Student Loan Borrowers May Have Just Been Saved From A Flood Of Robocalls

By Jillian Berman - marketwatch.com

Student loan borrowers appear to be safe from a potential flood of robocalls that consumer advocates once feared were imminent.

The Federal Communications Commission released a rule Thursday limiting the number of robocalls companies collecting debt on behalf of the government can make to borrowers without their permission. In issuing the new rule, the FCC was implementing a controversial directive Congress tucked into the federal budget bill last year, which created an exception to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act — a 1990s-era law that prohibits companies from robo-calling consumers’ cell phones without their permission — for companies collecting debt on behalf of the federal government. That would mean that those with student loan debt could receive robocalls on their mobile phones, without their express permission, related to their outstanding federal student loans.