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NAFCU Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt raised concerns in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission about its recent ruling on robocall exemptions, which NAFCU believes will prevent credit unions from alerting members about identity theft or data breaches in a timely manner.

Hunt referenced a petition from the American Bankers Association seeking clarification of the agency's interpretation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which includes an exemption for "free end user calls" by financial institutions. She noted that NAFCU agrees with the ABA that financial institutions may still be effectively prevented from making time-sensitive communications to members about identity theft, data security breaches and money transfer notifications, under the FCC's interpretation of the exemption.

"Unfortunately, the FCC's Order will make it more difficult for credit unions and other financial institutions to contact their members about identity theft or data breaches," Hunt wrote. "As the ABA outlines in its Petition, this exemption improperly limits the exempted calls to those sent to customer-provided mobile contact numbers."

Hunt also emphasized that the FCC's distinctions between mobile and residential phones is outdated, and she noted that regulations with such a distinction will have the unintended consequence of reducing consumers' access to vital financial information if they rely on mobile phones.

NAFCU has raised concerns that technical questions as to whether or not the member will be charged for such texts or calls by their plan provider, or if they will count against their plan limits, may be impossible for a credit union to resolve.

In July, Hunt met with FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai to discuss the ruling and discuss possible adjustments to help credit unions. NAFCU staff will continue to monitor the issue and advocate for credit unions' interests.