The trigger-lead law took effect in March. So why are DFW buyers still getting the calls?

By Steven J. Thomas

A DFW homebuyer at a kitchen table in Cedar Hill with mortgage paperwork spread out and a phone lighting up with missed calls.

You apply for a mortgage on a Tuesday morning in Cedar Hill or Mansfield. By lunch there are six missed calls, four voicemails, and a text that opens with your loan amount. Congress passed a law to stop that, and it took effect this spring. Five months later, DFW buyers are still getting the calls, and the reason is not that the law failed.

Direct answer

What the law actually banned

The Act amended Section 604(c) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. It was signed on September 5, 2025, and the text says it takes effect 180 days after enactment, which lands on March 4, 2026. Most lender bulletins cite March 5. Either way, it has been live since the first week of March.

Here is the rule in plain language. When a lender pulls your credit for a residential mortgage, the bureau may not sell that inquiry to another company unless two things are both true. The transaction has to be a firm offer of credit or insurance, not general marketing. And the buyer of the lead has to fit one of four narrow buckets: it holds documentation certifying you authorized it, it originated your current residential mortgage, it services your current residential mortgage, or it is an insured depository institution or credit union holding a current account for you.

That is the whole list, and you can read the enrolled text on Congress.gov.

Three ways the calls still land on a DFW buyer

Most agents sell houses. I build plans. I am a licensed Texas broker at Refind Realty DFW and a loan officer at Envision Home Lenders, NMLS #689220, so the credit pull, the pre-approval, and the purchase live in one file instead of three vendors handing you back and forth. The caller trying to poach your loan is counting on you not knowing who runs your deal.

The move-up buyer trading equity for a bigger house

You own in DeSoto, Duncanville, or Lancaster, you have real equity, and you are buying up. Credit gets pulled and the phone starts. The callers who reach you legally are usually attached to something you already have — the servicer collecting your payment, or the credit union holding your auto loan. They pitch a better rate and quote a number before seeing one document from your file. A lender swap mid-stream can knock your closing dates out of sync. Map the financing and the purchase as one plan before anyone touches your credit.

The new construction buyer working with a builder's lender

You are under contract in Midlothian, Waxahachie, or Red Oak on a home that finishes in five months. The builder's preferred lender pulls credit at contract, then again closer to closing. Two pulls means two windows where the phone can light up. Some of those calls are competing lenders. Some are warranty, insurance, and moving companies working off a different list entirely. Long build timelines widen the window, so the calls can stretch across months rather than weeks. Read the new construction buyer guide before you sign a builder addendum.

The buyer who filled out a form on a listing portal

This is the one nobody warns you about. You typed your name, phone, price range, and timeline into a national listing site, a rate-quote widget, or a payment calculator. That data never touched a credit bureau, so the trigger-lead rule does not reach it. Data brokers sell it, resell it, and append to it, and it can follow you for months. Public records work the same way — your deed, your mortgage filing, and your county appraisal record are public in Dallas, Ellis, and Tarrant counties, and companies build call lists from them.

Pro tip: before you fill out one more payment calculator on a portal, open the Lone Star Living App and search DFW listings without feeding a lead broker.

What the DFW market looks like right now (summer 2026)

• 30-year fixed mortgage rate: 6.67% average, down from 6.69% the prior week and up from 6.58% a year earlier (Freddie Mac PMMS, week of August 13, 2026)
• DFW resale average sold price: $479,900, essentially flat year over year (NTREIS, July 2026)
• DFW days on market: 58 days average for resale, 86 days for new construction (NTREIS, July 2026)
• DFW resale active listings: 28,293, down 7.1% year over year, at roughly six months of supply (NTREIS, July 2026)
• Texas statewide: $340,000 median sale price, 64 days on market, 5.3 months of supply (Texas Real Estate Research Center, Texas Housing Insight, July 2026)

At six months of supply, DFW resale sits on the line between a balanced market and a buyer's market. A slower market means longer contract timelines and more days between the credit pull and the closing table, which is more room for a stranger to call with a number they cannot document. Check the weekly rate at Freddie Mac and the statewide picture at the Texas Real Estate Research Center. All figures reflect current conditions.

"The call is not the problem. The problem is a buyer making a financing decision from a phone number they cannot verify, in the middle of a contract with dates on it." — Steven J. Thomas, Broker at Refind Realty DFW and Loan Officer at Envision Home Lenders

What switching lenders mid-deal actually costs

Nobody explains this part on the poaching call, so here it is:

• Second credit report fee: usually under a hundred dollars, charged by the new lender
• Second appraisal: often a few hundred dollars, because appraisals do not always transfer between lenders
• New rate lock: priced at whatever the market is that day rather than the day you originally locked
• Lock extension on the file you leave: commonly priced in fractions of a percentage point per week
• Contract exposure: amendment paperwork and possible per-diem cost if your Texas contract dates slip
• Money already spent: your option fee and earnest money, exposed if financing does not come together

None of that is a reason to never shop. It is a reason to shop before you are under contract. The week you build the plan, comparing two lenders costs you nothing but an afternoon.

What a builder's preferred lender can and can't do with your information

If you buy new construction in DFW, the builder will almost always offer a preferred lender with an incentive attached — closing cost credits, a rate buydown, or design center dollars. That lender is a real lender, and using them can be the right call. Understand what you are agreeing to.

When you sign their application and disclosures, you are typically authorizing them to pull credit, share your file with the builder's sales team, and market to you. That consent is a business relationship, not a purchased trigger lead. The new law's opt-in exception also lets a company buy bureau data if it holds documentation that you authorized it, and that documentation can come from a checkbox you scrolled past. Ask the builder's loan officer whether your information goes to any third-party marketing partner.

You also keep the right to use your own lender. A builder can tie an incentive to using theirs, but it cannot force the loan. Running that incentive math against an outside quote is exactly what a plan is for. Start with the DFW new construction hub.

The playbook: what to say, what to file, what to freeze

Do these in order, ideally the week before your credit gets pulled.

Opt out of prescreened offers. Go to optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688). Five years online, or permanently by signing and returning the form. The FTC says requests are processed within five days, though it can take several weeks for the mail to stop. It is the step most buyers skip before they apply.

Register on the National Do Not Call Registry. Go to donotcall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you want registered. The FTC says it can take up to 31 days for sales calls to stop. Know the limit: under the Telemarketing Sales Rule, a company you already do business with can call for 18 months after your last payment, and for three months after you submit an inquiry. Telling that company "put me on your do-not-call list" overrides both.

Know the difference between a freeze and a lock. A security freeze is a right under federal law, it is free, and you place it separately at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The CFPB says a bureau must place it within one business day of a phone or secure online request and lift it within one hour. A credit lock is a product governed by a company's own terms of service rather than by federal law, so it does not carry the same protections a freeze does. One catch for buyers — a freeze blocks your lender too, so time the lift with your loan officer before your pre-approval pull.

What to say when the phone rings. "What company are you with, what is your NMLS number, and where did you get my information?" A real loan officer answers all three without pausing. Then: "I have a lender. Put me on your do-not-call list." Say that phrase, because it creates a company-specific obligation. Never confirm your loan amount, your closing date, or your Social Security number for somebody who called you.

How to spot a real loan officer. They have an NMLS number you can look up. They already know your file and do not ask you to re-send documents. They put a rate in writing on a Loan Estimate with terms attached, and they do not need you to decide today. If you want that conversation with the person who is also the broker on your contract, start your pre-approval here or call 972-846-9170.

Conclusion

The trigger-lead law did real work. It shut down the bureau pipeline those calls used to run on, and it left four narrow exceptions plus an entire category of lead data it was never written to reach. That is why your phone still rings in Cedar Hill, Waxahachie, and Mansfield in August. Opt out, register, understand your freeze, and pick your lender before your credit gets pulled instead of after. Most agents sell houses and hand you off. I build plans, and one plan built once closes the door most of these callers walk through.

One next step: get pre-approved with a plan instead of a phone call. Questions before that? Call me at 972-846-9170.

You're Always Home with Steven J. Thomas.

What to remember

• The Act restricts credit bureaus from selling mortgage inquiry data. It took effect 180 days after it was signed on September 5, 2025.
• Four exceptions let calls through: your documented opt-in, your current mortgage originator, your servicer, and a bank or credit union holding a current account for you.
• Lead data that never came from a credit bureau — portal form fills, public records, data brokers — is outside the law entirely.
• DFW resale sat at roughly six months of supply and 58 average days on market in July 2026 (NTREIS), so contract windows are longer.
• Opt out at optoutprescreen.com and register at donotcall.gov before your credit gets pulled, then search on the Lone Star Living App instead of a lead-capture portal.

Steven J. Thomas is a licensed Texas real estate broker with Refind Realty DFW and a licensed loan officer with Envision Home Lenders, NMLS #689220. Office: 128 S. Cockrell Hill Rd, DeSoto, TX 75115. Phone: 972-846-9170. This article is general information about a federal law and consumer tools. It is not legal advice, not a loan commitment, and not an offer of credit. Rates, market data, and terms reflect current conditions and are subject to change. Equal Housing Opportunity. Texas law requires all real estate license holders to provide the Information About Brokerage Services form and the TREC Consumer Protection Notice to prospective clients.