By Kenneth R. Harney
Saturday, March 24, 2007

When you apply for a mortgage and get a barrage of irritating and confusing phone calls from competing lenders before noon the next day, can you turn to the government for help?

The Federal Trade Commission issued a long-awaited answer to that question recently, and the decision is attracting criticism. The FTC, which has regulatory oversight concerning consumer credit, says it lacks the legal authority to crack down on unwanted "trigger-list" phone solicitations to consumers who have applied for mortgages within the preceding 24 hours.

Trigger-list pitches to mortgage applicants have become hot issues in recent months as new mortgage volume declined nationwide in softening housing markets. With fewer people buying homes or refinancing, some lenders have begun investing heavily in leads -- contact information for consumers in the market for loans.

Trigger leads come with much more than phone numbers. Lenders can customize their orders on such leads to provide credit scores of a certain level, open loan balances, credit card debts, estimated home values and the like. When they call to pitch you, in other words, they know a lot about your finances.

"Lead generator" companies hawk such lists to lenders at hefty prices on the Internet. The lists are based on consumer information sold by the big three credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion -- after they get inquiries from mortgage brokers or loan officers.

Say you apply for a new loan with a local mortgage broker. The broker orders a composite report on your credit information on file with the three bureaus. That inquiry, in turn, sets off bells at the big credit bureaus. Now they know you're interested in getting a mortgage, and they know that lenders will pay plenty -- thousands of dollars a month in some cases -- to find out.

Critics argue that trigger lists open the door to bait-and-switch schemes, where lenders dangle falsely discounted rates to pull in unsuspecting customers who have just applied to local brokers and have received higher quotes. Weeks later, the trigger-list marketer can't deliver the low-ball rates, and borrowers are stuck with either higher costs or no loans at all -- classic bait and switch.

Harry H. Dinham, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, charges that mass distribution of loan applicants' financial information opens the door to identity theft, with supposedly private data floating far and wide around the Internet.

"This is a big, gaping hole in the system, and we'd like to see it shut," he said in an interview.

Dinham also argued that trigger-list telemarketers' loan deals often do not meet the Fair Credit Reporting Act's criteria for "pre-screened" firm offers because the telemarketers lack crucial information necessary to extend mortgages, such as appraisal and documentation of income and assets. Nor do the lead generators who sell the trigger lists meet the law's strict standards for receiving access to consumers' personal information.

Finally, to constitute "firm offers of credit," Dinham said, "mortgage offers need to be in writing, so that the consumer can review it, and understand whether there are problems."

Rebecca E. Kuehn, the FTC's assistant director for privacy and identity protection, said the fair credit law, which allows firm offers of credit using prescreened lists, does not specifically prohibit telephone offers. Nor does it require lenders to know every detail of a consumer's credit situation to make a firm offer. It allows some "post-screening" -- verification of income and assets, for example.

Kuehn said that even though the FTC lacks statutory authority to ban pre-screened telemarketed mortgage offers, it does have enforcement authority against bait-and-switch scams and misuse of consumers' credit information. Consumers who experience such problems connected with trigger-list marketing can file complaints with the FTC online ( http://www.ftc.gov).

Better yet, any consumer can cut off all potential prescreened credit solicitations -- whether for mortgages or credit cards -- by opting out. That means prohibiting the credit bureaus from ever selling your personal information to lenders for marketing campaigns.

You can do that by visiting http://www.optoutprescreen.com or calling 888-567-8688. Your request, according to the FTC, should be processed within five days, although it may take 60 days before all prescreened offers cease.

Mortgage applicants can also block trigger-list telemarketing pitches by making sure their phone numbers are on the National Do Not Call Registry ( http://www.donotcall.gov or 888-382-1222).

Kenneth R. Harney's e-mail address is KenHarney@earthlink.net.