Telemarketer Calling Hours: The 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Rule

The federal rule

Two federal rules set the same window. The FCC’s TCPA rule says no one may “initiate any telephone solicitation” to “any residential telephone subscriber before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. (local time at the called party’s location)” (47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1)). The FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule says a telemarketer may not make outbound calls “to a person’s residence at any time other than between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. local time at the called person’s location,” unless you consented (16 CFR 310.4(c)).

So the answer to “how late can a telemarketer call” is 9 p.m. The answer to “how early” is 8 a.m. Both are measured where you are, not where the call center is.

Whose time zone counts

Your location controls, because the rule says “local time at the called party’s location.” That matters if you moved and kept your old number. Say your number has a Boston area code but you now live in Seattle. A sales call placed at 8:30 a.m. Eastern reaches you at 5:30 a.m. Pacific, which violates the rule even though the caller may have looked only at your area code. A call placed at 8:30 p.m. Eastern reaches you at 5:30 p.m. Pacific, which is fine. Keep a record of where you were when each call came in.

What kinds of calls the hours rule covers

Stricter state calling hours

States can set tighter windows. Two examples:

• Florida: a commercial telephone seller or salesperson may not make “a commercial telephone solicitation phone call before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. local time in the called person’s time zone.” Florida also bars more than three such calls “from any number to a person over a 24-hour period on the same subject matter or issue, regardless of the phone number used to make the call” (Fla. Stat. 501.616(6)).
• Maryland: telephone solicitations may not be made “to a called party during the hours between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. in the called party’s time zone,” or “more than three times to the same called party during a 24-hour period on the same subject matter or issue, regardless of the telephone numbers used” (Md. Code, Com. Law 14-4502(c)).

A sales call at 8:30 p.m. is legal under federal law and illegal in Florida and Maryland. Other states have their own limits. Look up your state on our state telemarketing law pages.

Can you sue over a call at 9:30 p.m.?

The calling-hours rule sits in 64.1200(c), one of the regulations issued under section 227(c) of the TCPA. The private right of action for those regulations is section 227(c)(5). It requires “more than one telephone call within any 12-month period by or on behalf of the same entity in violation of the regulations prescribed under this subsection.” Damages are up to $500 per violation, and up to three times that if willful or knowing.

In plain terms: one late call from a company is a rule violation but not a lawsuit. Two or more late sales calls from the same company within 12 months can be. If the same calls also went to a number on the Do Not Call Registry, or came after you told the company to stop, those are separate violations of the same subsection. The TCPA damages page shows how these add up.

Late-night marketing texts

Marketing texts sent before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. break the FCC rule through 64.1200(e). The legal problem is the statute: section 227(c)(5) refers to a “telephone call.” On July 14, 2026, the Seventh Circuit held in Steidinger v. Blackstone Medical Services that texts are not “telephone calls” for purposes of 227(c)(5). In Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, quiet-hours claims over texts are effectively barred under federal law. Courts in other circuits are deciding the question for themselves, and state law may still apply. More on this on our text message rules page.

Weekends and holidays

The federal rules set a daily window. Neither 64.1200(c)(1) nor 16 CFR 310.4(c) says anything about weekends or holidays, so under federal law a sales call at 10 a.m. on a Sunday or on the Fourth of July falls inside the allowed hours. The limits that apply are the same ones that apply on a Tuesday: the Do Not Call Registry, your company-specific do-not-call request, and the consent rules for robocalls. If your state restricts weekend or holiday calls, that rule applies on top of federal law, so check your state’s statute.

Repeated calls and harassment rules

Calling hours are not the only limit on when and how often a telemarketer can call. The FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule treats as abusive “causing any telephone to ring, or engaging any person in telephone conversation, repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number” (16 CFR 310.4(b)(1)(i)). The FCC’s rules require a sales call to ring for at least 15 seconds or four rings before hanging up (64.1200(a)(6)), which targets the ring-and-hang-up pattern.

State laws are more specific. Florida and Maryland both cap commercial solicitation at three calls to the same person in 24 hours on the same subject, “regardless of the phone number used,” which closes the trick of rotating caller IDs. If calls come in bursts from different numbers, log every one with the time. Our page on phone harassment by callers covers conduct that goes beyond telemarketing.

What if you said it was okay to call late?

The FTC rule’s time limit applies “without the prior consent of a person.” If you asked a salesperson to call you back at 9:45 p.m., that call is not a violation under that rule. Under the FCC rule, a call made with your “prior express invitation or permission” is not a telephone solicitation at all. Keep this in mind before counting callback calls you requested.

Early and late calls as evidence of a bigger problem

Calls at 7 a.m. or 10 p.m. can be a sign that a caller is not scrubbing its lists for time zones, the Do Not Call Registry, or consent. When you log an off-hours call, check whether:

• your number is on the National Do Not Call Registry (and has been for more than 31 days),
• you ever told this company to stop calling,
• the call used a recording or an AI voice,
• the caller refused to give its own name and the name of the company it was calling for, which 64.1200(d)(4) requires.

Each yes can point to a separate violation.

What to do about calls outside allowed hours

Note the exact time on your phone’s call log, and screenshot it. Write down where you were when the call came in, the number shown, and the company named. Say “put me on your do-not-call list” if you reach a person. Log every call in our call evidence log. Once you have two or more from the same company within 12 months, you may have a claim worth reviewing; our guide to suing a telemarketer explains the next steps.