Senate passes trigger leads bill, moving it to the House

Legislation reigning in trigger leads passed the Senate on Tuesday. The mortgage industry is now waiting to see if the House of Representatives will follow suit in signing off on the bill.

The move comes after a trigger leads-related bill was axed from the National Defense Authorization Act, with supporters of the legislation shifting their focus to renewing efforts next year.

However, behind the scenes, co-sponsors in both the House and Sente have continued to "fight like hell" for the legislation, according to a mortgage professional.

As a result, the bipartisan Homebuyers' Privacy Protection Act, introduced by Senators Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and supported by over 42 cosponsors from across the political aisle, was passed.

Now the bill makes its way to the House. But there are whispers that its passage could be a longshot. 

The mortgage industry applauded the bill's passage in the Senate and called on the House to act quickly in giving the legislation the green light.

Brendan McKay, chief advocacy officer of the Broker Action Coalition, said he is "delighted" and "encouraged" to see legislators being supportive of the bill.

"We appreciate them championing this issue to the extent that they have," he added.

Scott Olson, executive director of the Community Home Lenders of America, said his group has "been warning Washington for over two years that this part of the mortgage business needs drastic reform to protect American families from unwanted spam."

"This is a giant step forward, and we urge the House to do its part to make this reform a reality," he said.

Olson added the legislation will "reform the trigger leads process that has resulted in consumers receiving excessive amounts of email, text messages and phone calls that they do not ask for and cannot control."

The Mortgage Bankers Association implored the House, which has more than 90 bipartisan cosponsors of the bill, to pass it during the remaining days of the current Congress.

"Absent a House vote this week, MBA plans to work aggressively with industry stakeholders and members of the 119th Congress to advance this needed change to trigger lead policy as soon as possible." 

The CHLA has also proposed a regulatory workaround to curb trigger leads through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In a letter to the CFPB, the trade group urged the agency to use the Fair Credit Reporting Act to protect consumers from unwanted calls.

"The firm offer of credit requirement has been loosely interpreted to date and it is difficult to monitor, so it is understandable that the practice of mortgage trigger leads has been widespread," said the CHLA letter, addressed to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra and copied to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan. "However, tightening up on the standards for a firm offer of credit could substantially rein in abusive mortgage trigger leads."