Things Just Got Tougher For Auto-Dialing Debt Collectors
Tuesday, July 31st, 2012 | The Cash Flow Group | Comments Off on Things Just Got Tougher For Auto-Dialing Debt Collectors
Auto-dial use in debt collecting just got tougher.
“On May 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) requires consent from a current cell phone subscriber to receive automated calls – even if a former subscriber to the same number had previously given consent to be contacted.”
“The case is significant because it significantly ups the ante for automated and prerecorded call violations under the TCPA (especially in that even live-operator calls, i.e., non-prerecorded calls – which constitute most commercial calling – can trigger liability if auto- or predictively-dialed)… Often, this disconnect between the phone number a company has, and the consent it believed it had associated with it, will not be known – and sometimes cannot be known – until after placement of the call(s) to the wrong party, who is in a position to correct this error. But at [that] point, the call(s) occurred, and TCPA liability potentially attaches.”
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