Leadpile’s Blog

Exchanges, marketplace, networks, lead providers, lead generators or all the above are places any advertiser/lead buyer can purchase leads.  How ever or where ever you get your leads, there are going to be variations in the conversions you have as a advertiser.  Why is this?  One large factor is the end user- the person/company that purchases the lead has a major affect on how well purchased leads convert.

A recent article on Lead Market Watch brought up some good points about lead buyers providing performance data to the lead provider. As a lead buyer, you want to get the most amount of leads at the least amount of cost to your company. Also, having the highest conversions to sales with the least amount of money invested in these leads is very important. Therefore, would you be cutting off your own feet if you provided how the leads are specifically performing to the company that provided them to you? When things aren’t going so well, the natural thing to do is always complain and express that. However, should you tell the lead company what the results of these leads was, in order to provide them with specific information on the lead providers bringing in the leads? Would providing this information eventually promote the exhange/network etc to increase the cost per lead if they are seeing the specific success you are having? These are a lot of tough questions that I am sure have a lot of different opinions on.
Here are Leadpile Lead Exhange we welcome lead buyers to provide conversions to us and also any potential issues with the leads. The more information we have on the leads the more we can help the next guy that is wanting to buy leads from us.
On a side note, each buyer of leads is going to have different ways of working leads they purchase. Knowing that, it is hard to actually compare apples to apples with leads. Knowing overall specifics of the leads and the companies buying them, will also help us to see any sort of consistancy on that lead type.
Some other questions lead providers might be curious to know are:
1. How long is your sales cycle?
2. How quickly do you call the leads you purchase?
3. How many times to you call the leads?
4. How many leads does it take for your company to get an application?
5. How many applications does it take for you to get a sale?
6. Approximately what kind of cost/fees does the customer absord for your service?
This information can be very helpful to any company that is providing leads, however there could be some information that is just not something that the lead buyers want to provide.

The payday loan industry is getting a lot of attention, especially in the states of Ohio and Arizona. Those on the outside possibly do not fully understand the payday loan industry and there are some misconceptions about the short term loans.

Myth: Payday loan lenders do not want to be regulated.
FACT: According to CFSA, this is quit the contrary. Most payday lenders do want to be regulated and have certain industry guidelines. However, there are those that are trying to eliminate the industry as a whole, and not deal with keeping the “good guys” in business.
Currently, there are 37 states + the District of Columbia that have payday regulations. CFSA is working on trying to get regulations implemented on the remaining states, however they are not wanting to see the industry go extinct. Therefore, the question is… why is the payday loan industry going through such tough scrutiny, when in comparison with credit cards and other financial services there are similar costs/fees associated with them?
Leadpile Lead Exchange understands there are a lot of myths about payday loans, however the key is for those that are not fully educated on the industry, to read up to fully understand all aspects of this financial product compared to others. There is good to these types of loans, and they are sometimes very much needed.

With all the regulations going on with different states, I thought this was an interesting article about the effects banning payday loans had on consumers in NC. According to The Community Financial Services Association (CFSA) website, banning payday loans in the state of NC is affecting consumers. The reality is that most that are trying to get rid of payday loans in these different states, have never needed a payday loan.
Understanding fully what payday loan consumers are going through, does not seem like a reality to those trying to ban them in the different states. Do those that are trying to ban the payday loans understand what taking them away is going to do? Do they understand that some credit cards are a much more expensive option for the consumers? What are some other options available to consumers in place of a short term payday loan? Are they prepared to offer these other alternatives to the consumers, to help them get out of this temporary situation?
In the state of NC, there seems to be some effects with the fact that payday loans were banned there. According to this CFSA article, “In fact, respondents’ answers to the survey clearly show that the elimination of payday loans in North Carolina did nothing about the demand and forced consumers to replace payday loans with costly, less desirable and even dangerous options.” Overall, states with either pending regulations or those states trying to regulate, should maybe look at the overall picture of the payday loan industry. Some don’t CHOOSE to get a payday loan… they might have no other option. Leadpile Lead Exchange understands their are consumers needing a loan to fix a temporary financial situation, and we have the lenders/buyers available to provide that much needed loan to the consumers.

With today’s news about Wachovia Bank being purchased by Citigroup, this leaves pretty much 3-4 major banks out there now. For instance, there is Wells Fargo Bank, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America. According to Business Week, this could mean the cost of taking care of your money, or getting new loans could cost consumers more money. “The larger the bank is, theoretically the more power they have to set pricing and other policies,” said Nancy Atkinson, senior analyst at Aite Group, a financial services research firm. “I expect we’ll start to see free checking accounts start to disappear, and rates on overdrafts could go up. Savings rates could drop, Business Week says.” Also, things such as customer service and answering questions, could be a little hard to get taken care of with these new consolidation of banks. Therefore, those that are maybe wondering how this bank consolidation affected them… maybe soon will see.
Will all these changes cause industries such as payday loans to become more popular, because consumers getting loans with their banks won’t happen as easily? Time will tell how this will affect Leadpile Lead Exchange and the types of leads we are bringing in.

We all know the payday loan industry gets a lot of scrutiny for it’s “high interest” rates, however I found this article very interesting about the annual percentage rate (APR) on returned checks.
According to The Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA), “the median interest rate on bounce protection loans to be in excess of twenty times that of payday loans.” When a consumer bounces a check, in essence it could be a lot more expensive for them to do that, than go get a short term payday loan. When a consumer bounces the check they pay a certain fee, and that fee is accumulated daily until the funds are sufficient. Unfortunately, this could sometimes cause a snowball affect, being that charge after charge could lead to more insufficient funds.
Payday loans might not be the only alternative, however a consumer needs to really look at the overall picture. They need to try and determine how they can prevent this sort of situation from happening again. Banks will make their money on fees, however there are certain circumstances that happen where you should look at alternatives that might cost you less in the long run.. like a payday loan, borrowing the money etc.
Leadpile Lead Exchange works with various lead types that deal with helping consumers be matched up with financial institutions to provide that service. Unfortunately, not all consumers reach out for help, and in turn get deeper and deeper in a “hole”. There are resources out there such as the payday loan that can be very helpful in trying times.