The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act is finally headed to the president’s desk.
The legislation, H.R. 2808, was approved Saturday with full Senate passage by unanimous consent. It had made it through the House of Representatives on June 23, after a nearly identical bill had previously made it through the Senate ten days before.
The bipartisan bill targets “trigger leads,” which is 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.
The Broker Action Coalition (BAC) had been been working to mobilize mortgage industry professionals and consumers to lobby their legislators to advance the legislation. The group calls its passage “a historic win for consumer data privacy and the mortgage industry.”
Reached by text while on his 10th wedding anniversary in Ireland, Brendan McKay, BAC chief advocacy officer and co-founder was thrilled. “BOOM. I just woke up to the best news ever.”
McKay told Scotsman Guide that when the BAC was founded, “we went straight to the source and asked brokers what mattered most. Trigger leads topped the list. Two sessions later, the bill is headed to the President’s desk. This win is significant — but the BAC wasn’t built to win once. It was built to ensure mortgage brokers always have a seat at the table in Washington.”
After the bill’s passing, the news was quickly shared in a statement by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Its president and CEO Bob Broeksmit called it an important bill, and said it’s a long-overdue measure that will finally put an end to the abusive use of mortgage credit trigger leads. After President Donald Trump signs it into law, the bill will go into effect in six months.
“This new law will help protect consumers from the barrage of unwanted calls, texts, and emails they too often receive immediately after applying for a mortgage,” Broeksmit stated. “It marks a major victory for borrowers and will create a more efficient, responsible, and respectful home buying process.”
Broeksmit said the MBA and its members “thank trigger lead reform champions Senators Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn. and Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Reps. John Rose, R-Tenn., and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., for their leadership throughout this legislative process, as well as the large bipartisan group of lawmakers in both chambers who helped shepherd a uniform bill across the finish line.”
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) also celebrated what it called a landmark bill in safeguarding consumer data.
This was an issue that united the industry, NAMB President Jim Nabors told Scotsman Guide. “This is the first time since I’ve been involved that the entire industry has worked together, because they realized what a terrible practice trigger leads was.”
“I can’t remember the last piece of legislation that both the House and Senate passed unanimously,” Nabors said. “And I don’t think it would have been passed if we hadn’t all come together.”
He said it doesn’t matter who gets the credit – just that the job gets done. “We can do so much if we just put our egos aside and realize we’re all working for the same thing – to make the homebuying process easier.”
Trigger leads are generated when a consumer applies for a mortgage and a credit inquiry is made, prompting credit bureaus to sell that consumer’s information to third parties, according to a NAMB statement. The result has often been a flood of unwanted solicitations, leading to confusion and undermining consumer confidence. “The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act addresses these concerns head-on by limiting the ability of companies to misuse sensitive data collected from credit inquiries protecting consumers from exploitation and reinforcing trust in the home financing process.”
“The government realized it had to step up and protect consumer privacy. When people are looking to buy, they can’t be confused or misled or anything that would cause them to make a bad decision or one that isn’t right for them,” Nabors said. “And this goes a long way, by preventing their personal information to be sold to people they don’t know and have no relationship with. It’s great that both houses of Congress realized it.”
Nabors said this kind of teamwork can be expected as more bipartisan issues come up, pointing to the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program as an example.
NAMB thanked the lawmakers who championed the legislation. “This is more than just a win for the mortgage industry, it’s a win for every American striving to achieve the dream of homeownership without fear that their personal information will be misused or sold,” added Nabors.
