Creating Influence

Washington, D.C.: Credit Unions Engage FCC on Call Blocking Proposal

Credit unions, Leagues and CUNA have been pushing for regulatory intervention on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) draft declaratory ruling on default call blocking. While directed at unwanted robocalls, this draft ruling could have significant impact on any credit union that communicates with its members via text or phone! As such a nationwide call to action was released, comment letters sent, and CUNA has reached out to various regulatory agencies in Washington, D.C. This week CUNA communicated with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger in a letter to encourage the CFPB to intervene with the FCC and ask the agency to delay and reconsider the ruling, particularly since the CFPB is a strong proponent of ensuring consumers are protected by being aware of important account information. CUNA has previously reached out to NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood last week with similar concerns.

The order would allow voice service providers to automatically block robocalls, requiring consumers to opt in to receive such communications. The comment period ended yesterday, May 30th and the FCC is scheduled to vote on the order June 6th. If adopted, it would go into effect immediately and the ruling (as drafted) would:

  • Clarify that voice service providers may, as the default, block calls based on call analytics that target unwanted calls, if their customers are informed and can opt out of the blocking; and
  • Clarify that voice service providers may offer customers the option to block calls from any number that does not appear on a customer’s “white list” or contact list.

The concern (outside of not being able to communicate with a member unless they had the number as a contact in their phone!) is that consumers would not be aware what communications from their credit union have been blocked by their voice provider, which could lead to consumers incurring overdraft fees, fraud charges and other fees that could have been avoided with credit union-member communications.

In addition to advocating for the FCC to recognize the legitimate business need of credit unions to be able to reach members, CUNA has engaged lawmakers around legislation designed to combat robocalls. A Senate package, the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act (S. 151), passed the Senate on May 23rd. Work continues with leaders in the House and Senate to protect credit unions’ ability to reach members.

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