Borrowers get power to challenge appraisals; feds study discrimination database
H.R. 5975 — Appraisal Modernization Act · Filed by Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) · Introduced Nov 7, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends the Truth in Lending Act to give mortgage borrowers the right to challenge appraisals they believe are flawed, unsupported, or discriminatory, and requires lenders to review appraisals before delivering them to consumers. It also directs the Comptroller General to study whether the federal government should create a public database of residential appraisal data to monitor whether appraisers and lenders are treating all borrowers and communities fairly.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a consumer right to challenge appraisals and a lender obligation to review them before delivery. The secondary component is a feasibility study for a public appraisal database. Both are aimed at reducing discrimination and improving market fairness, not at narrowly benefiting a sector.
What the text implies
- Lenders may face increased operational costs and timeline delays from appraisal reviews and reconsideration-of-value procedures, potentially passed to borrowers through higher fees or rates.
- The public appraisal database, if implemented, could expose patterns of racial or geographic discrimination in home valuations, creating liability and enforcement risk for appraisers and lenders.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
fair housing and fair lending advocacy organizations; consumer legal aid groups; academic researchers studying housing discrimination