WASHINGTON, DC – Buying or refinancing a home can be a fraught and stressful experience, and now the U.S. Senate is one step closer to making it a little easier by preventing your personal information from being sold and triggering a title wave of unsolicited spam credit offers.

In an effort to give prospective homebuyers more control over their personal information and crackdown on unfair and deceptive lending practices, the U.S. Senate passed the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act (S.1467) to dramatically reduce spam calls, texts, and emails from irresponsible players in the mortgage industry.

The bipartisan bill, led by U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN), would halt the misuse of mortgage “trigger leads” – which occur when a consumer’s credit inquiry “triggers” the sale of their information to third-party lenders and businesses.  When a mortgage lender runs a credit check during the process to buy a home, it appears on the consumer’s credit report. The major credit reporting bureaus (including Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) may then sell that information to other lenders or brokers, which then use it to contact consumers unprompted, often in a predatory manner, to solicit business.

According to the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) president Jim Nabors: “It is not unusual for bank customers to receive 100+ misleading texts, phone calls and emails within the first 24 hours of applying for a mortgage and the passage of this bill will go a long way in relieving this burden to homebuyers.”

Prospective homebuyers who are bombarded by these kinds of solicitations typically have no idea their information was sold without their consent.

The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act would limit the ability of credit reporting bureaus to sell trigger leads to mortgage brokers and lenders when the bureaus learn that a consumer has applied for a mortgage. This legislation would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to include specific restrictions on the use of trigger leads in the residential mortgage lending space, with very limited exceptions for institutions that a consumer currently knows and trusts.

“Buying a home is already a complex and stressful process. Consumers should not have their private information sold to spammers who then target them with unsolicited, predatory offers.  Passing this bill is a smart, bipartisan solution to halt abusive trigger leads,” said Senator Reed, a senior member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. “This is a rare data privacy win.  The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act will put consumers back in the driver’s seat and help cut down on the spam.  It will help reduce predatory practices and provide much needed relief from unwanted industry calls, texts, and emails.”

“Unsolicited phone calls caused by trigger leads have become an intolerable nuisance to many Tennesseans,” said Senator Hagerty. “I’m pleased that the Senate has passed this bipartisan, bicameral legislation that will protect Americans’ data and help reduce endless spam calls.”

This bill would prohibit credit reporting bureaus from selling a trigger lead unless a mortgage broker or lender certifies to the bureau that they already have a deep financial relationship with the consumer, such as an existing mortgage loan or a deposit account.  Trigger leads would also be permitted if a consumer affirmatively opts in to receiving them.

There are currently eight states -- Rhode Island, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin - that restrict the use of trigger leads in some fashion, and Idaho (new law effective July 2025) and Arkansas (new law effective August 2025) have also recently passed trigger lead laws that will soon take effect.

Cosponsors in the U.S. Senate include Senators: Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tom Tillis (R-NC), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Tina Smith (D-MN), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), James E. Risch (R-ID), Angus King (I-ME), Tommy Tuberville, Tommy (R-AL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Peter Welch (D-VT), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Gary Peters (D-MI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Ed Markey (D-MA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Jim Banks (R-IN), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Hoeven (R-ND), Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Rick Scott (R-FL).

At the federal level, the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act is supported by a broad coalition of consumer advocacy groups and financial trades, including the Mortgage Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the American Bankers Association, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, the Broker Action Coalition, Community Home Lenders of America, the National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), the Consumer Federation of America, Americans for Financial Reform, and others.

Identical bipartisan legislation (H.R.2808) has been introduced in the House by Congressman John Rose (R-TN-06) and Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY-15) and has support from over 80 cosponsors.  On June 10 it was unanimously advanced by the House Financial Services Committee to the full House for debate and consideration.  The bill must be approved by both chambers of Congress before it can be sent to the president’s desk to be signed into law.