A lot of would-be homebuyers and refinancers have a general sense that the last couple of years haven’t been a great time to make moves. Between early 2021 and late 2023, the payment on a $400,000 mortgage jumped more than $1,200, per data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The blame for that rests squarely on increasing rates’ shoulders. 

Fortunately, things are starting to turn around. With the recent rate cut from the Federal Reserve, declining U.S. Treasury yields, and other economic factors, rates have started to trend downward. That presents an opportunity to mortgage lending institutions: let potential borrowers know about the latest rates, and you might spur them into (finally) taking action. 

Who you can land with consistent rate alerts

When you get the word out about lower rates, you can see dual benefits for your team. First, you position your lending institution as a trusted partner. By notifying borrowers of more favorable rates, you put good news under their nose. And providing the latest data underscores your team’s expertise in the market, too. 

The second benefit of rate alerts is the opportunity to provide a catalyst. Surfacing the latest rate data might help to inspire action from people in the following categories:

#1: Busy borrowers

In our modern age, most people have a lot on their plate. With simple rate alerts, you provide the information people want — and you eliminate the need for them to go seek it out. 

This is particularly powerful for folks who already have a full day. They may have it in the back of their head that they want to look into their borrowing options. But the demands of daily life might prevent them from acting on that. 

By providing information somewhere they can easily access it — like their email or text messages — you make it easy for them to stay informed. And that ease might make it feel like less of a lift for them to take next steps, too. 

#2: Timid trackers

Buying a house and refinancing a mortgage are both major financial decisions. Many people don’t want to take them lightly, and put in the work to do their due diligence.

Only to find that regular market fluctuations make it hard to pinpoint the “right” time to act. By regularly providing updates, you help people feel more informed and empowered. That can make folks who are otherwise nervous feel more of a solid foundation underneath them, supporting next steps. 

#3: Savvy shoppers

More and more, consumers take things into their own hands. They’re doing their own research, vetting their options themselves. These people pride themselves on making smart financial decisions.

By providing rate info to help them stay up with the latest, you position yourself as an informed and helpful partner. That makes your team feel like a good fit to these kinds of would-be borrowers. 

Three ways to send rate alerts

Since there are plenty of markets to tap with mortgage rate alerts, putting in effort here benefits any company that offers mortgage products. Where, then, should you invest to see the best returns here? A few commonly deployed options include: 

#1: Personalized loan officer outreach

You probably have a fairly big pool of people who’ve been in touch with your team, but then decided it wasn’t the right time to pull the trigger. For borrowers in that category who fit your loan offerings and underwriting requirements, rate alerts become a particularly powerful tool. 

It generally helps to add a tag in your CRM for these kinds of leads. Having a tag like “Rate Alert” that your loan officers can add gives them a way to track people worth a personalized outreach. 

You might even set thresholds (e.g., a tag for “Rate Alert: Sub-6%”). This way, if people tell your team they’ll only act if rates hit a certain benchmark, it’s easy for your loan officers to know when and to whom to reach out. 

#2: Rate alert emails

While personalized outreach is often highly effective, it’s a lot of work for your team. Fortunately, you can have other automated tactics running in tandem to lighten the load. 

Rate alert emails are an excellent, low-lift way to nurture leads. Popping the latest rate info into people’s inbox makes it accessible but nonintrusive. 

These regular emails become even more meaningful when you tailor them to the lead’s specifications. Showcasing rates for the products they’re specifically seeking (e.g., ARMs, FHA loans, jumbo loans) helps your team become a trustworthy source. 

To support movement through your pipeline, you can include links in the email that connect the lead to a personalized rate dashboard, complete with an “Apply Now” button. And when you track analytics on clicks from the email and engagement with that dashboard, you give your loan officers an inside look at what that person really wants. They can use that data to better tailor engagement to nudge the lead toward the closing table. 

#3: AI-supported SMS texts

Text message marketing is highly effective, largely because consumers like it. It’s a convenient way to get short-form information to people, making it a great fit for rate alerts. 

You can task members of your team with texting updates, whether that’s folks from marketing or your loan officers. Or you can make this an automated process so that texts go out — and get responded to — without creating more work internally. 

With AI texting, you can deploy a chatbot to send rate alerts to leads who’ve opted in. If that lead has basic questions about what the update means, the chatbot handles them. It can even send them a link to apply to a loan if they’re ready to move forward. But if the person needs to talk to a real human, the AI seamlessly connects them to one of your loan officers. 

TL;DR? Rate alerts are a powerful tool in any mortgage lending team’s arsenal, and there are a variety of ways to deploy them. If you want help getting automated options like emails or AI texts up and running, book a demo with us. We can show you just how easy it can be with BankingBridge.