Loan application makes you a 'trigger lead'
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She reported the contact to the Maine Office of Consumer Credit Regulation.

State officials acquired the phone pitch from the mortgage company.

"They told me what the script was and it was not what was told to me over the phone," says Wormwood.

Lund says calling to say, "Hello, I am calling about your mortgage application" or "Information about your mortgage application has crossed my desk" is not a lie, but it is deceptive. It gives the impression that the call is related to the application filled out earlier with the original lender.

Harry Dinham, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, says he's concerned identity theft will occur.

For example, he says, someone could say, "Look, I got your information here. I have every piece of information but we just don't have the Social Security number. Give it to me again."

Consumer attorney Edward Jamison of Jamison Law Group P.C., says he believes credit bureaus could possibly be violating three antitrust laws: the Sherman Antitrust Act, Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act. He suggests that because lenders must use all three major bureaus, the bureaus may have too much control marketing "trigger lead" products and could suppress healthy competition.

Identifying solutions
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers, or NAMB, is proposing actions against the wrongful use of trigger leads.

It favors:

• An initiative to stop the illegal sale of "prescreened mortgage" trigger leads to individuals or entities because the competitors don't have all the information from the consumer to close the deal and haven't confirmed the consumer's information.


• Restricting the use of prescreened mortgage lists to written solicitations only so consumers are educated about their right to opt out of trigger lists.


• Stopping consumer reporting agencies from adding duplicative fees to the credit process. Currently, all lenders a broker sends a credit report to are charged a reissue fee from the credit repositories whether the consumer takes the loan or not. In the past, the reissue fee was only given to the ultimate lender.

Meanwhile, home buyers and refinancers can protect themselves.

If approached about a mortgage application:

• Get the caller's name, the company and location and ask for the offer in writing. • Call the Better Business Bureau and Department of Commerce to learn the company's record. • Contact the attorney general's office if it's a deceptive pitch. • Block out information by calling (888) 5-OPTOUT(678-688) or log on to www.optoutprescreen.com. • Reduce the telemarketing calls at home by calling (888) 382-1222 or log onto www.donotcall.gov.