Get The (Text) Message? | ABA Banking Journal featuring Amanda Payton

Get The (Text) Message?

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Amanda Payton, senior vice president of legal and regulatory affairs for Dallas-based Solutions By Text, has been involved in the mobile messaging market for two decades. She estimates that at least one out of five B2C mobile messages is financial-industry related. The past 18 months have “seen people stuck at home, demanding more two-way texting” with their banks as well as other businesses with whom they deal.

With limited exceptions, the FCC requires customers to provide their prior express consent (i.e., opt-in) to received autodialed calls and texts. However, the Supreme Court in Facebook v. Duguid recently held that text messages that are not generated in random or sequential order are not subject to these rules. Nonetheless, it remains prudent to obtain customers’ opt-ins when possible because the legal landscape post-Facebook continues to develop. More broadly, banks should be aware of and follow both the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act and state laws. Payton says that banks should ensure to spell out the specifics of the potential mobile marketing plans as early as possible—including what information may be sent via text, how many texts a customer might choose to receive, how to opt out in the future and links to the bank’s privacy policy and customer service contacts.

“If your consent is properly drafted, you will not need to opt the customer in every time you send a text—you will already have permission to send your recurring messages,” Payton says. Once consent is obtained, she recommends sending customers an opt-in confirmation text message right off the bat, “so you have a written record confirming the customer has enrolled in your text message program.” In doing so, financial firms can avoid the potential content and frequency limits in mobile communications.
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