Group Fights To Save Do Not Call List
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Some dogs' barks are worse than their bites.
But an Indiana banking watchdog group hopes their barking will keep the Community Bankers Association from biting into Indiana's Do Not Call list.
Andrew Smith, executive director for Consumers for Responsible Credit Solutions, said Tuesday what the CBA wants to do to the list is bad for consumers. In response, Responsible Credit Solutions is enlisting the help of Indiana mayors to stop it. "We think it's a crack in the dam, which would cause Indiana's Do Not Call list to fall apart," Smith said.
More than 1.6 million Hoosiers have signed up for Indiana's Do Not Call list.
According to the Indiana Attorney General's Web site savedonotcall.com, the CBA is a national trade group of banks. Eighteen members are in or do business in Indiana. The group has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking the FCC to strip Indiana's law of provisions that limit telemarketing calls to Do-Not-Call registrants. The CBA wants its members to be able to contact previous customers, even though they may be registered on the state's list.
If the petition is approved, it's not only banks and financial institutions that will be able to get around the law, according to the state. Any company that does business with a person on the list can establish that person as a customer and call them within the next 18 months of a business transaction. It would be perpetual as every transaction through a checking account, credit or debit card or telephone service would establish a business relation.
The state is waiting for the FCC to rule on the petition, which could be any day. Indiana's attorney general has filed a petition with the FCC in opposition to the CBA's petition.
Banks supporting the CBA's petition, according to savedonotcall.com, include Bank One, Fifth Third, Huntington, KeyBank, National City, PNC, Stockyards and Wells Fargo.
Consumers for Responsible Credit Solutions is a consumer advocacy group focused on banking and credit industries, said Smith.
When Smith heard about the Indiana Attorney General's fight against the CBA's petition to the FCC, he said, his group contacted the attorney general and said they wanted to help. Smith said he thought they could help best by going to Indiana towns' and cities' mayors and getting them involved. Calls to the mayors began about a month ago and about 100 of the 120 Indiana mayors were contacted. Sixty agreed to sign a letter to the FCC against the CBA petition.
"The important thing is very few mayors said no," said Smith. He said that though the letter already has been spent, they expect to get more mayors on board.
Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins, Smith said, "didn't seem to hesitate." It's not easy for a mayor to take a stand on this, especially since banks are an important part of the community. It takes backbone to stand up to the banks, Smith said.
Wiggins said today, "I was asked if I supported the Do Not Call and I certainly do."
At least one of the banks involved has a local branch, Wiggins said, but what the attorney general is doing is a good thing. If people do not want to be called, their right to privacy need to be respected, he said, adding that banks should respect that and be no different from any other business.
Wiggins said no one locally has talked to him about the matter, but it was his opinion that led him to sign the letter with the other Indiana mayors.
Indiana's Do Not Call list was one of the first in the nation and Hoosiers take pride in that, Smith said. Not only is what the CBA doing wrong, but it's also ill-advised, he said.
But no matter how many attorneys general, legislatures, watchdog groups and mayors oppose the petition, Smith said, it's up to the consumers to speak up to their banks. "If consumers stand up, banks will back down," said Smith.
The Indiana Telephone Privacy List was established in 2001 in an effort to reduce telemarketing calls to Hoosiers, according to savedonotcall.com
The list is updated quarterly and registration is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Indiana's law is one of the strongest in the country. Exemptions include: businesses with whom a person has an existing debt or contract may call about that debt or contract; charities when they use their own employees or volunteers to call; newspapers when they use their own employees or volunteers to call; and licensed real estate and insurance agents.
The National Do Not Call Registry was established in October 2003 under the Federal Trade Commission and FCC. There are more than 62 million telephone numbers registered on that list.
On the Web site savedonotcall.com, there is a researchable database and links for more information. [[In-content Ad]]
Some dogs' barks are worse than their bites.
But an Indiana banking watchdog group hopes their barking will keep the Community Bankers Association from biting into Indiana's Do Not Call list.
Andrew Smith, executive director for Consumers for Responsible Credit Solutions, said Tuesday what the CBA wants to do to the list is bad for consumers. In response, Responsible Credit Solutions is enlisting the help of Indiana mayors to stop it. "We think it's a crack in the dam, which would cause Indiana's Do Not Call list to fall apart," Smith said.
More than 1.6 million Hoosiers have signed up for Indiana's Do Not Call list.
According to the Indiana Attorney General's Web site savedonotcall.com, the CBA is a national trade group of banks. Eighteen members are in or do business in Indiana. The group has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking the FCC to strip Indiana's law of provisions that limit telemarketing calls to Do-Not-Call registrants. The CBA wants its members to be able to contact previous customers, even though they may be registered on the state's list.
If the petition is approved, it's not only banks and financial institutions that will be able to get around the law, according to the state. Any company that does business with a person on the list can establish that person as a customer and call them within the next 18 months of a business transaction. It would be perpetual as every transaction through a checking account, credit or debit card or telephone service would establish a business relation.
The state is waiting for the FCC to rule on the petition, which could be any day. Indiana's attorney general has filed a petition with the FCC in opposition to the CBA's petition.
Banks supporting the CBA's petition, according to savedonotcall.com, include Bank One, Fifth Third, Huntington, KeyBank, National City, PNC, Stockyards and Wells Fargo.
Consumers for Responsible Credit Solutions is a consumer advocacy group focused on banking and credit industries, said Smith.
When Smith heard about the Indiana Attorney General's fight against the CBA's petition to the FCC, he said, his group contacted the attorney general and said they wanted to help. Smith said he thought they could help best by going to Indiana towns' and cities' mayors and getting them involved. Calls to the mayors began about a month ago and about 100 of the 120 Indiana mayors were contacted. Sixty agreed to sign a letter to the FCC against the CBA petition.
"The important thing is very few mayors said no," said Smith. He said that though the letter already has been spent, they expect to get more mayors on board.
Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins, Smith said, "didn't seem to hesitate." It's not easy for a mayor to take a stand on this, especially since banks are an important part of the community. It takes backbone to stand up to the banks, Smith said.
Wiggins said today, "I was asked if I supported the Do Not Call and I certainly do."
At least one of the banks involved has a local branch, Wiggins said, but what the attorney general is doing is a good thing. If people do not want to be called, their right to privacy need to be respected, he said, adding that banks should respect that and be no different from any other business.
Wiggins said no one locally has talked to him about the matter, but it was his opinion that led him to sign the letter with the other Indiana mayors.
Indiana's Do Not Call list was one of the first in the nation and Hoosiers take pride in that, Smith said. Not only is what the CBA doing wrong, but it's also ill-advised, he said.
But no matter how many attorneys general, legislatures, watchdog groups and mayors oppose the petition, Smith said, it's up to the consumers to speak up to their banks. "If consumers stand up, banks will back down," said Smith.
The Indiana Telephone Privacy List was established in 2001 in an effort to reduce telemarketing calls to Hoosiers, according to savedonotcall.com
The list is updated quarterly and registration is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Indiana's law is one of the strongest in the country. Exemptions include: businesses with whom a person has an existing debt or contract may call about that debt or contract; charities when they use their own employees or volunteers to call; newspapers when they use their own employees or volunteers to call; and licensed real estate and insurance agents.
The National Do Not Call Registry was established in October 2003 under the Federal Trade Commission and FCC. There are more than 62 million telephone numbers registered on that list.
On the Web site savedonotcall.com, there is a researchable database and links for more information. [[In-content Ad]]