Question: We recently applied for a mortgage to refinance our home. Within a few days, we were getting phone calls all day and night from other mortgage companies trying to sell us a loan. We only talked to one mortgage company. How did the other mortgage companies get our phone number? We put our number on the do-not-call list a couple of years ago, so how can they call us?

Answer: You are a victim of what are known as trigger leads.

When you apply for a mortgage, the mortgage company pulls a credit report to check your credit history. That is a normal part of the loan approval process.

But what many people don’t know, is that once your credit report has been pulled by a mortgage company, it sets of a trigger that automatically puts your name on a list that credit reporting agencies can sell to other mortgage companies.

Telemarketers for those companies get your name, phone number and other personal information and call you because they know you are in the market for a new mortgage. They typically offer too-good-to-be-true deals in hopes of getting you to switch to their mortgage company. In some cases, they actually lie by claiming to have your loan application and say they are “just following up to get a little more information.”

There has been a mini refinancing boom going on this year in the mortgage industry and that has caused a number of mortgage companies to buy trigger leads to try and cash in on the low interest rates. Apparently, by contacting a mortgage company and credit reporting agency, you are effectively giving these companies permission to offer you a mortgage loan, and thereby get around the do-not-call law.

As a mortgage company owner myself, I find this practice to be disgusting. I think it is a gross violation of our clients’ privacy rights. Unfortunately, there is nothing that we can do to stop the credit reporting agencies from selling trigger leads, so we tell our clients what they can do to stop the calls.

You can opt-out of the trigger lists by going to this credit reporting industry Web site: www.optoutprescreen.com/.

Personally, I think it’s ridiculous that you have to opt out of something to which you never opted into in the first place, but that’s the way it works under current laws. And if you go that Web site be sure to read the form very carefully before you submit your information. The default option is to opt in to receive credit offers. So if you are not paying attention, you may think you are getting yourself off the trigger lead lists when you are actually asking them to put you on the list.

If you don’t have access to the Internet, you can also opt out of the trigger lists by calling their toll-free phone number: 888–567–8688.

Most of us in the mortgage industry are opposed to selling trigger leads because they violate our clients’ privacy and subject them to unwanted telephone harassment. Hopefully, if enough consumers will complain about their personal data being sold as trigger leads, laws will be changed to prevent credit reporting agencies from selling them in the future.

In the meantime, be sure to opt out of the trigger lists on the credit reporting agencies’ database if you don’t want to be bothered by unsolicited mortgage offers.

Mail your real estate questions to Steve Tytler, The Herald, P.O. Box, Everett, WA 98206, or e-mail him at economy@heraldnet.com.