The Internet makes it easy to compare mortgage offers from a variety of lenders. If you are leery about giving your personal information online due to privacy concerns, you are not alone. Here are tips to keep you safe while using the Internet to find the best mortgage.

The Internet is an excellent tool for finding information, including mortgage loan offers. If you use the Internet to apply for a mortgage loan you need to be very careful who you give your sensitive financial information to. The majority of online mortgage lenders are reputable businesses that utilize the Internet to find customers; however, there are scammers and identity thieves that will swindle your information if you are not careful.

The first thing you need to know about shopping for a mortgage online is that you must be careful giving out your information. When you are screening mortgage offers do not provide your Social Security number. The majority of online mortgage lenders give you no obligation quotes; the lender will ask you questions about your income and the state of your credit. It is important that you do not overstate your income or inflate your credit rating as the lender may change or withdraw their offer once they see the correct information.

When providing basic information about yourself during this step, only give your information to websites that use secure web interfaces. Websites have different ways of letting you know the connections are secure. They may tell you their interface uses SSL, or Secure Socket Layer to encrypt your personal information. Regardless of how the online lender describes their secure connection, do not input your information unless you see a padlock in the lower right hand corner of your browser window. This padlock serves as notification to you that your information will reach the lender encrypted, preventing third parties from accessing it along the way.

Secure connections only protect your information between your computer and the online lender