FCC ponders allowing debt collectors to auto-dial mobiles
By Paul Miller 
posted Apr 24th 2006 6:59PM
posted Apr 24th 2006 6:59PM
There
was quite a bit of rejoicing at the FCC's decision in 2003 to limit telemarketers and debt collectors in their
auto-dialing methods of contacting mobile users. Now there's a chance that decision could be reversed, at least for
debt collectors who are currently petitioning the FCC through their trade association ACA International. Debt
collectors are arguing that they were unfairly lumped in with telemarketers in the auto-dialing ban, since all of their
numbers are collected through legitimate means. The National Consumer Law Center argues that it's unfair to mobile users
to have to pay for peak usage minutes to receive calls from debt collectors, and that giving an agency your mobile
number doesn't necessarily mean you wish to be contacted. The FCC has agreed to review ACA International's request, and
is currently seeking public comments on the subject. We're thinking about going dark for a bit, after which we'll
reemerge from Switzerland with a new face, a new SSN and, of course, a new mobile phone number.[Via textually.org]
I post this from my awful job collecting for a Canadian chartered bank. We definitely do not have anything like this here. In fact we call Canadians working in the US all the time. I wonder if we've been violating the law.
I have a real problem with this. I have a T-Mobile account that I got nearly two years ago which was a recycled number. To this day I'm still getting phone calls for the previous owner of the number.
Yeah but according to the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) you can't make a debtor pay for the call so even if they weren't lumped in with telemarketers you're technically not supposed to call a mobile number unless you get a debtors permission.