FCC is trying to make it possible for consumers to pick up the phone again

Wednesday, January 03, 2024

Using a comparison website to shop online for a car, credit card or new home should no longer mean you are relinquishing control of your phone to robocallers.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has revised the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to significantly limit the companies that can call or text you without your explicit permission.
 
Changes to the TCPA will now require lead generators to gain consumer consent to send a robocall or text for each company that wants to sell you something. 
 
That means that a comparison-shopping site cannot send you unsolicited offers from multiple companies, clogging your cell phone. The site will be required to obtain your consent seller-by-seller.
 
The FCC requires telemarketers who make prerecorded calls to have the consumer’s written consent (called prior express consent) before sending telemarketing pitches. This revised rule now limits each permission to a single seller.
 
The goals of this rule change are to:

•        Reduce the number of companies that call your phone with unwanted sales pitches;
•        Ensure that consumers know—and agree to—receive robocalls and texts from each company;  
•        Limit the robocalls to a certain topic—such as a car loan—rather than from all sorts of lenders about various products;
•        Confirm that text messages to phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry are forbidden; and
•        Require mobile phone companies to block all texts from numbers the FCC deems are illegal.

 This rule will take effect the summer of 2024.