ETA Sends Letter of Support to Senate Commerce Committee on TRACED Act (S. 151)

Dear Chairman Wicker and Ranking Member Cantwell:

On behalf of the members of the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), I am writing in support of the
bipartisan Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act (S. 151). The
TRACED Act would give regulators more time to find scammers, increase civil forfeiture penalties, promote
call authentication and blocking adoption, and brings together an interagency working group to address
impediments to criminal prosecution of robocallers who intentionally flout laws.

ETA is the leading trade association for the payments industry, representing over 500 companies that offer
electronic transaction processing products and services; its membership spans the breadth of the payments
industry to include independent sales organizations, payments networks, financial institutions, transaction
processors, mobile payments products and services, payments technologies, equipment suppliers, and online
small business lenders.

Importantly, ETA members are not telemarketers but are financial services companies who have a business
relationship with their customers. Protecting their customers’ personal data and financial information is
paramount. In the payments industry in particular, the lack of modernization of the TCPA is unfortunately
resulting in significant harm to consumers by hampering legitimate businesses from contacting their customers
using the most efficient technology to provide them with information that consumers deserve to know and
know promptly; information about the security of their accounts, including fraud alerts, and updates about their
accounts. Increasing use of number portability by customers and issues surrounding the scope of revocation of
consent are only exacerbating this harm.

ETA’s full letter can be read here.