A Marietta couple closed on a credit application at 9:14 a.m. on a Tuesday this spring. By lunchtime, the wife's phone had logged 31 calls and a dozen texts — most from lenders neither of them had ever spoken to. They had been told the new federal law would stop this. It didn't.
That gap — between the headline that Congress finally banned mortgage "trigger leads" and the reality on a Georgia borrower's call log — is where most of the confusion lives in mid-2026. The short version: the law is real, it is in force, and it still leaves narrow lanes through which solicitations can legally reach you. The good news is that a free, federally-mandated opt-out covers most of the remaining gap, and it takes about five minutes.
What a "trigger lead" actually is
When a lender pulls your credit to qualify you for a mortgage, the three nationwide credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — see the inquiry. Historically, they packaged the applicant's name, contact information, and credit indicators and sold that data to competing lenders as a "trigger lead." Competing lenders received the list within hours and dialed immediately, on the theory that a borrower mid-shop is a borrower who might switch. Borrowers commonly reported 50 to 100 calls and texts within a single day of a credit pull — a complaint pattern documented in Senate floor statements and trade-association filings during the seven-year legislative fight that preceded the new law.
The law that already passed — not pending
The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act (H.R. 2808 / S. 1467) cleared both chambers of Congress unanimously and was signed by President Trump on September 5, 2025. It took effect on March 4, 2026 — roughly three months before this article's publication. The Senate sponsors were Jack Reed (D-RI) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN); the House sponsors were John Rose (R-TN) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY). Sen. Reed's office confirmed the signing and the bill's unanimous passage.
The law amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to bar the credit bureaus from selling mortgage trigger leads — with carve-outs that matter. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not writing a separate rule; the prohibition is statutory and self-executing.
Why your phone still rings in June 2026
Legal analyses from Hunton Andrews Kurth and the Consumer Finance Monitor describe three categories of solicitation that remain lawful under the new federal regime:
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Existing-relationship lenders. Your current mortgage originator or servicer, or an insured bank or credit union where you already hold an account, can still receive trigger-lead information about you.
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Documented opt-in. If a consumer has given verifiable authorization — for example, by checking a box on a rate-quote site — that lender can still receive the data.
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The "firm offer" carve-out. Any solicitation that does ride through must constitute a firm offer of credit or insurance under the FCRA, not generic marketing.
If you applied with a small Georgia mortgage broker but also bank with a national depository, that depository can still call. If you ever clicked through a rate-comparison form, the opt-in record can keep your number in circulation. And the prescreened-offer machinery that powers credit-card and insurance solicitations is still legal — trigger-lead-style calls can ride that channel for non-mortgage products.
A Government Accountability Office study on text-message trigger leads is due September 4, 2026, which industry observers expect to drive a follow-on rule on SMS specifically.
Georgia's own layer: HB 240
Georgia did not wait for Washington. House Bill 240 amended the state's Fair Business Practices Act and took effect on Governor Kemp's signature on May 13, 2025. The law, summarized by Alston & Bird and the compliance vendor TENA, requires any trigger-lead solicitor contacting a Georgia consumer to:
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Clearly disclose that the caller is not affiliated with the consumer's original lender;
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Comply with all federal and state credit-offer rules;
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Honor opt-out requests; and
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Not bait-and-switch on rates or terms — the offer made in the call must match what the lender is prepared to extend.
Enforcement falls under the Georgia Department of Law's consumer-protection authority and, for licensed mortgage actors, the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. Holland & Knight documented HB 240 as part of a broader 2025 update to Georgia banking law.
The free one-step fix
The single most useful action a Georgia borrower can take is to opt out of the prescreened-offer lists the bureaus sell — the same lists that the new federal law restricts for mortgage purposes but still allows for other credit and insurance offers. The official site, operated jointly by Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion under Section 604(e) of the FCRA, is OptOutPrescreen.com. The phone backup is 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688).
The Federal Trade Commission explains the mechanics: an electronic opt-out takes effect within five business days and lasts five years. To opt out permanently, you complete the same form online and then mail the signed paper version the site generates.
The practical implication for Georgia borrowers: do this before the lender pulls your credit. If you opt out the day you apply, the prescreening machinery has already run. Five business days of lead time is the difference between a quiet phone and a week of dialers.
Stacking the Do Not Call Registry
The FTC's Do Not Call Registry (donotcall.gov, 1-888-382-1222) is a useful pair but not a substitute. Registration is permanent, and telemarketers must scrub their lists within 31 days. It does not block calls from companies with which you have an existing business relationship, from debt collectors, from survey or political callers, or from charities. That is why the prescreen opt-out and DNC registration work best together rather than alone.
Why Georgia mortgage brokers are split
The trade groups representing most of the industry — the National Association of Mortgage Brokers and the Independent Community Bankers of America — supported the ban. Large depositories and established originators argued that trigger-lead solicitation churned borrowers and dragged industry reputation.
The pushback came from smaller, lead-dependent shops and lead-aggregation businesses, whose acquisition pipelines were built on the trigger flow. A Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck analysis in Law360 walked through the marketing-channel implications, noting that customer acquisition costs will rise for brokers who lacked direct-to-consumer brand presence. Some independent Georgia brokers privately argue the law entrenches incumbents. Consumer Affairs covered the consumer-side perspective during passage.
A practical checklist for Georgia borrowers
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At least one week before applying, opt out at OptOutPrescreen.com. Choose the five-year option online if you want it now; mail the permanent form if you want it forever.
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Register on donotcall.gov. Permanent. Free.
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Ask your loan officer to use a soft-pull pre-approval where possible. Soft pulls do not feed the trigger-lead pipeline.
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If calls keep coming after March 5, 2026, the caller is either (a) your existing lender or bank, (b) claiming a documented opt-in you may have forgotten about, or (c) potentially out of compliance with the new federal law and/or Georgia HB 240. Document the caller, the time, and what they offered.
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File a complaint. Federal complaints go to the CFPB. Georgia-licensed mortgage actors are regulated by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance; broader deceptive-practice claims fall under the Georgia Attorney General's consumer-protection unit.
The law that took effect in March 2026 is not perfect, and the calls have not disappeared. But the combination of the new federal restriction, Georgia's HB 240, the prescreen opt-out, and the DNC registry gives a Georgia borrower more leverage in mid-2026 than at any point in the past two decades. The tools are free. The biggest mistake is waiting to use them until after the credit pull, when the data has already moved.
Related reading
Sources
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H.R. 2808 — Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act (119th Congress)
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Sen. Jack Reed — Trump signs trigger-leads bill (Sept 5, 2025)
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Consumer Affairs — Congress bans sale of mortgage trigger leads
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Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck (Law360) — Marketing impact analysis
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Georgia Department of Banking and Finance — Mortgage Brokers and Lenders
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