The Telephone Consumer Protection Act: Your rights against unwanted calls and texts

This publication, intended for consumers, explains what types of communications the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) regulates and how the law protects consumers’ telephone privacy from telemarketers and debt collectors. It also covers how consumers can exercise their rights under the law, and offers tips to help reduce the number of unwanted calls and texts.

Unwanted calls and texts can be a real nuisance. Fortunately, the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) protects your telephone privacy from telemarketers and debt collectors.

This publication explains what types of communications the TCPA prohibits, what the law requires of businesses that make calls and send texts, what rights it gives consumers, and how you can exercise your rights and reduce the number of unwanted calls and texts you receive.

What the TCPA does

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act puts restrictions on marketing phone calls, texts and faxes.

The original law was passed in 1991, but amendments to the TCPA rules over the years have addressed changes in technology and expanded protections. Today, the TCPA:

• Prohibits auto-dialed marketing calls and texts (those made using an auto-dialer system) and prerecorded messages (robocalls, including AI-generated voices) to cell phones unless the consumer has given the caller prior express written consent to contact them this way. Written permission is also required for robocalls to landlines. (The majority of telemarketing calls are made using auto-dialer systems and prerecorded messages.)
• Prohibits sending unsolicited fax advertisements without express written consent.
• Prohibits marketing calls to residences before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. (in the recipient's time zone), unless the caller has the consumer's express written consent.
• Prohibits marketing calls to any phone number where the person called is charged for the call.
• Requires telemarketers to identify themselves (in live calls, texts and prerecorded messages), by providing their name, the name of the business they represent, and a telephone number or address at which they can be contacted.
• Prohibits telemarketers from blocking caller ID or displaying a false ID (caller ID spoofing).
• Requires telemarketers to provide an automated, interactive "opt-out" mechanism in each robocall or text so consumers can immediately notify the telemarketer to stop calling/texting. (The texter can send one more message, within five minutes of an opt-out request, to confirm or clarify the request.)
• Prohibits telemarketers from calling or texting numbers on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry or on any state do-not-call registry without express written consent. (Callers also must check for reassigned phone numbers, to avoid calling or texting consumers who have not consented to receive these communications.)
• Requires companies to maintain an internal do-not-call list, including all consumers who have opted out using an automated opt-out mechanism or have asked directly not to be called or texted.
• Prohibits non-emergency autodialed and/or robocalls to emergency lines (such as a healthcare facility, poison control center, fire protection or law enforcement, etc.).

Beginning in early 2025, the TCPA also:

• Requires companies to allow consumers to revoke consent to robocalls and texts "in any reasonable manner" (for example, by texting the words STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, etc.) (effective April 11).
• Requires callers to honor do-not-call and consent revocation requests as soon as possible, but no later than 10 business days after the request (effective April 11).

TCPA exceptions

Not all calls are subject to TCPA rules. Those that are exempt from the TCPA include:

• Manually-dialed calls and texts without a pre-recorded message made to numbers not on any do-not-call registry
• Emergency calls (made in situations affecting consumers' health and safety)
• Calls made for medical/healthcare purposes
• Calls from nonprofit organizations
• Informational calls (made by a business you already have a relationship with to inform or educate you—for example, a call from your utility provider to notify you of a planned power outage, or from your bank to alert you about a data breach, or from your child's school to announce a change in schedule)
• Transactional calls (made by businesses you already have a relationship with to provide important information related to your purchase, subscription or account)

Even certain exempt calls are limited, under the TRACED Act, to no more than three artificial or prerecorded voice calls in a 30-day period (with the exception of certain health-related calls, which are limited to one call per day and a maximum of three per week), and require an opt-out mechanism.

(Note: Under the TCPA, you are considered to have an "established business relationship" with a company if you've done business with them within the last 18 months or made an inquiry within the last three months. An inquiry could be any instance where you actively reached out to the company, expressing interest in their products or services.)

A growing number of states have their own laws regulating unwanted calls and text. These laws typically add protections, on top of those provided by the federal TCPA, for the state's residents. Callers have to comply with regulations at every level (federal, state and local). To find out if your state has a telephone consumer protection law, you can contact your state attorney general's office or consumer protection agency.

The TCPA and debt collectors

Although the TCPA was established to regulate telemarketing calls, texts and faxes, the law also serves to limit how debt collectors are allowed to communicate with consumers.

While debt collectors are allowed to make auto-dialed and prerecorded calls to residential landlines without prior written consent (unlike telemarketers), the TCPA does limit collectors to just three auto-dialed and/or prerecorded debt collection calls to a landline per 30-day period, per caller. A debt collector can exceed the three-call limit only with the consumer's prior express consent. (Consent for debt collection calls and texts need not be in writing.)

Debt collectors are prohibited from making auto-dialed or prerecorded calls and texts to cell phones unless the consumer has given prior consent to be contacted this way.

A collector might contend that you gave consent when you provided your phone number during the transaction that resulted in the debt. Regardless, you maintain the right to revoke your consent at any time. Since every automated call or text must include an opt-out mechanism, you can revoke your consent using that method. You can also revoke consent by calling, emailing, texting, or submitting a letter to the collector telling them to stop contacting you.

Debt collectors must maintain an internal do-not-call list that includes anyone who has opted out using the automated system or otherwise has explicitly asked not to be contacted. Once consent is revoked, debt collectors must immediately cease any further communications.

Under the TCPA, debt collectors and creditors are allowed to call/text your landline and cell phone—with your consent or without it—if they dial your number manually and, in the case of a call, there is a human voice on the other end. However, the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) limits all collection calls (whether to a landline or cell phone, live or prerecorded) to seven per week, per account in collection—or one telephone conversation every seven days—and gives you the right to tell the collector you don't want to be contacted by phone at all.

Learn more in Consumer Action's publication "The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: How it restricts collectors and protects consumers," available for free download in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) also provides information about the FDCPA.

TCPA violations

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and state attorneys general enforce the TCPA, and can levy penalties for violations. (The Federal Trade Commission [FTC] is primarily responsible for enforcing the National Do Not Call Registry.)

Consumers who have received calls or messages that violate the TCPA may be able to seek damages through an individual or class action lawsuit.

The per-violation penalty can be as high as $500. That amount can increase to as much as $1,500 per violation if the caller's violation was willful. So, for example, if a company calls you three times after you've requested to be put on their do-not-call list, you may be able to sue them for $500–$1,500 for each of those three TCPA violations. Similarly, if a debt collector makes five prerecorded calls to your landline within 30 days without your prior express consent, you could sue them for the two calls that exceed the three-call limit. There is no cap on the total penalty amount, and generally no forgiveness for mistakes or unintentional violations.

You can document TCPA violations by saving phone and text messages and call activity records, recording when and how you revoked consent (if applicable), and keeping notes of the date, time and content of each call/text and how it violated the TCPA (for example, came before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., made with an auto-dialer without your consent, came after you had already opted out, failed to provide an opt-out mechanism, etc.). (Note: One sign of an auto-dialed or robocall is a delay between when you answer and someone on the other end speaks.)

If you want to explore the possibility of filing a lawsuit, look for an attorney with relevant experience. The National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) provides information about consumers' rights and offers an online attorney search tool. The American Bar Association also provides an online attorney search tool. Your attorney will file the lawsuit in the appropriate federal or state civil court.

Tips

There are things you can do to reduce unwanted telemarketing calls and texts.

• Add your landline and/or cell number to the National Do Not Call Registry (or call 888-382-1222). If a marketer calls you after you've been on the Registry for at least 31 days, you can file a complaint against them at the Registry website or phone number.
• If you live in one of the states that maintains its own do-not-call registry (Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming), add your number(s) to that list. Find your state's registry online or ask your state attorney general's office or consumer protection office.
• If you answer an unwanted call, ask to be taken off of the company's calling list.
• Understand what you're agreeing to when you provide your contact information to a business.
• If you've already given consent but no longer want to be contacted by the company, revoke it by either using the opt-out mechanism provided at the time of the call or text or by notifying the company directly.

Understand that only legitimate telemarketers and debt collectors play by the rules. Exercising your rights will not stop scammers' efforts to reach you. If you're receiving communications from scammers or others who are not concerned with obeying the TCPA or other laws, you can try to avoid them by answering only those calls that come from numbers you recognize. However, scammers often use technology that causes caller ID to display a different (legitimate) number than the one they are actually calling from. You can also use landline or cell phone options to block calls you don't want to receive again. But, again, scammers have found a way around this by calling from multiple phone numbers.

Because you can't always prevent scam calls and texts from reaching you, it's best to learn how to recognize scam attempts so that you can avoid becoming a victim. Learn more in Consumer Action's "Just Say No to Scams" publication.

Published / Reviewed Date

Published: March 05, 2025

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This publication was funded by a cy pres grant from the settlement reached in United States v. Dish Network LLC.

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