The trigger leads bill, which failed to pass the House of Representatives in late December 2024 despite Senate approval, was re-introduced to the 119th Congress Thursday morning.
Simultaneously, a slew of mortgage brokers associated with the Brokers Action Coalition (BAC) sealed the end of BAC’s three-day Advocacy In Action conference by heading to Capitol Hill to fight for the trigger leads legislation.
The bill, known as the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act (S. 3502), addresses when consumer information is sold by credit bureaus when a credit score is pulled for a mortgage application. While trigger leads are legal, they often happen without the consumer’s knowledge and result in unwanted solicitations via email, text messaging and phone calls.
A passed bill would prohibit “a consumer reporting agency from furnishing a trigger lead unless an individual chooses to opt-in.”
Brendan McKay, BAC’s chief advocacy officer, shared on LinkedIn that Representative John Rose (R-Tenn.), who co-sponsors the bill, spoke to BAC this morning, bringing along the Trigger Lead Bill and signing it in front of the crowd before officially reintroducing the legislation.
The legislation is widely supported amongst trade groups, BAC and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) being two of them. Both groups hosted separate policy-focused conferences in the nation’s capital this week, where hot topics such as the trigger leads bill and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s potential privatization dominated conversations.
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) also voiced support for today’s re-introduction of the bill. “The National Association of Mortgage Brokers is very driven and honored to work with members of Congress on this critical legislation to end trigger leads. NAMB and our members have been working with both the Senate and the House of Representatives on this issue for the past three congresses and today we hope these efforts will help many people across the nation put an immediate end to ugly trigger lead practices that places undue hardships on consumers, mortgage professionals and the entire marketplace,” commented Jim Nabors, president of NAMB.
“What I’m going to focus on regarding the trigger leads bill is just to remind the congressman or the Senator that we were really, really close to passing this,” shared Jerry Robinson, BAC’s federal government affairs leadership chair and broker/owner of 1st Choice Mortgage Company, ahead of BAC’s march on the Hill. “The first time [we introduced the bill,] it was within 20 minutes of passing and then got pulled out. But we’re not discouraged, bills don’t get all passed the first year. We can come back in, regroup, overcome why it didn’t get passed and prevent harm to the consumers.”
Joe Dionne, managing partner at appli Home Loans and a BAC board member, stressed the importance of congressional involvement in addressing consumer protections.
“The only way we could get rid of trigger leads is via legislation, because you’re not going to go to an entity that’s making millions and probably billions of dollars off of selling trigger leads and tell them this isn’t a fair practice or a right practice, they don’t care,” Dionne said.
Dionne continued, “Nowadays, it’s so easy for consumers to shop, and I encourage them to shop. I’m never going to sit there and tell them to call one person…I’m a broker, and yes, I shop multiple investors for them to give them options. But I don’t think the necessary right answer is that [the consumer] never call any more than one person. But you know, the reality is, that it should be their choice to make that decision.”
Who’s backing the brokers’ bill?
At MBA’s National Advocacy Conference on Tuesday, the bill’s other co-sponsor, Representative Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) addressed a crowd regarding the bill. “It’s about standing on the side of consumers. First, it’s about protecting data privacy. No one should have the ability to sell your data without [your] consent and knowledge. And then second, it’s about consumer protection,” he said.
Several speakers, including Representative Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), addressed trigger leads as a bipartisan issue. When asked if she backed the bill, McClain answered a simple, “Absolutely” that led to heavy applause.
