WASHINGTON–Credit unions have been pushing Congress to clarify the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and create exemptions for CUs while punishing violators, especially robocallers.
But the steep fines the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has levied against some robodialing companies have had little effect on the call volume, and now a new report makes clear why.
Since 2015, the Federal Communications Commission has ordered violators of the TCPA to pay $208.4 million, so-called forfeiture orders in cases involving robocalling, Do Not Call Registry and telephone solicitation violations. How much has the government collected to date? Approximately $6,790, according to records obtained by The Wall Street Journal through a Freedom of Information Act request.
However, the total amount of money secured by the Federal Trade Commission through court judgments in cases involving civil penalties for robocalls or National Do Not Call Registry-related violations, plus the sum requested for consumer redress in fraud-related cases, is $1.5 billion since 2004. It has collected $121 million of that total, Ian Barlow, coordinator of the agency’s Do Not Call program, told the Journal. The agency operates the National Do Not Call Registry and regulates telemarketing.
Lacking in Authority
An FCC spokesman told the Wall Street Journal the agency lacks the authority to enforce the forfeiture orders it issues and has passed all unpaid penalties to the Justice Department, which has the power to collect the fines. “Many of the spoofers and robocallers the agency tries to punish are individuals and small operations, he added, which means they are at times unable to pay the full penalties,” the Journal added.
“It’s great that we have these laws; it’s great that we have public enforcement, but because there are so many calls and so many callers, the public enforcement is a joke,” Margot Saunders, senior counsel at consumer advocacy group National Consumer Law Center, told the Wall Street Journal. “It doesn’t even make a dent.”