The Telephone Consumer Protection Act is the single most expensive legal exposure in the MCA business. Statutory damages run $500 per violation, trebled to $1,500 for willful violations. Class actions in this industry routinely settle in the seven and eight figures.
This post is operational — not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer for your specific setup. But here's what every MCA cold caller should understand.
What TCPA actually restricts
TCPA restricts (a) calls and texts to mobile numbers using an automatic telephone dialing system without prior express consent, and (b) any call or text to a number on the National Do-Not-Call Registry without an established business relationship or written consent.
The Supreme Court's 2021 Facebook v. Duguid decision narrowed the definition of 'autodialer' to systems that generate numbers using a random or sequential number generator. Most modern predictive dialers are not strictly autodialers under that definition. But — and this is critical — many states (Florida, Washington, Oklahoma, Maryland, others) have passed mini-TCPA laws that use broader definitions.
B2B carve-outs (limited)
TCPA's restrictions on autodialed calls to mobile numbers apply regardless of business or consumer line. The Do-Not-Call rules have a B2B exemption for true business-to-business calls, but this exemption gets eroded when a 'business number' is actually a sole proprietor's mobile.
Many MCA leads are sole proprietors, LLCs operating from a personal cell, or owner-operated trucking. Treat owner mobile numbers as consumer-protected unless you have documentation otherwise.
Operational rules that keep shops safe
- 01.Suppress every dial against the National DNC and your internal DNC list before launching
- 02.Keep written consent records for any SMS or autodialed campaign — date, source, exact opt-in language
- 03.Honor opt-outs immediately — within 10 business days at the absolute outside
- 04.Do not call before 8am or after 9pm in the recipient's local time zone
- 05.Identify yourself, your company, and a callback number on every call
- 06.Keep call recordings and dispositions for at least 4 years (the TCPA statute of limitations)
- 07.If you use SMS, register your 10DLC campaign with carriers and document the use case
Where shops get sued
- ▸Continuing to call after a verbal opt-out (rep didn't disposition properly)
- ▸SMS campaigns blasted to purchased lists with no consent documentation
- ▸Predictive dialers misconfigured to call DNC numbers
- ▸Calls placed to numbers reassigned from a consenting party to a non-consenting one
- ▸Pre-recorded voice messages to mobile numbers without express written consent
Vendor diligence
If a lead vendor sells you a list and tells you it's 'TCPA compliant,' ask for the consent records. If they can't produce date, source, IP address, and exact opt-in language for each record, the consent claim is worthless. Your shop is on the hook, not the vendor — even if your contract says otherwise.
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