Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act

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,

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. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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. Speaker, I am prepared to close and reserve the balance of my time.

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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 104, H.R. 2808.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.