The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act (HR 2808) changed life for all Americans without most of them even knowing it last year. Have you ever applied for a mortgage, and then all of sudden, your phone won’t stop ringing with lenders promising you the deal of the century? You wonder how they know so much about your personal situation. You wonder if you are supposed to reply to any of these folks. Maybe you wonder if there is a problem with your loan in process. No matter what, you probably felt annoyed, possibly scared, or confused. Lame, right?
What actually happened was that your credit inquiry information was sold by the credit bureaus as a “trigger lead.” No, your lender didn’t do anything wrong. No, your information wasn’t leaked. Yes, it shouldn’t happen if you had opted out under the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s (FCRA) online offering (optoutprescreen.com).
Yes, it seems like this is something that shouldn’t happen in today’s multi-factored, privacy-focused financial policy world. Well finally, the Homeowner Privacy Protection Act has changed this.