HR 2808, the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. John Rose of Tennessee, has passed the House Committee on Financial Services by a unanimous vote of 46-0.
HR 2808, co-sponsored by Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York, would dramatically reduce the number of unwanted calls and messages potential homeowners across the country experience during the homebuying process. Credit bureaus are typically notified when a consumer applies for financing, and that information (which is commonly referred to as a “trigger lead”) is then often sold by credit bureaus to data brokers (including other lenders) without the consumer’s knowledge or approval. Consumers are then often bombarded with hundreds of unwanted solicitations.
“The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act is designed to eliminate abusive marketing via trigger leads,” said Rep. Rose during testimony in support of the measure. “My bill would target trigger lead abuses, while allowing mortgage servicers and originators to maintain relationships with their existing customers.”
HR 2808 would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to prohibit a consumer reporting agency from furnishing a trigger lead unless an individual chooses to opt-in, while also preserving the use of trigger leads in appropriately limited circumstances.
“If you’ve applied for a mortgage in recent years, you likely remember the barrage of unsolicited phone calls and messages from random lenders and marketers across the country,” said Rep. Rose via X. “My bill, which is one step closer to becoming law, would put a stop to that. I want to thank my colleagues on the @FinancialCmte for their unanimous support. I also want to thank bill co-lead @RepRitchie, and the more than 80 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle.”
The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act has had overwhelming bicameral support, with a Senate version of the legislation (S. 3502), introduced by Sens. Bill Hagerty and Jack Reed, having passed the Senate last December.
“We thank Chairman French Hill for including H.R. 2808 in today’s markup, lead sponsors Rep. John Rose (R-TN) and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) for their ongoing leadership, and the many cosponsors and lawmakers on the panel who voted in favor of the bill, which will stop the abusive use of mortgage credit leads while preserving their value in appropriately limited circumstances,” added Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB. “Consumers remain vulnerable to these unwelcome trigger lead abuses. The time is now for the full House and the Senate to pass this bill.”
The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA), a national non-profit association of small and mid-sized community-based mortgage lenders, had sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) highlighting their concerns of trigger leads on the homebuying process.
“CHLA commends the House Financial Services Committee for approval of legislation to curb abusive trigger lead practices, long a top CHLA priority,” said Scott Olson, Executive Director of CHLA. “CHLA is particularly pleased that this bill included language that CHLA advocated for to protect relationships between borrowers and the smaller lenders that originated their existing mortgage. Since the Senate has adopted similar legislation, we are confident that a bill can soon become law.”
Click here for more on HR 2808, the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act.
