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NAFCU Director of Regulatory Affairs Ann Kossachev attended a meeting with other trade groups Friday with staff from Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel's office to discuss a potential fix to the commission's order codifying exemptions to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

NAFCU shared recommendations on the exemptions in meetings with staff in the offices of several commissioners to offer support for the agency’s efforts to establish and implement exemptions to the TCPA’s consent requirement for important information that consumers need regarding their credit union accounts.

Under the order, the FCC has established an exception to noncommercial calls to residential lines, with a limit of three calls within any consecutive 30-day period. NAFCU previously urged against the placement of a numerical limitation on the number of exempted informational calls or exempted financial institution calls.

NAFCU and other groups have identified an error in the order's text that creates a requirement that informational, prerecorded or artificial voice calls that a caller places to a residential number outside of the three-call exemption would be subject to a prior express written consent requirement; however, the order indicates that calls placed outside of the exemption should be subject to prior express consent, but not written consent.

NAFCU and others in Friday's meeting asked the acting commissioner's staff to consider issuing an erratum to make the technical fix.

NAFCU has actively worked with the FCC on efforts to modernize the TCPA for many years and the commission included a NAFCU-sought notification requirement in its recent fourth report and order regarding robocalls to protect legitimate callers.

The association will continue its advocacy to ensure credit unions can contact their members regarding important, time-sensitive information, without fear of frivolous litigation.