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(From Credit Union Times) – Credit union trade groups warned that a Federal Communications Commission plan to crack down on so-called robocalls could restrict legitimate communications between a credit union and its members.
“CUNA believes that the FCC’s ruling will, unfortunately, further erode credit unions’ ability to relay information on and implement consumer protections regarding fraud, privacy and account activity,” CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle wrote in a letter to NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood.
In the letter, Nussle asked Hood to intercede with the FCC to change the plan, which is scheduled for consideration on June 6.
Under the plan, developed by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, carriers would be able to identify the phone numbers from which consumers are being blasted with telephone calls. The carriers would have the power to stop calls coming from that number.
Telephone companies would be able to decide whether to charge consumers for the service.
Currently, consumers must weed out those calls.
“Stopping illegal robocalls to consumers is the Commission’s top consumer protection priority,” Pai said in announcing the plan.
But Nussle said he is concerned that the proposal would run counter to encouragement the NCUA has given to credit unions to use modern communications to provide members with time-sensitive information.
He said that Pai’s plan is “overly broad.”
NAFCU officials agreed.
“NAFCU supports the FCC’s efforts to combat illegal robocalls but continues to urge the FCC to distinguish between legitimate calls – i.e., credit unions making wanted communications to their members – and illegal robocalls,” Mahlet Makonnen, the trade group’s regulatory affairs counsel, wrote recently in outlining the FCC’s proposal.