The FCC Seeks Comments on ACA International's Autodialer Petition

Following a series of key meetings between members of ACA International and representatives from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) earlier this month, the FCC released a notice requesting comments on ACA International’s Petition for a Declaratory Ruling on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules pertaining to the use of autodialers. This notice was released on April 5, 2006, and provides those impacted by the TCPA with a very tight window within which to file comments. The FCC’s request for comments is a watershed event for all creditors and debt collectors who use autodialers and requires your immediate response.

The TCPA was passed in 1991. This law was designed to protect consumers from invasive calls from telemarketers. One of the provisions of the TCPA prohibits the use of an autodialer to communicate with a consumer by way of their cell phone. Between 1991 and 2003, the FCC consistently ruled that this autodialer prohibition did not apply to calls made using an autodialer if the purpose of the calls was to recover payments for goods and services already purchased.

In July 2003, the credit and collection industry was substantially harmed as the result of the FCC’s regulatory decision to expand the statutory definition of autodialer to include predictive dialers. By expanding the definition of autodialer and failing to restate its prior rulings that calls made by creditors and debt collectors using autodialers to recover past due payment obligations were not subject to the autodialer prohibition, the FCC inadvertently brought calls initiated for the purpose of recovering past due payment obligations within the scope of the regulation.

In response, ACA filed a petition on Oct. 5, 2005, requesting formal clarification from the FCC that calls made by creditors and debt collectors using autodialers to recover past due payment obligations did not fall within the regulation?s purview.

Continuing its lead as the voice of the credit and collection industry, ACA is organizing an industry wide effort to file 1,000 or more comments with the FCC in support of the petition. Association members, autodialer vendors, organizations involved with the credit and collection industry, and representatives from connected industries such as banking, retail and telecommunications are strongly encouraged to participate in ACA’s effort by filing comments with the FCC.

ACA International members should use this link to access more information and a sample letter to send to the FCC. Non-members who wish to get involved should email btimm@acainternational.org.