Credit card companies and the collection industry are firmly lobbying to pass the Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011? But, why should you care? If passed, The Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011, a.k.a. “House Resolution 3035”, would amend the Communications Act of 1934, allowing robo-calls to consumers’ cell phones without their explicit consent.

THE PRESENT RULES:

Under present law – the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), telephone calls to your cell phone using an automatic dialing system or prerecorded messages are strictly prohibited. (The only exception is for emergency calls or calls made to you with your prior consent.) Also prohibited is contacting your paging service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service if you are charged for the call. But, both the banking and collection industry have been petitioning Congress to carve an exception to allow debt collectors to make autodialed calls to cellular phones.

GOOD NEWS ON YOUR SIDE:

Most Attorney Generals completely oppose the proposed federal legislation. They argue it would drive unwanted, costly robo-calls to consumers’ cell phones. It would also permit telemarketers to invade your privacy and debt collectors to call you at all hours of the day. And, we say enough is enough!

The debt collection industry already generates the bulk of most consumer complaints. Debt collectors constantly violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), often contacting employers, friends of a debtor and divulging confidential information about the debtor. Plus, they aggressively target the wrong people who are not the debtor or have no relationship to the debtor.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Call your congressman or woman to oppose the Mobile Informational Call Act;
2. If a debt collector calls your cell phone without your consent, and/or their call causes you to incur any charges, report the debt collector to your state Attorney General and FTC, and/or
3. Sue the debt collector for violating your rights under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA);
4. Stop collection calls by sending the collection agency a cease and desist letter.

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17 Comments

  1. Tapan says:

    Credit card companies and the collection industry lobby to pass this stupid bill. But robo-calls to my cell phone is absurd. Who in their right mind would actually approve such nonsense.

    • Tulika says:

      Credit card companies and the collection industry are firmly lobbying to pass the Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011? But, why care? Consumers lose liberties and there is added harassment from collectors. Not good.

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  4. nareIrrasia says:

    Hey man, collection calls to my cell phone aint sexy. I’m grateful for the great info.

  5. Pharmd425 says:

    Hello! what interesting news. A new consumer protection agency is about time. The collection calls must stop!

  6. Pharmc26 says:

    Hello! interesting site! I really like it! Not that many posts yet. But very, very informative!

  7. I will be bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will share this blog on Debt Free League Blog, “Collection Calls to Your Cell Phone is Illegal. But, Not for Long?” with my Facebook group. Chat soon!

  8. Toni Loredo says:

    I cant think that debt collectors are failing once more and again. These monkeys won’t get too far this time with Washington.

  9. Vimax says:

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  11. Jessica C. says:

    I will be following the steps you outline in the blog post re: the Mobile Informational Call Act. I think it’s ridiculous that any companies should be permitted to call your mobile phone for debt collection or robocall telemarketing. I keep my mobile phone on a minimal call plan and couldn’t afford to have my minutes run up with these types of calls.

  12. Chris Romans says:

    A bill like this would certainly not pass if the government will listen to the sound of it’s people, as opposed to a few people with power to lobby such as the aforementioned credit card corporations. While I do think debt collectors tend to get a bad reputation, as if all of them are bad and wish bad things on people (when in fact they are just doing their job); it is certainly important for people to have a right to privacy. While I don’t think a phone call (with a real person on both ends mind you) is a bad thing, it can become bad when it is excessive; and robotic as well.

    One question that stems from this for those of you are are more inclined to know about legal things then myself: how long do credit card companies have to wait before they can take an individual (who is not paying their debts) to court? Is this even possible? It seems to me like long periods of debt and a lack of payments would imply that the individual who is in debt legitimately owes those companies money, which in some ways makes sense of why they would want a bill like this passed in the first place. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m just playing devil’s advocate here to try and make sense of all this information. It’s kind of crazy stuff!

  13. George says:

    Is this an bill still being considered by Congress? I know I am a little bit late to the party for this post, but I still find it appalling that a bill like this would even be discussed in our countries legislative system. While I am not in a situation of debt like some Americans, like most reasonable people I am not one to want the government dabbling into private matters like this; especially not on the side of the big businesses like the credit card companies. I also thought lobbying was illegal as well? Maybe I’m wrong on that, but I thought I heard that somewhere in the pass. Minimally I know it is frowned upon by most people (I mean, aside from those actually benefiting from being lobbied like the politicians).

  14. Amy Loren says:

    I guess a big question that comes to me about the current state of collection calls is what would constitute an “emergency call” from a debt collection agency? It’s not like they need to call you like you’re the police station or something like that. I’m mostly just wondering if there are any current protections in place that protect people when a company could potentially just say the call was an “emergency.” Is this a well defined term, or is it one that leaves open interpretation and just major loopholes in the system?

    • admin says:

      Your “emergency call” question sounds quite amusing pondering on what was the Federal Reserve must been thinking when big banks made the emergency calls begging for hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout money. On a reality note, there is no state or federal law that allows a debt collector to make an emergency call to collect a debt. Illegal collection calls are illegal no matter what.

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