FCC May Grant Collections Industry a Reprieve From Call Blocking
The vigorous showing of opposition by CUNA, the ABA, the ACA International and seven other banking and healthcare trade groups may have paid off, as FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly, told reporters yesterday, that he has requested a narrower version of the rule with “at least three edits, primarily to narrow the rule to target only illegal scam calls, rather than cracking down on ‘unwanted’ ones too. If left intact and implemented, the FCC’s Draft Declaratory Ruling could not only block illegal dialer assisted calls, but legal (mostly collections) ones as well.
The FCC’s studies suggest that More than half of the top 20 spam callers identified by YouMail are categorized as debt collection callers. The impact of blocking these calls to the public and the financial sector is obvious.
O’Rielly also has requested further metrics be developed to show how well blocking tools are targeting illegal calls, a person close to the matter confirmed.
“We’re still working through those issues with the chairman’s office,” O’Rielly told reporters Monday. “Hopefully we’ll be able to have a robust item that really addresses the absolute needs of consumers to deal with illegal robocalls while still protecting legitimate service and legitimate providers.”
“We were looking to build a safety valve into our proposal,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said. “If there is a legitimate caller, we will allow that caller to file a complaint with the phone companies saying ‘you are inappropriately blocking my legal phone call,’ but if it’s an unwanted robocall at the end of the day we think with the balance stands with the consumers.”
The FCC’s openness to changing the proposed Draft Declaratory Ruling, is spurred by a May 30 joint letter from the ACA International, The American Bankers Association, the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management, American Financial Services Association, Consumer Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, Independent Community Bankers of America, Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, and National Retail Federation. All who opposed the regulatory ruling in unison.
Source: ACA International
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