Telephone Consumer Protection Act
Impact
The Telephone Consumer Protect Act (TCPA) was enacted in 1991 before cell phones were commonly used. The law is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and telecommunications when using an automated telephone dialing system (ATDS) or an artificial or prerecorded voice to contact consumers. Unfortunately, Congress has not amended the TCPA as technology has evolved, and the FCC has attempted to fill in the gaps by expanding the TCPA’s scope and requirements through Orders and Opinions. This has created a confusing framework of ever-changing rules, often found only in orders, which sometimes assume callers having information about the identity of the person picking up the phone than is possible.
Over the past several years, litigation has clarified that some of the FCC’s requirements in its 2015 Order is vague, ambiguous, or unconstitutional, including its definition of an ATDS. While this clarity is a victory for credit unions, the FCC has not followed up these decisions with workable requirements, leaving credit unions guessing about what policies and procedures would be compliant.
Where We Stand
The FCC was never meant to prohibit desired calls form credit unions to their members, nonetheless, many credit unions have determined that the efficiencies of making certain calls or using certain technologies is not worth the potential liability and noncompliance risk posed by the TCPA’s burdensome restrictions.
Until the TCPA regulations include a usable definition for an ATDS, reasonable protections for legitimate callers dialing numbers provided to them by their customers, and recognition that calls related to established business relationships are not the same as robocalls from strangers, the TCPA is simply not workable. The TCPA is broken, and CUNA continues to work all possible avenues to reform it. CUNA regularly meets with and files comment with the FCC to ensure that the perspective of small businesses like credit unions are heard and considered in the rulemaking process. Further, CUNA has been an active participant in TCPA-related litigation, filing amicus briefs in the Circuit Courts and the Supreme Court of the United States.