The American Bankers Association and seven financial and health care trade associations on Friday urged the Federal Communications Committee to reject a request from the National Consumer Law Center that the FCC require callers to include an automated “opt-out mechanism” on every call that contains an artificial or prerecorded voice message.
An opt-out mechanism is a message played at the beginning of the call that advises how the call recipient may opt out of receiving future artificial or prerecorded voice calls. Under the FCC’s existing Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules, a caller is required to provide an opt-out mechanism when making an artificial or prerecorded telemarketing voice call or making an informational call to a residential line. NCLC seeks to extend the requirement to all artificial or prerecorded voice calls, including informational calls to cell phones.
In a joint comment, the associations said that NCLC’s request would delay the provision of important information to customers – such as one-time passcode requests – because the customer would be required to listen to the opt-out message before hearing the substantive information provided by the call. If enacted, NCLC’s request would significantly detract from the customer experience and provide little, if any, benefit to customers, they added.
