Seven years in the making: The trigger leads victory that changes everything for homebuyers

On March 5, 2026, something changes in the mortgage industry and it has been a long time coming. The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act goes into full effect, prohibiting credit reporting agencies from selling "trigger leads" except in narrowly defined circumstances. For anyone who has ever watched a borrower's phone light up with unsolicited calls minutes after a credit pull, this moment is more than a compliance milestone. It is the culmination of nearly a decade of relentless advocacy by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.

I am proud to represent an organization that never stopped fighting for this — not when prior legislative attempts stalled, not when opponents pushed back, and not when the work felt impossibly incremental. The passage of this law is a testament to what our industry can accomplish when it speaks with one persistent, unified voice.

What trigger leads actually did to our borrowers

Since the mid-1990s, the three major credit bureaus have operated under a provision of the Fair Credit Reporting Act that allowed them to sell "pre-screened" lists of consumers to companies making firm offers of credit. In practice, that meant the moment a borrower sat down with their trusted mortgage broker and a credit inquiry was initiated, that borrower's personal financial information was packaged and sold — without their knowledge, without their consent, and often within minutes.

What followed was chaos. Borrowers reported receiving many unsolicited calls, texts, and emails from lenders they had never heard of. Some of those contacts were deliberately misleading, designed to make the borrower believe they were hearing from their own lender or servicer. At one of the most stressful and financially significant moments of their lives, homebuyers were being bombarded and confused. Trust in the process eroded. And the mortgage professionals who had worked hard to earn their clients' confidence found themselves undermined by a data-brokering system that monetized the very act of helping someone apply for a loan.

This was not competition. This was exploitation and NAMB knew it from the beginning.

2018: NAMB takes the torch

NAMB's formal advocacy campaign on trigger leads launched in 2018. What started as an organizational priority evolved into one of the most sustained legislative campaigns in our association's 50-plus-year history. Year after year, our members, leadership, and government affairs team made the case on Capitol Hill: this practice was harmful, it was unethical, and it needed to stop.

NAMB championed early legislative efforts to amend the FCRA, backing bills introduced by members of Congress who understood the issue. We lent our support to H.R. 5720, introduced by Rep. Lacy Clay, which sought to prohibit the sale of trigger leads, and to H.R. 2656, introduced by Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York, which took aim at the creation and sale of these leads entirely. Both bills reflected the argument NAMB had been making since the beginning: that the FCRA's prescreening provisions were never intended to be weaponized against the very consumers the law was designed to protect.

Those bills did not cross the finish line. But they built the record. They educated members of Congress. They created allies. And they established NAMB's credibility as the industry's leading voice on this issue.

2025: The year it all came together

In April 2025, the legislation we had been fighting for was formally reintroduced as H.R. 2808, the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, by Congressman John Rose of Tennessee and Congressman Ritchie Torres of New York. NAMB announced its immediate and full support. The bill was carefully drafted to protect consumers while preserving limited, legitimate uses of trigger leads — such as outreach from a borrower's current lender or loan servicer — a balanced approach that helped build the broad coalition needed to move the bill forward.

What happened next was extraordinary. In June 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2808. Days later, the U.S. Senate passed the companion bill, S. 1467 — championed by Senators Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee — unanimously. In an era of deep political division, Congress sent a clear, bipartisan message: protecting homebuyers' privacy is not a partisan issue.

On September 5, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act into law.

NAMB President Jim Nabors captured the significance of that moment when he said, "Since 2018, NAMB has carried this torch, tirelessly championing this cause, even when others grew weary." That perseverance is exactly what defines this organization at its best.

What the law actually does

Effective March 5, 2026, the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit consumer reporting agencies from furnishing trigger leads to third parties except in limited, defined circumstances. A trigger lead may only be used when the party receiving it originated a current residential mortgage on behalf of the consumer, is the current mortgage loan servicer to that consumer, or — in the case of a depository institution or credit union — holds an existing account in the consumer's name.

In plain terms: the moment a borrower applies for a mortgage, their personal financial data can no longer be sold to a flood of competing lenders and data brokers who had no prior relationship with that consumer. The days of the credit bureaus monetizing a homebuyer's most vulnerable moment are over.

It is worth noting that at least ten states had already enacted their own statutes restricting trigger lead use. The federal law now brings nationwide uniformity to consumer protections that previously varied by state.

What this means for mortgage professionals

For mortgage brokers and loan originators, this law restores something that should never have been taken: the integrity of the client relationship. When a borrower chooses to work with you, they are placing their trust in you. The trigger lead system turned that moment of trust into a commodity. Starting March 5, that ends.

This is also a meaningful shift for how our industry must think about lead generation going forward. Without the ability to purchase trigger leads as a shortcut to reaching in-market borrowers, mortgage professionals will need to invest more deeply in proactive relationship-building, database management, and authentic engagement with their communities.

The mortgage brokers who have always led with relationships and expertise will find this law to be a tailwind, not a headwind.

The bigger picture: NAMB's advocacy in action

The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act is one of the most visible advocacy victories in NAMB's history — but it is not an isolated achievement. It is the product of a culture within our organization that takes the long view. We are volunteer-led and member-driven. We have the conviction, persistence, and the credibility that comes from representing over 150,000 state-licensed mortgage professionals who serve real people in real communities across this country.

When we say NAMB is the voice of the mortgage industry, this is what that looks like in practice. It looks like seven years of calls to action, legislative briefings, congressional testimonies, press releases, and members picking up the phone to call their representatives. It looks like not giving up when a bill dies in committee and coming back the next session with the same argument and even more evidence. It looks like building bipartisan relationships that produce unanimous Senate votes on legislation that protects American homebuyers.

The work does not stop here. NAMB continues to fight on issues that matter to our members and the borrowers they serve. Initiatives that will determine whether the dream of homeownership remains within reach for the next generation of Americans. The spirit of the trigger leads campaign is the spirit that will carry us through those fights as well.

A thank-you long overdue

None of this happens without people. NAMB extends its deepest gratitude to Senators Bill Hagerty and Jack Reed, and Representatives John Rose and Ritchie Torres, for their leadership on the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act. We thank President Trump for signing it swiftly and recognizing its importance to every American navigating the homebuying process.

We thank every NAMB member who answered a call to action, sent a letter, made a call, or showed up in Washington to make their voice heard. We thank our NAMB leadership who kept this priority alive through years when progress was slow and the outcome was uncertain. We thank the Broker Action Coalition and every industry partner who stood alongside us in this effort.

March 5, 2026 is not just a compliance date. It is proof of what this association stands for. It is a win for every homebuyer who deserves to move through one of life's biggest milestones with their privacy intact and their trust honored. And it is a reminder of why the work we do at NAMB matters — not just to our industry, but to the millions of American families we ultimately serve.

This article was provided by National Association of Mortgage Brokers