Attorney General Urges U.S. Senate To Pass Bill Banning Debt Collection Robocalls

BOSTON, MA -- Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey urged the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to pass legislation that would ban debt-collection robocalls to consumers’ cellphones by repealing a recent amendment to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Healey was joined by letter co-sponsors Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, and 22 other state attorneys general, in asking the committee to pass the Help Americans Never Get Unwanted Phone calls Act of 2015 or ‘‘HANGUP” Act, which is sponsored by Senator Edward Markey.

“Our office has long worked to prohibit these types of abusive and harassing automated calls to consumers,” said AG Healey,in a statement. “We are urging passage of this act to protect consumers from these unsolicited calls and provide the tools to prevent them.”

The letter points out that in passing the HANGUP Act, “the federal government has the opportunity to stop the barrage of debt collection robocalls that can be misdialed, at times harassing and frustrating our citizens who pay for such calls to their cellular numbers.”

The recent amendment to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act allows for unwanted and previously illegal robocalls to consumers’ cellphones if they are made pursuant to the collection of debt owed to or guaranteed by the United States, such as federal student loans. Prior to the amendment, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act prohibited all robocalls to cellphones.

Read the full letter by the Massachusetts Attorney General here.