How to Avoid Trigger Leads

Trigger Leads are something that seems to be more prevalent and worrisome over the last few years.

So, what is a mortgage trigger lead?  When you fill out a loan application, you are also giving the lender permission to pull your credit. When a lender pulls credit, it is pulled using certain “codes” that they must use to show they have permissible purpose to pull credit. These codes trigger the national Credit Reporting Agencies (Experian, Trans Union, Equifax) that a consumer is shopping for a mortgage, new or refinance.  The credit bureaus take the consumer’s information and turn these into trigger leads that are then sold to other lenders.

It is important for you to know that your information is not being sold by us, or our Company, when pulling your credit. Nor is your information being sold by the third-party credit reporting agency we are using to pull the credit. Your information is actually being sold by the three major credit bureaus – Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax.

After your credit is pulled, you may start receiving dozens of phone calls, emails or physical mail from other lenders wanting your business. Is this legal? Unfortunately, yes. According to the CEO of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) “Under the FCRA, as long as the company that is buying the trigger leads meets certain legal requirements, it is legal in all 50 states.”  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been a proponent of selling trigger leads in that they felt it can provide the consumer with more options when they are looking to buy or refinance a home. For most consumers though, ending up on a trigger list can be something of a nightmare.

Trigger leads are normally sold in bulk lots and when a broker signs up to receive trigger leads, they can request them with certain parameters. They can request certain age groups, specific credit scores, certain neighborhoods, current mortgage payments…the list goes on and on.

There are steps you can take to prevent some of this activity.   Go online or call to opt-out of your information being sold. We cannot opt-out for you.

To opt-out of having your information sold by the credit bureaus, do one of the following:

• Go to optoutprescreen.com; or
• Call: 1-888-567-8688