Who regulates mortgage lead generation

No single agency regulates mortgage lead generation in the United States. Three federal regulators hold separate pieces of it under separate statutes, and none covers the whole activity. Licensing is a state instrument, and state attorneys general enforce alongside all three. There is no one rulebook to find, so the useful question is which agency reaches which part of what you do.

The FTC holds the sales call, and stops short of some callers

The Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 CFR part 310, implements the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act at 15 U.S.C. 6101 to 6108. Under 16 CFR 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(B), calling a number on the do-not-call registry is an abusive practice unless the seller can show express written agreement or an established business relationship. Section 5 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45(a)(1), separately declares unfair or deceptive acts or practices unlawful.

That reach is bounded twice. 15 U.S.C. 45(a)(2) empowers the Commission over persons, partnerships and corporations except banks, savings and loan institutions, federal credit unions and common carriers. And 15 U.S.C. 1681s(a)(1) gives it the Fair Credit Reporting Act only against consumer reporting agencies and other persons subject to that Act, except where enforcement is committed to another government agency. Registry mechanics are in national do-not-call registry and do-not-call safe harbor; the prescreening rules behind a trigger lead are FCRA, not the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

The FCC holds the call, and one duty lands on your carrier

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act is the FCC's instrument. 47 U.S.C. 227(b)(1)(A)(iii) makes it unlawful to call a number assigned to a cellular service using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice without the prior express consent of the called party. The rules at 47 CFR 64.1200(c) bar a solicitation to a residential subscriber before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time, and to a residential number on the national registry.

Caller ID authentication is a different shape of duty. 47 CFR 64.6301(a) requires a voice service provider to implement STIR/SHAKEN in its internet protocol networks and authenticate the caller identification information on the SIP calls it originates. That obligation runs to the carrier, not to the business placing the call, which is why how your number is treated gets decided in a system you do not operate. See caller ID authentication.

Sources for the two sections above, read on 20 September 2026 through the eCFR renderer API at ecfr.gov and at govinfo.gov: 16 CFR part 310 and 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(B) · 15 U.S.C. 45(a)(1) and (a)(2) · 15 U.S.C. 1681s(a)(1), whose grant is expressly conditional on enforcement not being committed elsewhere · 47 U.S.C. 227(b)(1)(A)(iii) · 47 CFR 64.1200(c) · 47 CFR 64.6301(a), whose duty names only a voice service provider.

RESPA section 8 is the rule lead buyers most often have not read

12 U.S.C. 2607(a) says no person shall give and no person shall accept any fee, kickback or thing of value pursuant to any agreement or understanding, oral or otherwise, that business incident to or part of a real estate settlement service involving a federally related mortgage loan shall be referred to any person. Subsection (b) separately bars splitting a charge for a settlement service other than for services actually performed.

The definitions set the perimeter. A federally related mortgage loan under 12 U.S.C. 2602(1) is secured by a lien on residential property designed for one to four families, with a federal nexus such as a federally insured lender. Settlement services under 2602(3) expressly include originating such a loan, the taking of applications, processing and underwriting. 12 CFR 1024.14(b) adds that a referral is not a compensable service, 1024.14(e) that the agreement may be a practice or course of conduct rather than words, and 1024.14(f)(1) that a referral is any action affirmatively influencing a person's choice of provider.

What the statute permits is narrower than a hopeful reader wants. 12 U.S.C. 2607(c)(2) allows a bona fide payment for goods or facilities actually furnished or services actually performed. Whether buying a lead is a payment for a referral or for something actually furnished is a legal conclusion about one arrangement, and this page does not draw it. The Bureau's other lever is broader: 12 U.S.C. 5531 covers unfair, deceptive or abusive acts by covered persons, with statutory tests at 5531(c) and 5531(d).

Sources for the section above, read the same day at govinfo.gov and through the eCFR renderer API: 12 U.S.C. 2607(a), (b) and (c)(2) · 12 U.S.C. 2602(1) and (3) · 12 CFR 1024.14(b), (e) and (f)(1) · 12 U.S.C. 5531(a), (c) and (d). None of them says whether paying for a lead is a thing of value given pursuant to an agreement for a referral; they supply the test and define its terms.

The states hold the licence and a second body of call law

The SAFE Act at 12 U.S.C. 5103(a) provides that an individual may not engage in the business of a loan originator without either a registration as a registered loan originator or a licence and registration as a state-licensed loan originator. 12 U.S.C. 5101 frames the nationwide licensing system as something the states themselves were encouraged to establish. Many states also run their own telemarketing statutes. This page names none, because no state statute was opened for it and a partial list reads as a complete one.

State attorneys general are written into the federal statutes

15 U.S.C. 6103(a) lets a state attorney general sue as parens patriae over a pattern or practice of telemarketing that violates a Commission rule. 47 U.S.C. 227(g)(1) grants the same power over TCPA violations. 12 U.S.C. 2607(d)(4) lets the attorney general or insurance commissioner of any state sue to enjoin a RESPA section 8 violation. 12 U.S.C. 5552(a)(1) adds the consumer financial protection title, with a carve-out at 5552(a)(2) for national banks and federal savings associations.

What this page does not settle

This describes who holds what. It is not legal advice and it is not a complete map. The federal banking agencies that supervise depositories, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the state banking departments that issue mortgage licences all hold authority here, and none of it was traced to a primary source for this page, so none is described above. Whether buying leads is lawful at all is taken up in is buying mortgage leads legal.

Sources for the two sections above, read the same day at govinfo.gov: 12 U.S.C. 5103(a) and 5101 · 15 U.S.C. 6103(a) · 47 U.S.C. 227(g)(1) · 12 U.S.C. 2607(d)(4) · 12 U.S.C. 5552(a)(1) and (a)(2). No state telemarketing statute was read for this page, so no state is named and no count of them is printed, and no source read describes the role of the federal banking agencies, HUD or the state banking departments.