Trump Signs Bill That Could End Spam Mortgage Calls

• September 8th

by UrbanTurf Staff

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A bill was signed into law on Friday that aims to curb the abusive use of so‑called "trigger leads"—situations where a credit bureau sells a mortgage applicant’s personal information to third‑party lenders or marketers without their knowledge or explicit consent.

Donald Trump signed the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act into law on Friday. The bill amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to ban the furnishing of trigger leads unless certain conditions are met: the lender must either have a firm offer of credit, hold a current relationship with the consumer (e.g., existing mortgage or account), or the consumer must explicitly opt in.

Trigger leads have become a common occurrence, often with consumers being inundated with unsolicited and sometimes deceptive offers via calls, texts, or emails shortly after applying for a home loan, contributing to confusion and frustration.

The act will take effect six months after enactment.  The law also mandates a Government Accountability Office study on the value and impact of text‑based trigger leads, to be delivered to Congress within a year.

While the bill is seen as a data privacy victory, critics caution that without rigorous enforcement, spammers and bad actors may find workarounds—or that the law may shield large lenders from competition by restricting legitimate outreach. 

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/trump_signs_bill__bill_that_could_end_spam_mortgage_calls/23837.