Charity Alerts

Charities and For-Profit Telemarketers Calling on Their Behalf

The USA PATRIOT Act, passed in 2001, brought charitable solicitations by for-profit telemarketers within the scope of the TSR. As a result, most of the TSR’s provisions now are applicable to “telefunders”—telemarketers who solicit charitable contributions.

Telefunders are required to:

• make certain prompt disclosures in every outbound call.
• get express verifiable authorization if accepting payment by methods other than credit or debit card.
• maintain records for 24 months.
• comply with the entity-specific Do Not Call requirements, but are exempt from the National Do Not Call Registry provision.

Telefunders are prohibited from:

• making a false or misleading statement to induce a charitable contribution.
• making any of several specific prohibited misrepresentations.
• engaging in credit card laundering.
• engaging in acts defined as abusive under the TSR, such as calling before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., disclosing or receiving consumers’ unencrypted account information, and denying or interfering with a consumer’s right to be placed on a Do Not Call list. Source: FTC

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  Complying with the Telemarketing Sales Rule

  Introduction

  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued the amended Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) on January 29, 2003. Like the original TSR issued in 1995, the amended Rule gives effect to the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act. This legislation gives the FTC and state attorneys general  law enforcement tools to combat telemarketing fraud, give consumers added privacy protections and defenses against unscrupulous telemarketers, and help consumers tell the difference between fraudulent and legitimate telemarketing.

  One significant amendment to the TSR prohibits calling consumers who have put their phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry. Another change covers the solicitation of charitable contributions by for-profit telemarketers.

  Other key provisions:

• require disclosures of specific information
• prohibit misrepresentations
• limit when telemarketers may call consumers
• require transmission of Caller ID information
• prohibit abandoned outbound calls, subject to a safe harbor
• prohibit unauthorized billing
• set payment restrictions for the sale of certain goods and services
• require that specific business records be kept for two years

Source: FTC

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