The Telephone Consumer Protection Act or TCPA is a federal statute signed into law to stop the growing trend of unwanted telemarketing calls to consumers. Signed in 1991, this law aims to restrict unwanted solicitations, specifically telemarketing, with the use of automated phone equipment and automated dialers.
Does TCPA apply to manually dialed calls?
The TCPA extends to all facets of outbound telephone contact, including but not limited to autodialed and manual phone calls, faxes, voice messages (both organic and automated), text messages and automatic dialing systems.
Is it illegal to use an auto dialer?
Autodialed calls to a landline are legal, with or without the recipient’s consent. Whether you’re on a cell phone or a landline, telemarketing calls that include a prerecorded message are almost always illegal, unless you gave the company your consent to call you using a recorded message.
What is prohibited by the TCPA?
The TCPA restricts telephone solicitations (i.e., telemarketing) and the use of automated telephone equipment. The TCPA limits the use of automatic dialing systems, artificial or prerecorded voice messages, SMS text messages, and fax machines.
What TCPA compliant?
TCPA compliance simply means to abide by TCPA regulations on telemarketing calls, as well as faxes and text messages with a commercial purpose. Telemarketing calls are perhaps the most strictly regulated form of communication under the TCPA.
Is a predictive dialer illegal?
A predictive dialer is not illegal; however, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) restricts advertisers and marketers using an autodialer, including predictive dialer from placing uninvited calls. Calls placed from auto-dialers without achieving prior express consent from the call recipient is illegal.
Is TCPA only for cell phones?
Conclusion. The TCPA plainly does not apply exclusively to cell phones. TCPA regulations still apply to landlines (and fax numbers, pager numbers, etc.), often in the same ways that they apply to cell phones.
Is it illegal for telemarketers to call your cell phone?
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations prohibit telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers. Automated dialers are standard in the industry, so most telemarketers are barred from calling consumers on their cell phones without their consent.
Can debt collectors use auto dialers?
Congress passed a law called the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to govern telemarketing. However, it also applies to debt collection calls. Basically, the TCPA provides that companies including debt collectors can’t call your cell with an autodialer. If you don’t know what an autodialer is don’t worry.
What is an auto dialer feature?
An auto dialer is software that automatically dials numbers for outbound phone calls, thus saving users (typically call center agents) from having to manually dial the numbers.
Why does the TCPA restrict the use of automated telephone dialing systems?
Congress passed the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in response to an increasing number of consumer complaints about telemarketer and debt collector phone calls. The primary purpose of the TCPA is to reduce the number of nuisance calls.
What are TCPA rules?
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) regulates telemarketing calls, auto-dialed calls, prerecorded calls, text messages, and unsolicited faxes. It also is the authority to create the National Do-Not-Call List.
