Your mortgage application may trigger an avalanche of annoying credit offers.

If you’re in the market for a mortgage or a new home, here’s something you’ll probably want to know: Even just shopping for a loan may bring you a huge response from potential suitors trying to solicit your business. And unfortunately, the Federal Trade Commission, which keeps an eye on consumer-credit affairs, doesn’t think it has the authority to do much about it.

The Washington Post recently described the phenomenon. Evidently, as lenders have seen their mortgage volumes decline, they’ve started looking for new leads to find mortgage shoppers. In response, up sprang a new market for these so-called “trigger lists,” which report information about people who have applied for a mortgage within the previous 24 hours.

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Editor’s Note: First time home buyers can be confused by the process. There is the loan process, pre-qualification, looking for a home, documents for title, loans, insurance taxes etc. Here is an article on the subject:

When it comes to lifetime markers getting a first mortgage is a major event. With a mortgage you”re magically transformed from occupant to owner and from tenant to titleholder.

Applying for a mortgage used to be seen as a battle of sorts, a competition where the only winners were those who sold headache remedies and paper by the truckload. But now finding the right mortgage is faster and easier than ever — but only if you know how to make the system work for you.

If you compare loan applications today with the ordeals of even ten years ago you can see a marked difference.

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Hearings by the Senate Banking Committee and by the House Financial Services Committee into the much-publicized troubles in the U.S. mortgage market have called attention to a problem that could ultimately affect a wide swath of consumers. Here’s what you need to know:

WHAT HAPPENED

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported in mid-March that mortgage delinquencies in the fourth quarter of 2006 rose to 5 percent of the overall mortgage market. Worse, loans entering foreclosure in the same period reached a record high, even when seasonally adjusted. Of the 50 states and District of Columbia, 49 saw their overall delinquency rates rise, while 44 saw an increase in foreclosures.

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