The American Bankers Association today joined 15 associations in urging House lawmakers to support a bill prohibiting the practice of credit reporting firms selling mortgage applicant information to lenders who then barrage those same consumers with unwanted solicitations.
The bipartisan Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to eliminate abusive mortgage “trigger leads,” only allowing contact information to be sold to third parties under limited circumstances. The House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to vote on the House version of the legislation (H.R. 2808) on Tuesday. In a joint letter, the associations said the bill is needed to stop a practice that harms both consumers and legitimate lenders.
Six months after the enactment of the language of the bill, trigger leads would be permissible under FCRA only in limited circumstances during a real estate transaction and only to provide a firm offer of credit. A credit reporting agency would not be able to furnish a trigger lead to a third party unless the third party has certified to the CRA that either: the consumer explicitly consents to such solicitations; it has originated the current residential mortgage loan of the consumer; is the servicer of the current residential mortgage loan of the consumer; or is an insured depository institution or insured credit union and holds a current account for the consumer.
