CFA joined a broad, diverse group of housing and financial services stakeholders as well as fellow consumer advocates to express their support for the bipartisan Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act of 2024,

introduced by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Representatives John Rose (R-TN) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY). If enacted, this pro-consumer legislation would curb the abusive use of mortgage credit “trigger leads” to all but a very limited set of circumstances. Trigger leads happen when consumers apply for a mortgage, and the lender puts in an inquiry to a credit reporting agency to pull their credit. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit reporting acts are currently allowed to resell consumer information to prospective creditors, if they are ready to make consumers a “firm order of credit.” As a result, though, many consumers have been inundated with hundreds of phone calls, texts, and mails, just moments after they applied for a mortgage: adding confusion and stress during an already very stressful time. This law would stop this practice, allowing credit reporting agencies to pass on consumer information only in a very limited set of circumstances, in cases where potential lenders already have a firm relationship with the consumer (for instance, as their current bank or credit union where they hold deposits).