The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to approve a default call-blocking order, which includes a mechanism for challenging erroneous call blocking that will protect credit unions.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Wednesday that the proposal had been updated in response to feedback to include a “safety valve” that would allow legitimate callers to file complaints with voice carriers over erroneously blocked calls. The Credit Union National Association had previously called for this measure in a letter and its thoughts were supported by Georgia Credit Union Affiliates, the league for credit unions in the state.
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The original FCC proposal, made by Pai, was meant to limit the number of robocalls to consumers by allowing phone companies to block unwanted callers that may bother their customers. While it was a worthy cause, GCUA, CUNA and other credit union leagues worried the proposition would have had unintended consequences for credit unions.
“This action is concerning on a number of levels, most of all because it could lead to credit unions being unable to contact members with critical information,” said CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan at the time of the original proposal. “It could even lead to member service issues if the member is doing business with a credit union, but the credit union is unable to contact them.”
The safety mechanism doctored in to the FCC order after credit union lobbying efforts will allow credit unions an outlet to for recourse if their calls to members are erroneously blocked.
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