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One-million-six-hundred-thousand (and counting) Hoosiers have signed up for Indiana's Do Not Call list.
But if the Community Bankers Association gets its way, the Indiana Telephone Privacy List may be nothing more than a list of numbers.
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. Staci Schneider, Indiana Attorney General press secretary, said Thursday 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.
"Indiana's law is still intact" today, said Schneider. The state is waiting for the FCC to rule on the petition. "We just have no feel for when the FCC will rule. The determination could be any day."
The FCC closed its comment period on the petition in mid-February. The state ran a two-week ad campaign against the petition, which ended last week. The state still is asking customers of the banks who belong to the CBA to contact their financial institutions and let them know what they think of the petition.
Indiana's attorney general has filed a petition with the FCC in opposition to the CBA's petition, Schneider said, and is doing all it can to get the FCC to rule against the petition.
Since the FCC is a federal entity, Schneider said, residents can call their congressmen and let them know what they think of the petition and list, too.
Schneider said if the FCC approves the CBA's petition, it would devastate the list and return the state to four years ago when telemarketers called residents at all times of the day and night.
"We have had three banks who were part of the CBA oppose the petition or pull membership from CBA," said Schneider. Those banks include Old National Bank, Integra Bank and Union Federal. "Those banks have a pretty strong local presence," she said. The battle the state is having is with the more national banks.
Some of the banks supporting the CBA's petition, according to savedonotcall.com, include Bank One, Fifth Third, Huntington, KeyBank, National City, PNC, Stockyards and Wells Fargo.
Lynne Woodman, account representative in public affairs for privacy and compliance affairs for KeyBank, Cleveland, Ohio, said KeyBank is a supporter of CBA's petition because under the Indiana law, KeyBank is forbidden to call their existing customers about new offers or products. KeyBank can call current customers when their certificates of deposit are about to expire, but can't call them to let them know about a new type of CD with good interest rates.
The petition would allow banks to let their current customers know about new products, she said.
Even though the law lets businesses call customers about products if they have the customers' approval, Woodman said, she's hearing customers complain about having to grant permission. She said customers are saying the reason they chose to do business with KeyBank is to take advantage of new services or products offered by KeyBank.
"We respect customer choice," said Woodman. "If a customer says they don't want us to call them, we won't."
An Indiana resident can fall under three Do-Not-Call lists. The first, Woodman said, is the federal list, which has been extremely effective. Secondly, there's Indiana's law, which is more stringent than the federal law. The petition by the CBA would make Indiana's law come into compliance with the federal law, Woodman said, which allows for businesses to call current customers about new products. And the third list, according to Woodman, is KeyBank's practice of not calling a customer who tells KeyBank they don't want to be called. They still may make service calls, however, such as notice of an expiring CD or if an account is overdrawn.
If the FCC rules against the CBA's petition, Woodman said, "KeyBank is going to do what KeyBank does now - we obey the law and respect customer choice."
She said KeyBank believes customers should have the choice in deciding what calls they receive, not the state legislature.
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, said Schneider. 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.
Woodman said because of exemptions for charities and political calls, "to my knowledge, no laws yet prevent every single one of these calls."
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, Schneider said there is a researchable database and links for more information.
