Cornerstone comments on FCC's proposal on robocalls

Before last Thursday's deadline, Cornerstone Credit Union League wrote to the Federal Communications Commission about the impact of the FCC's proposed actions and rulemaking regarding telephone communication practices. The letter from Cornerstone Regulatory and Compliance Counsel Suzanne Yashewski noted that the FCC's ruling would significantly impinge on a credit union's ability to communicate with their member-owners.

"The FCC ruling will erode a credit union's ability to relay information on and implement consumer protections regarding fraud, privacy, and account activity; thereby endangering consumers' financial well-being and safe and sound credit union practices," the letter reads.

Cornerstone supports efforts to reduce illegal robocalls. However, we are concerned that the action FCC intends to take is overly broad and would impact the unique relationship a credit union has with its member-owners. Yashewski explained the concern that if a credit union call is blocked, neither the credit union nor the member would know. A lack of communication could result in fraud that harms both the member and the credit union. 

"Consumers likely do not understand the consequences of blocking all calls, such as the fact that in many instances they may actually want a return call," Yashewski wrote. "An example would be where the person applied for credit and the credit union wants to call to discuss approval on a loan. In most cases, the person has not added the credit union phone number to a 'white list' by being saved in the consumer's contact list. Therefore, the call would be automatically blocked."

Finally, Yashewski said, "The FCC should do more to distinguish between illegal robocallers and legitimate business calls between a credit union and its member-owners."

To read more about this proposal and what you can do to help prevent more stringent rules on your field of membership, go to Cornerstone's Compliance Comment Letters page.

If you have questions, please contact Suzanne Yashewski at 512-853-8516, or syashewski@cornerstoneleague.coop. It is vital that we hear your concerns, so we can best represent member credit unions on regulatory matters.

NOTE: We track comments, so if you've already written your comment letter, please be sure to get your participation on the record! Send a copy to Suzanne Yashewski at syashewski@cornerstoneleague.coop.