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Although several court decisions have held that ringless voicemails to a consumer’s cell phone constitute “calls” subject to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) autodialer prohibition, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)  has not yet officially weighed in on the question.  In 2017, a marketing company filed a petition with the FCC seeking a declaratory ruling that the technology was not subject to the TCPA but the petition was withdrawn.… Continue Reading

At an industry fair lending conference last week, officials from the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the CFPB, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) outlined fair lending priorities for their agencies.  These represent the first remarks by these regulators following the DOJ’s announcement of its major new “Combatting Redlining Initiative” on October 22, 2021, and it was the topic of each of their presentations. … Continue Reading

On December 30, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its Report and Order, implementing provisions of the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (the “TRACED Act”).

By way of background, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) includes a provision that bans “any telephone call to any residential telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the prior express consent of the called party,” unless a statutory or regulatory exception applies.… Continue Reading

In an Order on Reconsideration issued December 9, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission concluded that the TCPA applies to contractors working for the federal government.  The Order reverses a 2016 Declaratory Ruling.  Unlike the 2016 ruling in which it declined to address state and local governments, the FCC also determined in the Order that the TCPA does not apply to state governments but state government contractors and local governments are subject to the TCPA.… Continue Reading

After reviewing the legal foundation for federal preemption of state law limits on interest, we discuss the final OCC/FDIC “Madden fix” rules, the “true lender” issue, potential Congressional or litigation challenges to OCC/FDIC “Madden fix” and “true lender” rules, and recent developments in litigation involving Madden or “true lender” challenges to bank/nonbank partnerships and securitizations.… Continue Reading

A group of banking trade associations have filed a “Petition for Expedited Declaratory Ruling, Clarification, or Waiver” with the FCC regarding how the Telephone Communication Protection Act’s “emergency purposes” exception applies to phone calls and text messages placed by banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions on matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic.… Continue Reading

The FCC has issued a notice announcing that it is seeking comment on a petition filed by Capital One Services, LLC (Capital One) that asks the FCC to issue a declaratory ruling to confirm that the recipient of an opt-out request sent in response to a text message does not violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending a confirmation text message to clarify the scope of the request. … Continue Reading

Recently, the twelve largest telecom providers and the attorneys general of all fifty states and Washington, D.C., entered into an agreement aimed at identifying and deterring robocalls. Although this agreement is intended primarily to help combat the use of robocalls, to make spam calls illegal and to protect consumers, the agreement’s emphasis on broader access to call-blocking functionality will likely pose challenges for a wide range of legitimate callers, including creditors and debt collection agencies.… Continue Reading

The FCC announced that it has approved the declaratory ruling previously circulated by Chairman Pai that would allow voice service providers to start offering default call-blocking programs that are based on reasonable analytics.

The FCC also voted to adopt a notice of proposed rulemaking that, as described in the FCC’s press release, would “require service providers to implement the SHAKEN/STIR caller ID authentication framework, if major voice service providers fail to do so by the end of this year.” … Continue Reading

Plans announced on May 15 by the FCC to empower voice service providers to offer more aggressive call-blocking programs could create significant problems for creditors and debt collectors.  In addition to allowing providers to block unwanted calls by default, the FCC plans to allow providers to offer opt-in blocking in which a consumer can elect to block calls from any numbers that are not on the consumer’s own contact list. … Continue Reading