NAMB celebrates advancement
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) has announced that an amendment addressing the controversial use of mortgage “trigger leads” has been included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The amendment, known as Senate Amendment 2358 or the “Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act,” seeks to address consumer protection by curbing the use of mortgage trigger leads, a long-standing issue within the mortgage industry.
Trigger leads are generated when a borrower applies for a mortgage, and the three major credit bureaus sell that data to lenders, allowing them to market competing offers to the borrower.
“We believe in competition and a fair marketplace and consumer shopping,” NAMB president Valerie Saunders told MPA in an interview early this year. “That is a key component for borrowers getting the best mortgage for themselves. However, in our opinion, that should be the choice of the consumer – it shouldn’t be thrust upon them.”
For decades, the NAMB and other industry advocates have been lobbying to end this practice, which they believe compromises consumer privacy and disrupts the mortgage shopping process.
The bill, introduced by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Roger Wicker (R-MS), has gained bipartisan support and is now part of the managers’ amendment to the NDAA. The inclusion of this consumer protection amendment in a national defense bill marks a significant step forward in NAMB’s long-standing efforts to regulate the practice.
“This is a great first step in NAMB’s effort to pass this critical legislation,” the association said in a statement.
Efforts to ban or limit trigger leads have been slow-moving over the years, with NAMB pushing for an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the federal law that currently allows the practice. In 2017, NAMB introduced a bill that passed the House Financial Services Committee but failed to advance further before the end of the congressional session.
More recently, a similar bill, pushed by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), faced similar obstacles in the 2021-22 session.
Read next: Trigger leads – how borrowers can opt out
If successfully passed, the new bill, as part of the NDAA, would provide a significant layer of protection for mortgage borrowers by ensuring that their personal data isn’t sold without their consent.
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