CUNA to House subcommittee: Eliminate TCPA overreach

It is imperative that Congress take action to eliminate the negative consequences of last year’s changes to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), CUNA wrote to House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on communication and technology leadership Wednesday. The subcommittee will conduct a hearing on the TCPA Thursday, starting at 11 a.m. (ET).

CUNA’s concerns arise from a July 2015 Federal Communications Commission omnibus declaratory ruling and order for the TCPA, which it believes is problematic and has impacted credit unions’ ability to communicate with members about pertinent account information.

“We support the concept of preserving consumers’ rights to privacy on their cell phones and protecting financial information; however, the FCC’s Order goes far beyond the scope or purpose of the TCPA, which was enacted in 1991 when a cell phone was considered a luxury item and smartphones were still years away from production,” CUNA’s letter reads.

Specific concerns include:

• The order’s immediate adverse impact, which has caused disarray and exposed credit unions to frivolous litigation. The ruling created obstacles to credit unions’ ability to contact members, particularly small credit unions, which CUNA believes is contrary to congressional intent;

 

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