FCC failure to modernize TCPA hurts CUs, consumers alike

As Congress considers the budget for the Federal Communications Commission, it is imperative Congress encourage the agency to modernize implementing regulations for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), CUNA wrote Wednesday. CUNA sent its letterto the House Appropriations subcommittee on financial services and general government for its hearing on the FCC’s budget for the upcoming year.

A July 2015 FCC order on the TCPA has created uncertainty about how credit unions can contact members with important account updates due to its treatment of mobile phones and automated dialing systems, among other things. This comes as financial regulators encourage financial institutions to use technology to ensure consumers have up-to-date information.

“The Federal Communications Commission’s implementing rules require prior express consent to make informational calls to cell phones using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice, and credit union risks potentially ruinous class-action litigation if for some reason consent has not been obtained or documented,” the letter reads. “The different treatment of informational calls to cell phones and landlines is antiquated and unfair and fails to reflect how the vast majority of consumers communicate today.”

 

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