The problem is that once that information is shared with others, consumers are invariably bombarded with calls from lenders seeking business. As part of its relatively nascent lobbying efforts, AIME is lending its voice to a growing chorus seeking to end – or at least substantially mitigate – the practice.
“First and foremost, it’s trying to bring more transparency to the process,” AIME’s chairman and CEO Katie Sweeney told Mortgage Professional America during a telephone interview. “There are regulations that are in place today, but they’re not enforced very well, so it creates a lot of confusion and distrust.”
The ensuing bombardment of solicitations has a varied impact on various consumer groups, she noted. “It makes the experience for the consumer a lot worse than it should be,” Sweeney said. “It gets to be incredibly overwhelming, particularly when you’re looking at consumer groups that are first-time homebuyers, or those who traditionally had less access to financial education. The impact that it has on folks that are a little bit older, or minority communities, is significantly worse than it is for some of the other consumers out there that have had more access in the past to understand how the process works.”
The aim is to ensure broader transparency into the practice, she added. “Our goal, first and foremost, is to make sure legislators understand this practice is taking place,” Sweeney said. “A lot of people are shocked to find out that this is even something that can be sold,” she said of consumers’ financial data.
She likened personal financial information to a person’s medical records, suggesting the former should be viewed in the same sacrosanct status. “I use the example that you don’t go to your doctor’s office with the expectation that your doctor is going to sell all of your test results to other people, who are then going to solicit you to buy their services or products or come to their physician’s office.”
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