Georgia passed a bill enacting provisions with respect to mortgage trigger leads. Under the bill, a mortgage lender or mortgage broker must not use an unfair or deceptive practice when using mortgage trigger lead information derived from a consumer report to solicit a borrower who has applied for a loan with a different mortgage lender or mortgage broker. A mortgage lender or mortgage broker is deemed to have engaged in an unfair or deceptive practice if the financial institution does any of the following:
- Fails to state in the initial solicitation that the person is not affiliated with the mortgage lender or mortgage broker with which the borrower initially applied;
- Fails in the initial solicitation to conform to state and federal law relating to prescreened solicitations using consumer reports, including the requirement to make a firm offer of credit to the borrower;
- Uses information regarding a borrower who has opted out of prescreened offers of credit or who has placed the borrowers contact information on a federal do-not-call registry; or
- Solicits a borrower with an offer of certain rates, terms, and costs, but subsequently changes the rates, terms, or costs to the detriment of the borrower.
“Mortgage trigger lead” means a consumer report obtained under the Fair Credit Reporting Act where the issuance of the consumer report is triggered by an inquiry made with a consumer reporting agency in response to an application for credit. “Mortgage trigger lead” does not include a consumer report on an applicant obtained by a mortgage lender or mortgage broker with which the applicant has initially applied for credit, or a mortgage lender or mortgage broker that holds or services an existing extension of credit of the applicant who is the subject of the consumer report.
The bill went into effect May 13, 2025.
Click to view the Georgia House Bill 240: https://www.tenaco.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/GA-HB-240-05-16-25.pdf
