Credit unions need regulatory relief regarding the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), CUNA wrote to the Senate Commerce Committee Tuesday. CUNA sent its letter for the record of the committee’s hearing on oversight of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
CUNA has raised numerous concerns about a 2015 TCPA omnibus ruling that resulted in uncertainty about how to comply with the TCPA and continue to provide important account information to members.
The FCC began reexamining its TCPA interpretation after the D.C. Circuit challenged the legality of the 2015 Omnibus TCPA Declaratory Ruling and Order issued by the FCC
“Communications between a credit union and its members are responsible and focused on providing members with crucial, time-sensitive financial information, such as account balances and fraud alerts,” the letter reads. “In addition, many credit unions provide important information related to credit union governance and voting issues through these direct communications. Clearly, these communications do not fall into the same class of annoying and invasive telemarketing calls that the TCPA was intended to prevent.
“However, due to outdated and unclear legal requirements, some credit unions have found themselves the target of frivolous TCPA litigation,” the letter adds.
CUNA’s advocacy efforts regarding the TCPA includes filing a petition in September 2017 outlining how the agency could provide credit unions with TCPA relief. The petition outlines several approaches the FCC could adopt to provide credit unions with greater ability to communicate with members.
CUNA recently requested the FCC consider, in response to a recent request for information:
- Revising its reassigned number framework by defining the “called party” as the “intended recipient;”
- Identifying reasonable methods to revoke consent;
- Granting the petition filed by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform and clarify the definition of an “automatic telephone dialing system;” and
- Granting CUNA’s petition and eliminate antiquated distinctions between cell phone.
CUNA also recommended a more centralized approach by creating a single, comprehensive database of reassigned numbers.