You may be familiar with the Fair Credit
Reporting Act (“FCRA”) and the
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) but the Telephone
Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) is the fastest growing consumer
protection statute out there. The TCPA has been protecting
consumer rights since the early nineties but it seems that in the
recent years the protection of its laws are growing in
popularity. More consumers than ever are using the safe guard
of the statute to protect themselves.
Congress enacted the TCPA to protect consumers from the
harassing and endless calls of telemarketers and the statute now
requires these callers to provide the name and contact information
of the company they are representing. Much like the FDCPA,
solicitation calls can only be made to a consumer’s home between
the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. and calls cannot be placed to
a consumer who has registered with the national do-not-call
list. The do-not-call list is a list of consumers who have
registered with the Federal Trade Commission and have opted out of
receiving solicitous calls. So, you may ask yourself, what is
a telemarking call or a solicitation and how do I protect
myself? Telemarketing calls or solicitations are calls made
with the intent to sell you something which you have not given your
express consent or permission to sell you.
The TCPA was also enacted to protect consumers from receiving
robo-calls or calls made using an automated dialing system. A
robo-call or call placed using an automated dialing system is one
where the call is not placed by a live person but by a dialing
system. A computer system stores the telephone numbers and
dials calls based on when the telephone number comes up for
calling. Either a live person or a prerecorded message may be
on the line when the consumer or voice-mail answers. The TCPA
forbids callers to place this type of call to cell phones and
pagers or any line that charges to receive calls. Recently,
the TCPA expanded its protection to text messaging and does not
allow solicitous texts to be sent without the consumers express
consent.
Under the TCPA, in an effort to protect consumers, these calls
must provide the consumer with an option at the onset of the call
to opt-out of receiving any further communication. If a live
person is on the line, the caller must end the conversation and add
the consumer to the do-not-call list. If the call is a
prerecorded message, the message must include a number that the
consumer may call to opt-out of receiving future
calls.
If you believe you have been the victim of a violation of the
TCPA and would like to speak with an attorney for a completely free case review, contact SmithMarco
P.C.