ABA/Joint Trades' Reply Comment re: Proposed Opt-Out Mechanism for Prerecorded or Artificial Voice Calls

The American Bankers Association (ABA), ACA International, American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management, American Financial Services Association, America’s Credit Unions, Mortgage Bankers Association, National Council of Higher Education Resources, and Student Loan Servicing Alliance (the Associations) appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Further Notice) in the above-captioned proceeding.

In the Further Notice, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) seeks comment on the request by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) for the Commission to amend its rules implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to require that callers include an automated "opt-out mechanism" on every call that contains an artificial or prerecorded voice message. Under the Commission's existing TCPA rules, a caller is required to provide an opt-out mechanism when making an artificial or prerecorded telemarketing voice call or making an informational call to a residential line.

The Associations' members respect and carry out customer requests to opt out of receiving artificial or prerecorded voice calls or text messages. However, NCLC's request to require an automated opt-out mechanism during all calls would impair the ability of consumers to receive important information from the companies with which they do business, significantly detract from the customer experience, and – particularly in light of the Commission’s recent Revocation Order – provide little, if any, benefit to consumers. We urge the Commission to reject NCLC's request.

NCLC's Proposal Would Harm Consumers

The Associations' members regularly place calls to provide their customers with important and often time-critical notifications such as fraud alerts, data breach notifications, low balance and over-limit transaction alerts, and healthcare appointment reminders, among others. NCLC's proposal could harm consumers by inadvertently encouraging them to opt out of receiving these critically important messages.

Under the Commission's rules, when an automated opt-out message is required, it must be played immediately after the caller identifies itself and before any substantive content is presented. If the called party utilizes the opt out, the caller must immediately hang up and ensure that the called party's number is added to the company's internal "do not call" list. This timing provides little, if any, opportunity for the caller to identify the nature or content of the call, potentially encouraging the called party to opt out reflexively before realizing that the message contains important information. The requirements of the Revocation Order magnify this concern because a consumer’s opt out, by default, applies to all future consented-to messages, not solely to messages within the same category of message to which the opt out was directed.

Download the joint comment letter to read the full text.