You found a mortgage site that seems fine. You ran a payment on the mortgage calculator and it made sense. Now there's a contact form, and you're hesitating over it.
What stops you is simple. You don't know who's on the other end. Maybe it's a person. Maybe it's a site that collects names and sells them, and by dinner your phone is ringing with lenders you've never heard of.
You don't have to guess. You can check.
Every loan officer has a number you can look up
Anyone who originates home loans in the U.S. has an NMLS number. NMLS is the registry that tracks mortgage licensing. The number belongs to one person, and it stays with that person from job to job.
The public side of the registry is called NMLS Consumer Access. It's free, and you don't need an account. Type in a number and you'll see a name, the company that person works through, the states where they hold a license, and any regulatory actions on the record.
Where to find the number here
It's at the bottom of this post. Jeff Shin, NMLS 1041652.
Look it up before you type a word into the form. Does the name on the lookup match the name on this page? Does the company? If anything doesn't match, you've learned something, and it cost you nothing.
What a match tells you
A license number can't tell you whether a loan is right for you. That's what the conversation is for. It does tell you who you'd be talking to.
When you use the contact form here, your message goes to Jeff, the person on that license. It doesn't go out to a list of lenders who bid on your name.
The same check works on any mortgage site. Find the individual's number and look it up.
One thing to do
Look up NMLS 1041652 first. If it checks out, use Get In Touch and tell Jeff what you're looking at.
Jeff Shin, NMLS 1041652. Barrett Financial Group, L.L.C. Chicago. Equal Housing Lender. Not a commitment to lend.