Title: The Crack Down on Mortgage-Related Spam Calls and Texts Description: If you've ever applied for a mortgage, it comes with a credit check. After that, you might get unsolicited calls and texts from other lenders or brokers with loan offers of their own. Why does this happen? And how is a new restriction curbing this activity while preserving your right to comparison shop? We learn more from GAO's Will Colvin. Related work: GAO-27-108874, Mortgage Lending: Newly Enacted Restrictions May Help Curb Unwanted Solicitations While Preserving Comparison Shopping Released: October 2026 [ START ] { Music } [ Will Colvin: ] What most homebuyers don't know is that when you apply for a mortgage those credit bureaus can then sell the homebuyers personal information. [ Holly Hobbs: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for fact-based, nonpartisan news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office--I'm your host, Holly Hobbs. If you've ever applied for a mortgage, it comes with a credit check. And after that, you might get unwanted calls and solicitations from other lenders and brokers with offers of their own. Why does this happen, and how is a new regulation curbing this practice? We'll learn more from GAO's Will Colvin. Will, thanks for joining us. [ Will Colvin: ] Thanks for having me, Holly. [ Holly Hobbs: ] So, Will, why does my applying for a mortgage trigger all of this unsolicited activity? [ Will Colvin: ] What happens because the credit bureaus are selling off homebuyers' personal information to other lenders. You know, it all starts when you apply for a mortgage, your lender pulls a credit report from the credit bureaus. But what most homebuyers don't know is that those credit bureaus can then sell the homebuyers personal information--things like their credit history and their contact information--to other lenders and mortgage brokers to use for marketing purposes. And all of this is happening behind the scenes. So, while you're anxiously at home waiting to see if you can afford your dream house, your information is, unbeknownst to you, being sold off to other lenders and brokers. And, you know, as if buying a home was it already stressful enough when your phone starts blowing up with dozens and dozens of calls and texts from random lenders, that can create a real headache. [ Holly Hobbs: ] There's been recent legislation to curb this practice. What can you tell us about it? [ Will Colvin: ] Congress passed a new law called the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, which limits who credit bureaus can sell these mortgage trigger leads to. This new law went into effect in March 2026. And it says that credit bureaus can only sell this information to lenders that have an existing relationship with the home buyer. So that means that things like your current bank and your lender, if you already have one, can still buy these trigger leads, but the other random lenders and brokers will not be able to. So, this law's only been in effect for a little over six months. So, it's a little early for us to render final judgement. But we do think that homebuyers will be better off because of it. They'll certainly begin receiving fewer mortgage solicitations because fewer lenders and brokers can buy these trigger leads now. And we also think that homebuyers might be more receptive to these offers because they'll be coming from lenders that the homebuyer already knows and likely trust. So, in many ways, this is a good news story because Congress saw a problem and has taken action to address it. [ Holly Hobbs: ] Was it just the volume of calls we were worried about? [ Will Colvin: ] Well, it certainly doesn't take an official GAO study to find out that people generally don't like spam calls and texts. I know you've gotten them. I've gotten them. Everyone knows they're annoying and distracting. But we found that these offers originating from mortgage trigger leads have other risk as well. For example, some homebuyers reported that they received texts that were misleading. They might get a text from a lender offering them a very low interest rate in the initial text. But then if the homebuyer followed up, that rate would be quickly jacked up higher. Some other homebuyers reported that they received texts that were deceptive. They might come from someone who claims to work with their current lender, but only later would they find out that these texts were coming from a completely different company. Also, this wide sale of homebuyers personal information certainly raises privacy concerns because all this is being done without the homebuyers' actual consent. [ Holly Hobbs: ] So far we've talked about this activity as being unwanted, unsolicited, but there is an argument that it's a form of competition, right? [ Will Colvin: ] Well, theoretically, these mortgage trigger leads can provide an easy way for homebuyers to comparison shop to make sure they're getting a good rate. You know, if you listen to any personal finance experts, they'll probably tell you that it's essential to shop around in order to get the best deal. And research bears this out and shows that homebuyers can save upwards of $100 a month by shopping around for the best mortgage. However, you know, a lot of homebuyers don't actually follow this advice. So these mortgage trigger leads provide a potential, easy way for them to do a little comparison shopping before they end up signing on the dotted line for a mortgage. In our analysis, we found that the benefits of these mortgage trigger leads were actually pretty limited because most homebuyers just tune them out entirely. [ Holly Hobbs: ] Yeah, I think if I got a text from somebody I didn't know with a mortgage offer, I would not take it seriously. [ Will Colvin: ] Particularly when you're getting a hundred of them at once. It's overwhelming, and you just want to turn it off altogether. [ Holly Hobbs: ] Is there concern that this legislation is going to curb competition? [ Will Colvin: ] Well, these mortgage trigger leads were just a very small piece of the very large and highly competitive home mortgage market. In our analysis, we found that these mortgage trigger leads were not actually having a large effect on homebuyers' choice or behavior. We looked at a large national survey of homebuyers and found that, at most, only 3.5 percent of homebuyers ended up obtaining a mortgage from an offer that originated as a trigger lead. You know, one of the reasons this rate is so low is that these mortgage trigger lead offers come so late in the home buying process after you've already applied for a mortgage. You've probably already found a house that you love. You might have put in a purchase agreement and quickly be waiting your closing date. So at this point, you can see why homebuyers would be reluctant to switch things up and go with another lender and potentially disrupt the whole process. You can go online and quickly check and get quotes from multiple lenders within just a few minutes. There's still plenty of opportunities out there for homebuyers to find the best deal. [ Holly Hobbs: ] Will, what's the bottom line of our report? [ Will Colvin: ] Well, the days of homebuyers being bombarded with endless calls and texts from lenders are hopefully over because Congress has stepped in and taken action. And we think homebuyers will be better off. They'll likely be receiving fewer unwanted mortgage solicitations while still having plenty of opportunities to comparison shop. So, Holly, next time you're in the market for a house, hopefully your home shopping experience will end with a congratulatory call from your realtor, rather than an endless flood of spam calls and texts from lenders. [ Holly Hobbs: ] Will, thanks for your time. [ Will Colvin: ] Thanks for having me, Holly. { Music } [ Holly Hobbs: ] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts, subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. And make sure to leave a rating and review to let others know about the work we're doing. For more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, visit us at GAO.gov. [ END ]