The Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan bill Thursday designed to curb abusive spam calls to prospective homebuyers.
The legislative action follows Tuesday’s news that the House of Representatives version of the bill, known as the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, was advanced by the House Committee on Financial Services during a legislative markup session.
The bill aims to curtail the practice of trigger leads, which is when a credit reporting agency sells a consumer’s contact information to third-party mortgage brokers, lenders and other businesses following a credit check, leading to unsolicited phone calls and text messages.
The House still needs to hold a debate and floor vote on its version of the bill. If the House passes the legislation, the two chambers of Congress will also need to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill before it heads to President Donald Trump’s desk.
The House bill has undergone minor modifications since the legislation was introduced in April. Changes include the stipulation that a study will be conducted to assess the value of trigger leads received via text message. Additionally, the effective date of the legislation was pushed out to 180 days after enactment.
But the Senate approval is a major step toward the bill becoming law.
The move was applauded by Jim Nabors, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), who had called trigger leads the “No. 1 issue for NAMB right now” during an April interview with Scotsman Guide.
“This legislation is a clear win for consumers and mortgage professionals alike,” Nabors said in a statement. “This brings us one step closer to ending the harmful practice of trigger leads.”
Nabors added: “Our entire organization is proud of the collaborative work that helped move this bill forward. It is a crucial step in protecting consumers from undue pressure during one of life’s most significant financial decisions.”
Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), also praised the Senate passage in a statement, calling the trigger leads bill a “top MBA advocacy priority.”
“The Senate passage of this important bill, following similar legislation advancing in the House Financial Services Committee earlier in the week, is an enormous step toward finally putting a stop to trigger lead abuses,” Broeksmit stated. “MBA looks forward to working with the sponsors and House and Senate leadership to reconcile the slight differences in the two bills so that one bill can be passed in both chambers and signed into law as quickly as possible.”
