What Is the TCPA?
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is a federal law that restricts telemarketing calls, auto-dialed calls, prerecorded messages, and text messages. Passed in 1991 and significantly expanded since, it is now the most litigated consumer protection statute in the United States — with statutory damages of $500–$1,500 per violation.
For outbound call centers, TCPA compliance is not optional. A single class action lawsuit can result in settlements exceeding $10 million. The plaintiffs' bar has become increasingly sophisticated, and violations are often discovered within hours of a non-compliant campaign launching.
Key TCPA Rules for Outbound Calling
- Written consent for auto-dialed calls: If you use a predictive or auto-dialer to call cell phones, you must have prior express written consent from the called party.
- Federal DNC list compliance: You must scrub your call lists against the FTC's National Do Not Call Registry before calling. New additions take effect within 31 days.
- State DNC lists: 29+ states operate their own DNC registries with separate requirements and penalty structures.
- Calling hours: No calls before 8am or after 9pm in the recipient's local time zone — not yours.
- Opt-out processing: When someone requests removal, they must be added to your suppression list immediately and honored within 30 days at the latest.
- Caller ID requirements: You must transmit accurate caller ID information. Spoofing or blocking caller ID on telemarketing calls is illegal.
STIR/SHAKEN and Caller Authentication
STIR/SHAKEN is the FCC-mandated framework for authenticating caller ID. Calls are assigned an attestation level:
- A (Full Attestation): The carrier confirms the call originates from a verified customer and the number is authorized. These calls are less likely to be labeled as spam.
- B (Partial Attestation): The carrier knows the call's origin but cannot verify the number.
- C (Gateway Attestation): The call entered the network from an international gateway — treated with most suspicion by downstream carriers.
FlareDial signs all outbound calls at full-A attestation where eligible, reducing spam flags and improving answer rates by up to 12%.
How to Build a Compliant Calling Operation
- Real-time DNC scrubbing: Check every number against federal, state, and internal suppression lists inline — before the dial, not in a pre-session batch.
- Consent documentation: Store consent records with timestamp, source, and verbatim consent language. Link consent to contact records in your CRM.
- Immediate opt-out processing: When an agent marks a disposition as "Do Not Call," that number must propagate to your suppression list in real time across all active campaigns.
- TCPA audit logs: Every call record should include the DNC scrub result at time of dial, the agent ID, and the disposition. Retain for minimum 5 years.
- Time-zone awareness: Your dialer must enforce calling hours based on the called party's local time zone, not your call center's time zone.
Common TCPA Mistakes That Get Call Centers Sued
- Calling numbers that have been on the federal DNC list for more than 31 days
- Calling cell phones with an autodialer without documented written consent
- Delaying opt-out processing by batching it to end-of-day or weekly jobs
- Using caller ID numbers that do not reach a live person when called back
- Continuing to call after a verbal opt-out because agents don't mark it correctly
The Bottom Line
TCPA compliance is not a compliance department problem — it is an infrastructure problem. If your dialing platform doesn't enforce these rules automatically, your operation is exposed regardless of how good your training is. Technology is the only reliable enforcement layer at scale.