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On Thursday, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and other housing groups signed a joint letter in support of the bicameral and bipartisan trigger lead bills known as the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, or H.R. 2808 and S. 1467.
If enacted, the legislation would curb the use of mortgage credit trigger leads in all but a limited set of circumstances.
Various mortgage and housing trade groups signed the letter, including the National Housing Conference, American Bankers Association, Broker Action Coalition (BAC) and the Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA), among several others.
The legislation — which failed to pass the House of Representatives at the end of 2024 despite unanimous Senate approval — was reintroduced on April 10 to the 119th Congress by Rep. John Rose (R-Tenn.), who co-sponsors the bill.
The letter defines trigger leads as what “occurs when a consumer applies for a mortgage (both purchase and refinance loans) and the requisite inquiry to a credit reporting agency (CRA) by a lender notifies the CRA that the consumer is interested in home financing.”
“Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), CRAs are permitted by law to resell consumer
information to prospective creditors without the consumer’s permission if the prospective creditor is prepared to make that consumer a ‘firm offer of credit,'” the letter reads.
“The offer of credit must include a notification to the consumer informing them of the right to ‘opt out’ of receiving future prescreened offers of credit or other solicitations, but these opt-out disclosures are not required in cases of phone solicitations and offers.”
Trigger leads are then sold to data brokers without the consumer’s knowledge or approval, meaning that consumers could be contacted and solicited by the parties that have purchased the trigger leads.
The letter also stresses that under the current law, the burden is on the consumer to opt out and negate the ability for the CRAs to sell individual information as a trigger lead.
But the trade groups also note that six months after the bill takes effect, trigger leads would only be allowed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act in limited real estate transactions to make a firm credit offer.
This means that a credit reporting agency could only share a trigger lead if the third party certifies that the consumer consented, if the CRA is the consumer’s current mortgage lender or servicer, or if it is a bank or credit union where the consumer holds an account.
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