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NAFCU continues to urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to expeditiously finalize its declaratory ruling to allow financial institutions to contact consumers on matters related to the coronavirus pandemic during the national emergency. The association and several other financial services trade groups Thursday reiterated the need for this ruling in a reply comment to the commission.

The trade groups in March petitioned the FCC for an expedited declaratory ruling, clarification or waiver to except informational calls related to the coronavirus pandemic from the consent requirements under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

NAFCU separately followed up on the petition with a letter to the FCC last month stressing that "[t]his is an extant emergency, and information from credit unions and other financial institutions are a first step to resolving that threat to the economic security of our nation and its consumers."

In the reply comment Thursday, the trades highlighted the broad support for finalizing this ruling "to facilitate the consumer-benefitting, informational calls that financial institutions seek to make to assist consumers in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic."

"These calls must be placed using automated means, not manual dialing," they wrote. "However, because of the threat of class-action litigation, financial institutions are reluctant to contact those consumers for whom the institution does not have documented consent to call, depriving millions of consumers of important and time-sensitive COVID-19-related informational messages."

The letter also shared a credit union's concerns about being unable to send texts or place calls to members related to payment solutions due to "the extensive and time-consuming due diligence required to mitigate potential litigation exposure under the [TCPA]," which includes confirming whether the phone is wireless and if consent obtained is sufficiently documented.

"The relief that the Associations request in the Petition would ensure that financial institutions may contact consumers with important, and time-sensitive, calls to protect the consumer's financial or physical health and safety."

CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger, in response to the trades' petition, has also urged the FCC to expedite its ruling in order to maximize outreach to consumers about the financial assistance available amid the pandemic.