If you have applied for a mortgage to buy a house, stand back, you're about to be inundated with offers from other lenders and telemarketers, all trying to get your business for themselves.

And you thought your mortgage application was a private deal between you and your lender!

Here's how your private personal financial information becomes public knowledge.

When your lender contacts the credit bureaus for a credit check on you, those credit bureaus often turn around and sell your name, financial information and contact information to other mortgage brokers and loan officers who pay thousands to get these leads.

That's when the mail and phone call barrage begins, often the same day that you signed the mortgage application.

Since the sale of your private information technically breaks no existing laws, there's really only one way to stop it, and here it is: log on to www.optoutprescreen.com or call 888- 567-8688 and opt out of those pesky credit and insurance offers that never seem to end.

If you want to get smarter about everything-money, here's what we want you to do: Sign up for our FREE email tip-letter, Smart Money Moves with the Dolans. It's loaded with advice to make your life simpler and more rewarding - and it's FREE. Sign up here FREE!.