How the TCPA can affect you in the collection of your accounts?

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The federal law Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) affect the collection of accounts. It restricts the use of automatic dialing systems, artificial or prerecorded voice messages and SMS received by cell phones to send unsolicited advertisements.

According to the TCPA, you may not call residences before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time. This limits the collection time for the collection agencies and law firms since this is also the working time for most people.

2nd solicitors even collection agencies must maintain a “Do Not Call” (DNC) list and must be honored for 5 years. The major limitation of this law, as enacted was that it was ineffective at proactively stopping unsolicited calls in that the consumer had to request of each telemarketer to be put onto that telemarketer's do-not-call list. This burden was lifted by the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act's establishment of the National Do Not Call Registry and adoption of the National Do-Not-Call list by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2003.

3rd solicitors, collectors, telemarketers must provide their name, the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the call is being made, and a telephone number or address at which that person or entity may be contacted. This rule is an advantage for the collections agencies for a callback on the customers.

4th calls cannot be made to residences with artificial voices or recordings. Both the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) prohibits artificial voices or recordings by telemarketers, collection agencies and solicitors to land lines and cell phones, even when the caller has an established business relationship with the customer, unless that customer specifically agrees in writing to receive such calls. Certain exemptions would remain, including those for tax-exempt charities, health care organizations, political campaigns, etc.

5th facsimile (fax) transmissions that are unsolicited are also prohibited. If a violation of the TCPA has been made, customers are entitled to collect damages directly from a collection agencies or law firms for $500 to $1,500 for each violation, or recover actual monetary loss, whichever is higher.