TCPA Reform in Our Lifetime?

Back in August, 15 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. “We write,” they opened, “to make you aware of a significant hindrance to public and private business practices across our great nation due to outdated federal law.”

The TCPA is outdated. Its full title is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, and it was signed into law by then president George H.W. Bush. In 1991, there wasn’t the incredible variety of telephony available to everyday consumers that there is today — cell phones, smart phones, voice mail, etc.

The primary target of the TCPA was telemarketers — those ubiquitous callers around dinner time wanting to offer you timeshares or magazine subscriptions. Collection agencies, who today find themselves in the crosshairs of TCPA violations, were never the intended audience for the TCPA.

The debt industry has long hoped for some kind of TCPA reform; however, that reform has seemed slow to materialize. Which is what makes this August letter so important and worth paying attention to.

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