Debt Collector Robocalls: When Collection Calls Break the TCPA

Two different laws cover collection calls

People often assume there is one “debt collection law.” There are two federal laws that matter for phone calls, and they work very differently.

• The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) controls how the call is made. It targets prerecorded or artificial voice messages and autodialed calls. It applies to original creditors (your bank, card issuer or lender) and to collection agencies alike.
• The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the CFPB’s Regulation F control how often and what a third-party collector says. It mostly does not apply to the original creditor. We cover it on the FDCPA and Regulation F page.

This page is about the TCPA side, because that is where per-call damages are available against banks and lenders that the FDCPA does not reach.

What makes a collection call illegal under the TCPA

The TCPA bars calls to a cell phone “using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice” unless the caller has the called party’s prior express consent (47 U.S.C. 227(b)(1)(A)(iii)). Collection calls are not telemarketing, so the caller needs ordinary prior express consent, not the written consent sales calls require.

In practice, the recorded voice is what most collection cases turn on. Since the Supreme Court narrowed the autodialer definition in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid (2021), proving an “autodialer” is harder. A prerecorded message is easier to prove: it is on your voicemail.

Common collection calls that can cross the line:

• A recorded message that says “This is a call from a debt collector, please call us back,” left on your cell phone after you told them to stop.
• Recorded payment reminders sent to a number you never gave the company.
• Recorded calls looking for someone else, because your number used to belong to a debtor. See our page on wrong-number and reassigned-number calls.

How you “consented” without realizing it

Here is where many people are surprised. If you gave your cell number to a creditor when you opened the account, courts and the FCC have generally treated that as consent to calls about that debt, including recorded calls. The consent can carry over to a collection agency working for that creditor.

That consent is not permanent. The FCC’s rule now says that a request to revoke consent must be honored “within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days from receipt” (47 C.F.R. 64.1200(a)(10)). You can revoke by any reasonable method that clearly says you do not want more calls or texts. The rule lists replies such as “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel” and “unsubscribe” as reasonable per se.

One caution: some loan contracts include consent language that courts have treated as harder to revoke. If you signed a contract that mentions calls or texts, keep a copy. A lawyer will want to read it.

What does not count as a TCPA violation

• A live collector dialing you by hand, with no recording, on a number you gave the creditor. That may still break the FDCPA if it is harassing, but it is usually not a TCPA claim.
• Calls to collect a debt owed to or guaranteed by the United States. The statute exempts those calls from the cell phone rule (227(b)(1)(A)(iii)).
• Calls that stop within ten business days after you revoke consent.

Real collection robocall cases

Garcia v. Target Corporation (D. Minn., No. 0:16-cv-02574). The class covered people in the United States who received debt collection calls from March 27, 2012 to May 15, 2018 without consent. The court gave final approval to a $7.05 million settlement on January 29, 2020. About 240,000 class members were covered, and reported payments were about $70 each after fees.

Seals v. Concora Credit Inc. (D. Or.) is a pending $9.375 million settlement over recorded calls from a credit card servicer to cell phones of people who were not its account holders. We cover it on the wrong-number page because the whole class is made up of non-customers.

Both cases show a pattern: collection robocall cases often settle as class actions, and they often involve recorded calls to the wrong person or to people who told the company to stop.

How to revoke consent and document the calls

1. Revoke in writing and by phone. Tell the caller on a live call, then send a short letter or email: “Stop calling my cell phone, [number], about any account.” Keep a copy and proof of delivery.
2. Reply STOP to texts. Screenshot the reply and any confirmation.
3. Save voicemails. A recorded voice on your voicemail is the best proof for a 227(b) claim.
4. Log every call after the ten-business-day window: date, time, number, and whether it was a recording. Our call log template is built for this.
5. Keep paying attention to the debt itself. A TCPA claim does not erase what you owe, though some settlements offset it.

Damages and deadlines

The TCPA allows $500 per call, or actual losses if higher. A court can raise that to $1,500 per call if the violation was willful or knowing (47 U.S.C. 227(b)(3)). Courts apply the four-year federal catch-all limitations period to TCPA claims, so older calls may still count. An FDCPA claim, by contrast, has a one-year deadline, which is one more reason to act quickly if a third-party collector is involved.

What to do next if a collector keeps robocalling you

Revoke consent today in writing, then give it ten business days. If recorded calls keep coming, you likely have evidence of calls made after consent ended, and each one may count. Read our overview of how to revoke consent under the TCPA and ask for a free case review. A lawyer can check whether the creditor, the collection agency, or both are responsible, and whether the FDCPA adds a second claim.