What is a trigger lead?
You may already be familiar with trigger leads without even realizing it. In finance, trigger leads are generated after you apply for a mortgage, car loan, credit card, or other type of credit. The major credit bureaus monitor your credit inquires—and any new activity can “trigger” an alert to sell your information to other lenders.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), consumer credit reporting companies can include your name on lists used by creditors or insurers to make offers that are not initiated by you. Best case: you’ll get a better credit or insurance offer. Worst case: you'll get frustrated by the barrage of unsolicited calls, texts, emails and junk mail from lenders and financial institutions. Sometimes these trigger leads can even fall into the wrong hands, increasing your risk of getting scammed.
Unfortunately, trigger leads are alarmingly common, and leveraged especially from mortgage lenders. According to a report from the 2023 Data on Mortgage Lending from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, there were approximately 10 million home loan applications in 2023. If even a fraction of these loan applications resulted in a trigger lead, that means that millions of Americans’ contact information was potentially shared without their knowledge.
At Stellar Bank, we value your trust, and we will never sell your information to a third party because you have applied for a loan with us. But we can’t stop the credit bureaus from sharing it. So, what can we do about it?
How to stop trigger leads
There are several ways you can help prevent trigger leads.
- Opt out through the Consumer Credit Reporting Companies
You can opt out of trigger leads by visiting OptOutPrescreen.com or by calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT. Under the FCRA, you have the right to opt out for 5 years or even permanently. You can complete the process to opt out for 5 years online. If you want to opt out permanently, you’ll need to mail your signed request in writing. Opting out will not impact your credit score or your ability to get credit in the future. - Place a credit freeze
You can safeguard your credit information even further by freezing your credit online, by phone, or by mail. This keeps lenders from pulling your credit report without your permission which can limit inclusion of your information in trigger leads. To do this, you’ll have to contact each credit bureau separately. Keep in mind that when you freeze your credit you’ll have to go through extra steps to lift it when applying for new credit. - Register with the National Do Not Call Registry
Register your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry to stop unwanted, annoying telemarketing, spam, and sales calls. While it doesn't block scammers from making illegal calls, it should stop unwanted sales calls from legitimate lenders. If you keep receiving unwanted calls after you’ve been on the registry for 31 days, you can report them at DoNotCall.gov.
Stellar Bank is here to help
Our highest priority is protecting your financial information. And while we can’t prevent your contact information from being shared by third parties, we can give you the resources you need to protect your privacy and manage how your information is shared. Learn more about our fraud prevention and security here.
