There are obvious ways to avoid this but all it takes is written complaint from a competitor, a sour buyer, or a real estate agent/broker to cause havoc.  

I agree to half of your points but I am more comfortable having strict rules vs that of none, it weeds out all my cheap competitors.

google Mortgage Field Representatives <your> to see how many competitors are there and what they do

If you are in a crowded market with hundreds (or thousands) of competitors, small things like the goodies you provide can make a big difference.

I've been posting here often recently and I'm a newbie who's targeting SFH (condos) as a niche market in my area.

While looking at some condos in the same good location as my target property, I'm seeing some ...

Because of this, they worked with us rather than our competitors to help them negotiate with the bank.At the end of the day, either during the negotiation process or not too long after we closed, most sellers realized that the property that they thought they needed to stay in, at fair market value, was perhaps not the best fit for their new rebuilding situation and moved on.  

When I was a Director of Marketing in the corporate world, I always made sure who my audience was when we did product marketing distributions to a very large list; I would make sure that my competitors did not receive my distributions.  

Basically if I think of a mailing or email campaign I do it because you never know what will work or where people are in their "cycle" of Buying or Selling.What's in your "swipe" file that impressed you the most?

Interview 5 lenders in your area; go to your bank and their competitor, go to two local credit unions and then find a mortgage broker and explain to them what you're doing.  

Around the time of the crash (I can't remember the exact dates but in or before 2008) I was jealous of a competitor.