FCC: Protect Consumers from Robocalls

Federal Communications Commission

The FCC is considering new regulations on how and when federal debt collectors can robocall your cell phone. The FCC has included important protections in their draft rule, including that debt collectors cannot call the family and friends of the debtor; they must honor any request consumers make to end the calls; and the FCC will only allow only one wrong number call, ensuring that people with reassigned numbers don’t get hounded for debt they don’t even own.

But the current proposal could be improved: it currently limits robocalls to three times per month for every loan. But many borrowers have more than one federal loan, which means some consumers could be receiving between 30 to 45 robocalls a month to their cell phone. That’s why we’ll hope you join us in urging the FCC to limit robocalls even further, to 3 calls per servicer or collector per month.

It would be especially helpful for the FCC to hear any personal experience you’ve had with robocalls from debt collectors, so please add any personal stories you have!

Please note: Comments filed with the FCC are a matter of public record and will be viewable online, including name and address, after being submitted to the docket.

To: Federal Communications Commission
From: [Your Name]

Because of the significant harm caused by robocalls from debt collectors, I am very supportive of the consumer protections proposed by the FCC in this rulemaking. In particular, I support the requirements that calls will only be permitted to be made to the debtors themselves, not to family and friends; that callers will be required to honor a request for the calls to stop; and that only one wrong number call, such as to a reassigned numbers, will be allowed.

In order to ensure that consumers are protected from a barrage of calls, I suggest that the FCC limit number of robocalls or texts to 3 calls per servicer or collector. Without this limitation, consumers with multiple federal loans could be receiving between 30 to 45 robocalls a month to their cell phone.