The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Thursday voted 5-0 to approve an Order and issue a proposal addressing many CUNA, League and credit union concerns with automatic call blocking. CUNA has consistently engaged with the FCC, most recently in early July, to ensure financial institutions and other entities can contact consumers with time sensitive information while allowing blocking of illegal robocalls.

“CUNA has supported the agency’s important efforts to stop credit union members from receiving annoying or illegal robocalls, but in doing so have urged the agency to ensure telephone companies do not mistakenly block calls from credit unions regarding account status or other important communications,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “The agency responded to our concerns by strengthening the ability of credit unions to quickly correct any erroneous blocking of important calls, and that telephone companies promptly correct mistakes at no charge to credit unions or their members.

“CUNA will continue to work with the agency to strike the appropriate balance between stopping illegal robocalls without disrupting important communications between credit unions and their members,” he added.

The proposal specifically seeks comment on:

• Whether to obligate phone companies to better police their networks against illegal calls;
• Whether to require them to provide information about blocked calls to consumers for free;
• Notification and effective redress mechanisms for callers when their calls are blocked; and
• Whether measures are necessary to address the mislabeling of calls.