The federal government formally established the Do Not Call registry in December 2002 and launched it in June 2003 with joint enforcement from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  The federal law also gives each state attorney general the right to prosecute at the state level.  That means that if originators are calling consumers that reside in a state that has its own DNC list, they can actually incur fines from the state and from the federal government.  Federal fines are $11,000 per call and some state fines are even higher.  And if that’s not scary enough, keep in mind that fines can be levied both personally to the individual originator and to their employer. 

“This is no joke.  It’s a double whammy of enormous proportions.  DNC violators can be penalized both by the state and the federal government,” says Compliance Attorney Barry Kaye.  “Mortgage companies are being cited more than any other industry and individual originators risk losing their life savings.  Trust me – this is a road you don’t want to go down.”

Missouri is one state in the forefront in its efforts to enforce Do Not Call legislation.  So far, over 2 million households - well over half of the households in the state - have registered to be listed in the state No Call registry.  Missourians are vastly in favor of the DNC laws and aggressive enforcement by State Attorney General Jay Nixon is causing state mortgage industry leaders to sit up and take notice.

Missouri’s No Call laws went into effect in July of 2001 and since then Nixon’s office has secured more than $1.2 million dollars in penalties and fines from businesses that have violated the state’s No Call laws – money used to maintain the No Call program and keep it free for Missouri residents.

The latest case alleges that TE Mortgage Corp., made at least 300 calls to consumers on the state’s No Call list.  Nixon is pressing for the company to pay civil penalties of up to $5,000 per call, plus attorney’s fees and court costs which amounts to over 1.5 million dollars.

The Missouri Association of Mortgage Brokers is paying attention.  And they should.  With over half the households in the state signed up for Missouri’s No Call list and many more signed up for the federal DNC list, originators within the state who do not have access to the registry and use it accordingly have at best a 50/50 chance of being fined every time they pick up the phone to call a potential customer.  

“This is a serious and very important issue” says MAMB President Chris Sander, “and our organization cautions our members to comply with the law.”

Sander says that although they have piqued interest from their efforts to create awareness, companies are still not deterred from illegal practices.  “Mortgage companies especially need to be concerned when they buy internet-generated leads from lead aggregators.  They think these leads are scrubbed and most of the time, they’re not.  Also, companies (when calling Realtor or past client referrals) try to hang their hat on the out clause that they have an established business relationship.  They’re wrong and consumers are apt to contact an attorney and sue you.”

Like Missouri, there are 15 other states that maintain a separate state DNC list.  Those states include Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.  If you’re an originator in any of these states, you must access both the state and the federal lists as required by law.