ETA Sends Letter to Senate Commerce Committee for Hearing on Illegal Robocalls

Dear Chairman Thune and Ranking Member Schatz:

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) submits these comments ahead of the Senate Commerce’s
subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet hearing on April 11, 2019, titled
Illegal Robocalls: Calling All to Stop the Scourge.

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.

ETA applauds and supports Congress’ efforts to combat illegal robocalls but notes that it is important that as
lawmakers continue to pursue consumer protections, they must recognize the difference between actual
unwanted telemarketing calls, where an unknown merchant is attempting to sell to a consumer, and purely
informational calls involving communication between businesses and their existing customers.

This distinction is important because ETA companies are not telemarketers; they are financial services
companies who have (or service) a business relationship with a customer. ETA companies either have a direct
relationship with an individual consumer or communicate with existing customers on behalf of financial
institutions with which they are associated.

Read ETA’s full letter here.