The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the bipartisan Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act (HR 2808), a bill that would 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.
According to National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) President Jim Nabors: “It is not unusual for bank customers to receive 100+ misleading texts, phone calls and emails within the first 24 hours of applying for a mortgage and the passage of this bill will go a long way in relieving this burden to homebuyers.”
The Senate passed a slightly different version of the bill (S.1467) led by U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Bill Hagerty earlier this month to crackdown on unfair and deceptive lending practices.
“The passage of this consequential bill, on the heels of the Senate passing its similar bill on June 12th, is another important step forward in our fight to provide relief for consumers who face a torrent of unwanted emails, texts, and phone calls the moment they apply for a mortgage,” said Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB. “After two years of unrelenting advocacy efforts, MBA and its members are more optimistic than ever that the abusive use of mortgage credit trigger leads is close to an end.”
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.
There are currently eight states—Rhode Island, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin—that restrict the use of trigger leads in some fashion, and Idaho (new law effective July 2025) and Arkansas (new law effective August 2025) have also recently passed trigger lead laws that will soon take effect.
“The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) is thrilled that trigger leads legislation has passed the House and is that much closer to becoming law,” said Scott Olson, Executive Director of CHLA, an organization of small- and mid-sized community-based mortgage lenders that promotes federal mortgage programs, rules, and regulations which treat community mortgage lenders fairly. “For groups like CHLA that support streamlined, smarter regulation, proactive steps like this—advocating for cleaning up industry practices like abusive trigger leads—are important in building credibility in pursuing that objective.”
