Yesterday evening, CUNA joined with other trade associations to send comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding its rulemaking for the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (TRACED Act). The TRACED Act, among other things, requires the FCC to ensure that robocall blocking services are provided to consumers with transparent and effective redress options for callers whose calls are erroneously blocked.

The joint trades letter points out that calls from legitimate businesses, such as credit unions, are still being blocked or mislabeled as spam.  Since credit unions have a special relationship with its members, and important reasons to contact them about their financial information or needs, it is critically important that they be promptly notified by the telephone service provider when their calls are blocked so that those blocks can be lifted within no more than 24 hours.  The joint trades letter further urged the FCC to require telephone service providers to also notify callers immediately when their calls are labeled as “spam,” so that legitimate businesses like credit unions can have that erroneous label removed within 24 hours of informing the telephone service provider about the error.

The joint trades group sending this letter includes the American Bankers Association, ACA International, the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management, American Financial Services Association, Consumer Bankers Association, Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, National Retail Association, and the Student Loan Servicing Alliance.