The Association of Mortgage Bankers (MBA) is prioritizing its legislative work on a bill that would ban the practice of “trigger leads,” in which consumer credit reporting agencies share with other lenders that a “hard credit report” has been prepared on a mortgage application. This can lead to a flood of calls to consumers competing for their credit activities.
Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the MBA, published a blog post urging support from stakeholders and Congress for the association’s efforts to eliminate this practice.
“Across the country, from Alaska to Florida, people’s privacy, financial well-being and even their livelihoods are under attack at all hours of the day by a barrage of unwanted emails, text messages and phone requests – simply because they ask a question about obtaining a mortgage,” Broeksmit wrote in a post on Thursday.
He went on to say that securing passage of a bill to end this practice is MBA’s “top national legislative priority,” which will serve to protect consumers from the practices he called “abuse.” .
“We asked our members to share feedback from customers who were subject to a trigger lead request,” he said, then provided testimonials that aimed to “illustrate the depth and scope of the problem.”
Broeksmit cited several cases of MBA members, including a 73-year-old widower in California who tried to access home equity.
“He was practically in tears from the harassing phone calls, he is from the generation when the phone rings, you answer it,” the testimony said. “This has to stop.”
Another example explained that trigger leaders relentlessly called the witness’ husband, who is a firefighter. Because his work phone number is listed, these creators have “bombarded the fire station phones in an attempt to reach him,” putting “the general public at risk due to these invasive calls and disrupted station operations.”
Broeksmit added that “deception and fraud are rife with trigger leads.” He cited testimony from California and Missouri about the compromise of personal information, leading to illegal charges that caused financial hardship.
Broeksmit then shared a series of testimonials that illustrate how “misuse of trigger lead practices undermines the trust and personal relationships that are at the heart of the residential mortgage industry.” In one example, a lender in Mississippi explained how they needed to rebuild trust with their borrowers after aggressive trigger lead requests.
The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act of 2024, a US Senate The bill introduced last December, which focuses on triggering mortgages, is included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2025. Congress must approve the NDAA every year because it refers to laws that regulate the annual specify budget for the NDAA US Department of Defense.
Broeksmit said MBA is happy with this development. The trade group “is working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle […] to ensure this provision is included in the final version of the NDAA,” he said. “Congress must help homebuyers before it is suspended later this year.”
