WASHINGTON— NAFCU told the FCC it supports 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."
NAFCU’s input came in response to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) related to the rules and regulations implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
"Information about fraudulent activity, data breaches and available protections, and money transfers is important and timely information members need immediately, and these exemptions facilitate that communication," wrote Elizabeth LaBerge, NAFCU senior regulatory counsel. "As we have seen since March, circumstances can change quickly, and government programs or relief may become available unexpectedly. In particular, limiting the amount of calls that can be made on a monthly basis may severely curtail a credit union’s ability to get important information to its members in a timely manner."
Additional Recommendations
LaBerge said should the FCC include an opt-out provision in the informational call exemption, it is important the option be limited to the opt-out method provided by the bank or business.
In addition, LaBerge repeated NAFCU's call to exempt financial institutions, citing the increase of the amount of business activity consumers perform on their computers and phones due to the pandemic.
LaBerge further asked the FCC to expand the exemption to allow for at least six communications over a one-week period immediately following a transaction flagged for fraud or a data breach and flagged that the text limit of 160 characters is too short.