Law360 is providing free access to its coronavirus coverage to make sure all members of the legal community have accurate information in this time of uncertainty and change. Use the form below to sign up for any of our weekly newsletters. Signing up for any of our section newsletters will opt you in to the weekly Coronavirus briefing.
Sign up for our Technology newsletter
You must correct or enter the following before you can sign up:
Thank You!
Law360 (April 10, 2020, 7:13 PM EDT) -- The National Consumer Law Center and several other consumer advocacy groups have urged the Federal Communications Commission to temporarily let lenders use banned autodialer and robocall technology to inform debtors about home and auto loan relief amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In a filing posted by the agency Friday, the consumer organizations voiced support for parts of a waiver request that a coalition of lenders lodged in March. While federal law bars companies from contacting consumers using autodialer technology or prerecorded messages without their consent, the American Bankers Association and other financial services industry groups asked the agency to let them circumvent these rules during the crisis to communicate with consumers on COVID-19-related issues.
The NCLC, Consumer Reports and four other consumer advocacy groups made clear in Friday's filing that they don't support the entire petition, but they argued that the agency should let businesses use these technologies to keep debtors informed about the status of their home and auto loans, as well as relief and resources available related to these debts, for the duration of the crisis.
Allowing embattled businesses to use these generally lower-cost communication methods, which also require less human intervention, will ensure debtors at risk of falling behind on their loans aren't left in the dark, the organizations said.
"There are unprecedented high numbers of consumers facing defaults," they said. "Similarly, the creditors likely have fewer staff available, and are no doubt struggling to deal with the calls they are receiving as well as their depleted ability to make outbound calls because of the pandemic."
"This combination of factors justifies the making of automated calls during this national emergency," they said.
The consumer groups emphasized that they only support the measure, "provided it is clearly limited in time and scope," and doesn't allow any debt collection or marketing calls to slip through.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce threw its weight behind the full petition this week, as it said temporarily exempting COVID-19 related communications from the ban "would help businesses protect the health and safety of their customers by reducing unnecessary exposure to the disease, in addition to expanding consumer access to goods, financial and other services, as well as health care."
The agency has requested all comments on the petition be filed by May 6 and reply comments by May 21.
--Editing by Alyssa Miller.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
