Washington Post Covers Collectors-Against-FCC Autodialer Battle

The Washington Post, in its Wednesday edition, is covering ACA International?s attempt to close an FCC loophole that bars debt collectors from using automated dialers to contact cell phone numbers.

The article, appearing on page 2 in the Business section, references the ACA?s position that the ban on collectors auto-dialing cell phones was inadvertent and that the collection industry got caught up in the FCC?s crackdown on telemarketers using autodialers to contact cell numbers.

Rozanne Andersen, ACA?s general counsel and SVP of Government Affairs, noted in the article that the cell phone numbers used by collection agencies were given to creditors by consumers at the time of credit application. This stands in contrast to the behavior of telemarketers that the FCC is attempting to curtail.

The National Consumer Law Center is objecting to the ACA?s effort to lift the autodialer ban. The NCLC?s argument is that autodialers will run up consumers? cell phone daytime minutes and, according to the Post article, “a consumer giving a cellphone number when applying for credit shouldn’t be considered as giving permission to a debt collector to call that number later.”

The ACA is still encouraging the debt collection industry to take advantage of the FCC?s pubic comment period. 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.