by Structured Settlement Watchdog
All of us get bombarded with robocalls everyday. Structured settlement payees are in a different class altogether. If you’re a structured settlement payee and you’ve made an inquiry, or filled out an online form or a petition to transfer has been filed on your behalf in
The goal of the FCC’s rule is to “strengthen consumers’ ability to revoke consent” by giving them more reign over their ability to withdraw consent from marketing communications. Instead of businesses requiring consumers to use a specific method to revoke consent, they must allow them to be able to withdraw consent using “any reasonable manner that clearly expresses a desire to not receive further calls or text messages.”
What is Considered Reasonable Opt-Out under the Telephone Communications Protection Act (TCPA) Update?
New Opt Out Rules Took Effect April 11, 2025 under the TCPA. The Bryan Cave law firm has done an excellent job of summarizing
- Under the Opt-Out Rule, consumers may revoke prior express consent to robocalls and robotexts “in any reasonable manner…” which means that businesses can no longer specify an exclusive means to revoke consent to receive automated calls and or text messages.
- Although the FCC did not provide an exhaustive definition of “reasonable” in its ruling, it provided guidance that reasonable means of revocation may include texting the words “STOP,” “QUIT,” “END,” “REVOKE,” “OPT-OUT,” “CANCEL,” or “UNSUBSCRIBE” in response to a robotext.
- Additionally, consumers may revoke consent using an automated, interactive key press-activated mechanism on an automated call or through a website or telephone number provided by the business to process revocation requests.
- The FCC also noted that if a consumer revokes consent using a method prescribed by the business, such revocation is definitively reasonable.
- However, a “reasonable manner” may also include non-traditional methods of opting-out, such as a “voicemail or email to any telephone number or address at which the consumer can reasonably expect to reach the caller.”
- Even if the consumer uses a non-prescribed method of opting out, there is a rebuttable presumption that the method was reasonable.
- For instance, if the consumer calls a business’s headquarters and states that they wish to opt-out, or tells a cashier at a business’s brick-and-mortar location that they no longer wish to receive messages, it is presumed that the consumer opted-out in a reasonable manner. Ultimately, it will be the business’s burden to demonstrate why the opt-out request was not reasonable.