is Mr. Merritt available?
Me: Speaking
MT: Hi, this is MT from mortgage company. You recently contacted us about getting a mortgage?
Me: Sure…hey, wait a minute, I didn’t do that!

…and, so forth. Basically, these people try and trick you into thinking you want to get a mortgage with them. It’s easy to imagine that in the difficult economic climate that someone might have a second or third mortgage out. Some might get confused about what they’ve done. So, the person goes on and gets misled into thinking they want a mortgage with this caller’s company, so that the company can get the person to really take one out.

Is it effective? Well, I’m not a sociologist, so I can’t tell you. Is it misleading? Well, you don’t have to be a sociologist to say a firm yes to that one. It’s deceptive, and if it isn’t illegal already, it should be. So, why do I place this in the scam category? Are all mortgage companies like this? Probably not, but every call from a mortgage company we’ve gotten here recently has followed a similar format to the one shown above. I put it in the scam category because that what I feel these people amount to. Not the business itself, maybe, since mortgage companies are certainly legitimate. However, these tactics of confusion and deception are some of the same the scammers use.

So, beware. Make sure you know who you have a mortgage with, so that you’re not misled.