A database debt collectors can tap to help ensure the data they use for communications with consumers passes a regulatory smell test has been published by the Federal Communications Commission, according to an email notice Thursday from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The CFPB said that under its debt collection rule, debt collectors who adopt and follow certain procedures can obtain a “bona fide error defense” from civil liability for unintentional violations of the prohibition against third-party communications when communicating by email or text message. It said that for text message communications, one element of those procedures includes using a “complete and accurate database” to confirm that the consumer’s telephone number has not been reassigned to another user.
The bureau said the rule’s commentary identifies the FCC’s Reassigned Numbers Database as a “complete and accurate database,”and the FCC has now published that database. The CFPB provided the following links to more info.