Who's Calling? Concern Expressed over 'HANGUP' Act Provision

At the end of October, Congress completed work on a two-year budget after an early Friday morning vote to approve the deal that would increase spending limits and avert a damaging default. President Obama released a statement that same Friday morning saying he would sign the bill “as soon as it reaches my desk.”

The problem with any bill that gets passed these days is the fact that amendments get added along the way. One of the provisions included in this bill seems small, but actually allows the federal government and its contractors to use predictive dialer technology to collect a debt owed to or guaranteed by the U.S.

The HANGUP (“Help Americans Never Get Unwanted Phonecalls”) Act  has gotten a lot of attention from both sides. On the one hand there is a feeling, as stated by James P. Bergeron, currently the president of the National Council of Higher Education Resources, in a recent blog on The Hill that “The change is one of the important ways to strengthen the student loan servicing system and improve borrower communication.”

On the flip side of the coin, you have people like U.S. Senator Ed Markey who introduced legislation to repeal the provision. His feeling is that this could weaken current rules protecting consumers from robocalls on their cell phones.  It is possible that if the provision remains intact that millions of Americans could be subjected to more unwanted calls.

This does appear to be a touchy situation. The goal of the provision is to provide the young people who have student loans a way of managing them and keeping on track to pay them off. In addition, the feeling is that part of the provision provides a way to help those struggling with student loan debt.

Somehow the Bipartisan Budget Agreement falls into the lap of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)), since they have now been given the task of developing rules to limit the number and duration of calls to cell phones.

For most young people, student loans are their first foray into the world of debt and while it is important for student loans to be repaid and not a bad idea to give them structure in dealing with it, does the provision go too far?

The provision essentially allows debt collectors to robocall anyone with debt backed by the federal government. This includes people with education debt, homeowners and taxpayers, as well as their relatives, references and those with a phone number re-assigned from one of these consumers.

It seems that the question to ask is whether this provision is a way to help people repay their student loans effectively, or if it is a way for debt collectors to go overboard with robocalls.