[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 107 (Monday, June 23, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H2876-H2877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HOMEBUYERS PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT
Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 2808) to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prevent consumer
reporting agencies from furnishing consumer reports under certain
circumstances, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2808
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Homebuyers Privacy
Protection Act''.
SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF PRESCREENING REPORT REQUESTS.
(a) In General.--Section 604(c) of the Fair Credit
Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681b(c)) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
``(4) Treatment of prescreening report requests.--
``(A) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
``(i) Credit union.--The term `credit union' means a
Federal credit union or a State credit union, as those terms
are defined, respectively, in section 101 of the Federal
Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1752).
``(ii) Insured depository institution.--The term `insured
depository institution' has the meaning given the term in
section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C.
1813(c)).
``(iii) Residential mortgage loan.--The term `residential
mortgage loan' has the meaning given the term in section 1503
of the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C.
5102).
``(iv) Servicer.--The term `servicer' has the meaning given
the term in section 6(i) of the Real Estate Settlement
Procedures Act of 1974 (12 U.S.C. 2605(i)).
``(B) Limitation.--If a person requests a consumer report
from a consumer reporting agency in connection with a credit
transaction involving a residential mortgage loan, that
agency may not, based in whole or in part on that request,
furnish a consumer report to another person under this
subsection unless--
``(i) the transaction consists of a firm offer of credit or
insurance; and
``(ii) that other person--
``(I) has submitted documentation to that agency certifying
that such other person has, pursuant to paragraph (1)(A), the
authorization of the consumer to whom the consumer report
relates; or
``(II)(aa) has originated a current residential mortgage
loan of the consumer to whom the consumer report relates;
``(bb) is the servicer of a current residential mortgage
loan of the consumer to whom the consumer report relates; or
``(cc)(AA) is an insured depository institution or credit
union; and
``(BB) holds a current account for the consumer to whom the
consumer report relates.''.
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, shall take
effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. GAO STUDY.
(a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United
States shall carry out a study on the value of trigger leads
received by text message that includes input from State
regulatory agencies, mortgage lenders, depository
institutions (as defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit
Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813)), consumer reporting agencies
(as defined in section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
(15 U.S.C. 1681a)), and consumers.
(b) Report.--Not later than the end of the 12-month period
beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the
Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report
containing any findings and determinations made in the study
required by subsection (a).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Tennessee (Mr. Rose) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.
General Leave
Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Tennessee?
There was no objection.
Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, before I get to the specifics of this bill, I extend my
heartfelt gratitude to Congressman Ritchie Torres who has been an
outstanding co-lead and steadfast advocate for the Homebuyers Privacy
Protection Act.
This has been a long journey leading up to today's vote, and I thank
Representative Torres for his unyielding desire to put a stop to the
scourge of abusive mortgage trigger leads.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2808, the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act will
literally impact each and every consumer that applies for a mortgage in
this country.
Currently, credit bureaus are notified when a consumer applies for
mortgage financing. That information, which is referred to as a trigger
lead, is then often sold by the credit bureaus to data brokers and
other lenders without the consumer's knowledge or approval. Consumers
are then often bombarded with hundreds of unwanted solicitations.
The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act would dramatically reduce the
number of unwanted calls and messages that millions endure during the
home-buying process.
{time} 1745
The bill prohibits a consumer reporting agency from furnishing a
trigger lead to a third party unless the consumer has opted in. The
third party must be a federally insured depository institution, a
federally insured credit union, or an originator or servicer of a
consumer's existing mortgage. Agencies can also furnish a trigger lead
if a consumer has a preexisting relationship with a covered entity.
Over the years, I have heard from individuals from all walks of life
about their deep-seated frustrations when it comes to being inundated
by abusive mortgage credit trigger leads. Being contacted dozens to
hundreds of times a day after applying for a mortgage is simply
unacceptable. Many abusive trigger leads occur at nearly all hours of
the day and night. This is especially true if the trigger lead user
resides in a different time zone than the individual that they are
contacting.
It is also important to note that many of these merciless trigger
leads come from unscrupulous companies that misrepresent the important
fact that they are not affiliated with the mortgage company the
individual initially applied with.
Another important factor to consider is that when consumers get
flooded with trigger leads, they often blame their mortgage originator,
despite that mortgage originator having no role in selling their
information.
Just this weekend, my own sister-in-law, who applied for a mortgage
last week, was inundated with literally hundreds of these contacts, so
this is very personal to me and my family.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 2808, the Homebuyers Privacy Protection
Act, and I commend Representatives Rose and Torres for introducing it.
I thank the sponsors for their good work on this bipartisan bill, and I
appreciate that the House is taking action to improve data privacy, in
this case with respect to the mortgage market.
First, let's discuss, as I think the gentleman has, what a trigger
lead is. You go to a particular lender or mortgage broker, and you
apply for a mortgage. You want to deal with that mortgage broker or
that financial institution. If you wanted to deal with others,
[[Page H2877]]
you would go elsewhere. If you wanted to deal with several, you would
call several.
When you seek a mortgage loan, of course the mortgage lender has to
look at your credit report, so they call Equifax or whoever or email
Equifax and get your credit report. Then the credit bureau sells that
information--which you don't want divulged and which the lender doesn't
want divulged--to other financial institutions without your permission,
creating a so-called trigger lead. Then, as was pointed out, you become
bombarded with phone calls, text messages, and other communications
from rival mortgage loan officers. They may even give you misleading or
deceptive information.
H.R. 2808 would curtail this abusive practice, limiting trigger lead
notifications to a financial firm that a consumer already has a
relationship with, like their current mortgage lender. If the consumer
opts in, and you can opt in, then you can have everybody call you.
Now, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the good work of our
former colleague Representative Lacy Clay who helped pave the path by
first introducing a bill to curb abusive trigger leads clear back in
2020. Representative Clay's original bill didn't have any exceptions at
all and simply required that a consumer opt in, and if the consumer
chose not to opt in, their information could not be shared with other
companies when they applied for a mortgage loan.
Consumer opt-in is an approach that data privacy advocates prefer and
one that committee Democrats argued for last Congress when the
committee considered former Chair McHenry's version of this bill.
We should put consumers first, put them in the driver's seat to
control the use, sharing, and selling of their data. This bill gets us
almost all the way there. It does provide exceptions for those
financial institutions that you already have a relationship with.
We are not debating consumer privacy in a vacuum. It is unfortunate
that Elon Musk and his DOGE minions have had access to data on hundreds
of millions of Americans. I wish we were here on the floor preventing
Mr. Musk from getting our personal health records, our consumer data,
our business records, our Social Security numbers, and our tax data.
After we pass this bill, I hope that the Financial Services Committee
would investigate what has happened to consumer protection and what has
happened to data privacy, particularly with regard to data obtained
from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Treasury
Department.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is an important step toward protecting
consumers from abuse, making sure that the fact that they applied for a
mortgage with one mortgage company isn't sold against their will to
every other mortgage company in the country.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance
of my time.
Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close and reserve the balance
of my time.
Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am
prepared to close after hearing that the other side has no further
speakers. I yield myself the balance of my time.
As I have discussed, H.R. 2808 is an important positive step to
strengthen data privacy for consumers and curb the harmful practice of
trigger leads, protecting consumers from entities that they didn't want
to do business with, never sought to do business with, finding out that
they are applying for a mortgage and then harassing them with a host of
texts and calls, et cetera.
H.R. 2808 is supported by a wide range of groups, including the
National Consumer Law Center, the National Association of Home
Builders, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and America's
Credit Unions. The Senate recently passed a nearly identical bill by
unanimous consent.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to
close.
I emphasize just how much support there is for this legislation. My
colleague has just enumerated some of that. This month, 43 attorneys
general and members of the National Association of Attorneys General
signed a letter supporting this bill.
Additionally, many organizations, some already mentioned, have come
out in support of this bill, including the American Bankers
Association, the Tennessee Bankers Association, America's Credit
Unions, the Broker Action Coalition, the Independent Community Bankers
of America, the Mortgage Bankers Association, and the National
Association of Mortgage Brokers.
Mr. Speaker, I urge each of my colleagues to stand up for every
future home buyer in their district by voting ``yes'' on H.R. 2808, and
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 2808, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________