The House Financial Services Committee last night voted to advance several bills advocated by ABA. During a markup that went late into the evening, the committee approved H.R. 2808, which would prevent credit reporting agencies from selling so-called mortgage trigger leads to lenders in most circumstances; H.R. 2835, which would raise the asset threshold for relief under the small bank holding company policy statement to $25 billion; H.R. 3709, which would establish a mentor-protégé program at the Treasury Department for small financial institutions; and H.R. 3716, which would require the Government Accountability Office and the appropriate regulatory agency to report on any use of systemic risk authority to wind down a failed bank.
In a memo sent in advance of the markup, ABA noted that H.R. 2808 — introduced by Reps. John Rose (R-Tenn.) and Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) — would “curb the abusive use of mortgage credit ‘trigger leads’ while narrowly preserving them for legitimate, transparent and accountable uses.” When credit reporting agencies alert other lenders to a consumer’s application for credit, “consumers may then be contacted by the other parties that have purchased the trigger leads, leading to invasions of the customer’s privacy and confusion for customers as to how their mortgage application information was shared with other lenders.”
H.R. 2808, H.R. 3709 and H.R. 3716 were approved with unanimous or near-unanimous support. H.R. 2835 passed by a 30-20 margin. Other bills advanced by the committee on which ABA did not take a position related to SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulation of digital asset activities, crowdfunding, securities research and transparency at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
