The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) raises a lot of questions, which means there are new court rulings fairly often. A recent example of this is one that may affect your business: whether someone can orally revoke their consent for you to contact them.
A District Court Judge in Ohio says no, someone cannot orally revoke such consent — if that consent was granted as part of a contract. In this case, Barton v. Credit One, the consumer was a credit card holder who had signed the cardholder agreement. The cardholder asked Credit One’s team over the phone to stop calling. The team stopped calls later, after Barton’s lawyer corresponded with them. Barton filed suit about the “harassing collection campaign,” which he claimed violated the TCPA.
However, the judge ruled in this case that the TCPA “does not permit a consumer who agrees to be contacted by telephone as part of a bargained-for transaction to unilaterally revoke that consent.”
What Your Business Team Needs to Know
Consent to contact by telephone and other means should always be part of your intake forms and your contracts or agreements. PRC (Revco Solutions) is well versed in helping companies add TCPA consent to their financial forms and have suggested sample language approved through our trade organization, the ACA. If you are a client and need help adding this language, please reach out to us; we are happy to help. This consent means more ease of access for PRC (Revco Solutions) to contact your customers and patients. It is a mutually beneficial step in your revenue cycle process.
