Mortgage Telemarketing Gets Scrutiny

Actress, filmmaker and author Adryenn Ashley reads over one of the numerous mortgage solicitations she has received in the mail at her home office in Petaluma, Tuesday, May 22, 2007. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) (Eric Risberg - AP)

BOSTON -- As a former mortgage broker, Adryenn Ashley thought she knew what to expect when she refinanced her house in March. Yet Ashley was unprepared for one twist she encountered: A barrage of phone calls and e-mails from rival lenders vying to sell her a better mortgage.

Some of the callers apparently knew just how much money she was borrowing. Others made such misleading come-ons such as "We need to update your information," or "We need to complete your application," Ashley recalls.

"I have privacy concerns over that," she said from her home in Petaluma, Calif. "My information should be confidential."

These days, mortgage shoppers like Ashley are supreme telemarketing targets, thanks to "trigger leads" that the credit reporting bureaus sell to lenders the instant a consumer's credit file is pulled by a loan officer. So when Ashley's lender checked her credit to prepare her loan, dozens of other mortgage companies were tipped off. These alerts can be had for a few bucks per name if bought in bulk.

This is legal _ though not necessarily for much longer. A few states have been exploring restrictions on the practice, and last week Minnesota's governor approved a block on most trigger leads. A ban is pending in Massachusetts.

Potential Congressional action is brewing as well. The House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is investigating the issue in advance of hearings it expects to hold on a broad review of the credit-reporting agencies, according to committee spokesman Steven Adamske.

Such hearings could find that trigger leads have drawn some powerful enemies.

The proposed ban in Massachusetts, for example, was floated by the state bankers' association. Its chief operating officer, Kevin Kiley, fears that "the trust that has been established between the bank and the consumer has been essentially undercut" because of trigger leads.

"Why should a bank be in a situation where it invests millions of dollars in a branch network and advertising, if I can go out and just buy leads?" Kiley said. (On Web message boards frequented by mortgage brokers, the act has a more colorful name: It's called "snaking a deal.")

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers, whose membership includes many customers of trigger leads, officially isn't a fan of them. Its president, Harry Dinham, laments that many buyers of the alerts aren't really in a position to make a firm offer of credit, as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Even so, Dinham says a ban would be overkill. He'd prefer to see the leads sold only on consumers who elect to put their names on the trigger lists. As it stands now, leads about your interest in a mortgage can be sold unless you bother to opt out from all prescreened credit solicitations. That requires calling (888) 567-8688 or visiting http://www.optoutprescreen.com.

The credit agencies defend their sale of trigger leads by arguing that it promotes competition, which keeps rates down. That stance has support at the Federal Trade Commission, which says consumers can benefit from the practice.