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NAFCU joined with several trades on a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its proposal regarding robocalls and robotexts. The proposal would restrict the ability of entities to obtain a consumer’s single consent and use it as the basis for multiple callers to place marketing calls to the consumer, apply the national “Do Not Call” registry’s restrictions to texts, and require carriers to investigate and potentially block a sender transmitting suspected illegal texts when notified by the FCC.

The trades stressed the need to implement a reasonably fast remediation timeline when call carriers accidentally block legitimate texts, such as necessary fraud alerts from their financial institution. In addition, the group offered reasoning for why credit union member opt-ins to robotexts should be interpreted to give both the credit union and their relevant service provider partners authority to robotext members.

The trades also asked the FCC to broaden the means by which the list of entities the consumer is giving consent to may be displayed or otherwise provided to the consumer, explaining that the consumer has various avenues to provide their consent, such as over a mobile application, over the phone, or in writing.

The FCC has issued several anti-robocall and robotext reports and orders over the last two years and is expected to issue a new report and order tomorrow. Of note, the FCC will also hold an open commission meeting tomorrow, during which it is set to discuss proposed rules for strengthening consumers’ ability to opt in and out of robocalls and robotexts.

NAFCU actively engages the FCC on its efforts to combat illegal robocalls and will continue to advocate for policies that ensure credit unions can contact their members regarding important, time-sensitive information.