The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, which aims to crack down on the sale of consumers’ contact information by credit reporting agencies, was reintroduced in the U.S. Senate today, according to a press release from the office of Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who is cosponsoring the bipartisan bill with Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee.
Identical bipartisan legislation is being introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., and Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., according to the press release.
The bill targets mortgage “trigger leads,” a term for when credit reporting agencies sell prospective homebuyers’ contact info to third-party mortgage brokers, lenders and other businesses following a credit check.
Consumers whose info is sold may receive hundreds of unsolicited phone calls, emails or text messages after applying for a mortgage, according to the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), which supports the legislation that would ban trigger leads.
Sen. Reed said in a statement that the bill would “halt abusive trigger leads” and “help reduce predatory practices.”
“Buying a home is already a complex and stressful process. Consumers should not get needlessly ‘spammed’ with unsolicited, predatory offers just because they take a necessary step in the homebuying process,” Reed stated.
A version of the bill passed in the Senate in December. However, it failed to move forward in the House last year.
According to NAMB President Jim Nabors, the legislation stalled in the House because it was tacked onto the National Defense Authorization Act, and Rep. Patrick McHenry, who served as chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, preferred that it be a stand-alone bill. McHenry retired in January and was succeeded as committee chair by Rep. French Hill, R-Ark.
Nabors said in an interview with Scotsman Guide that NAMB has been informed that Hill is supportive of the legislation. He added that NAMB has observed broad bipartisan support for the legislation from members of Congress who have received complaints from their constituents about unwanted solicitations from trigger leads.
“I don’t think there’s a congressman or a staffer that we’ve talked to that hasn’t already been inundated by calls from their own constituents,” Nabors said.
The reintroduced bills were also endorsed Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
“Consumers remain vulnerable to trigger leads abuses, and we believe strongly that this common-sense legislation will curb the practice while preserving its value in appropriately limited circumstances,” said Bob Broeksmit, the MBA’s president and CEO, in a statement. “We will continue to advocate for House and Senate leaders to pass these measures into law as soon as possible.”
Nabors called trigger leads the “No. 1 issue for NAMB right now,” saying that the association is hopeful that the bill will pass both chambers of Congress by this summer.
“Right now, trigger leads, which is affecting too many people, is NAMB’s No. 1 project,” Nabors said.
