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TCPA compliance for outbound dialing

Operator-perspective guide to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act - what's required, what's enforced, what hits dialing operations.

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The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA, 1991, codified at 47 U.S.C. § 227) is the foundational US federal law on outbound calling. Its enforcement floor is 47 CFR § 64.1200. This page is operator-perspective - not legal advice. Talk to a telecom attorney before any high-volume program.

What TCPA actually requires

1. Time-of-day windows

No calls before 8am or after 9pm in the called party's local time. Use VICIdial's Local Call Time setting per campaign. The lead's area code → local time mapping is built in.

2. DNC respect (federal + internal)

Honor the federal Do Not Call registry (DNC.gov) AND your internal opt-outs. VICIdial supports both via the vicidial_dnc table - load the federal list scoped to campaign_id='all' for global enforcement.

See the DNC compliance guide.

3. Drop-rate cap

≤ 3% abandoned calls per campaign on a 30-day rolling window. Abandoned = no live agent within 2 seconds of the lead picking up. VICIdial's Drop SLA setting enforces the timer. The percentage is your responsibility to monitor.

4. Caller ID accuracy

The number you display must be a number you control + answer. Spoofing is a separate criminal statute (TRACED Act, 2019) but TCPA also requires CLI accuracy.

5. Reassigned-Numbers Database checks

Mandatory since 2021 for any call made under "express consent" footing. Pre-clean your lists against the FCC's RND before loading into VICIdial. See reassigned-numbers in glossary.

6. Express written consent for autodialed calls

Calls placed via predictive dialer to a phone number require prior express written consent specific to your business. The 2024 FCC ruling ended the "lead-form-with-50-checkboxes" pattern - consent must name a single seller.

7. Opt-out within 10 business days

The 2025 ruling: "stop", "stop calling", any clear cessation request via any channel must be honored across all channels for that consumer.

Penalties

  • $500 per call for negligent violations
  • $1,500 per call for willful violations
  • Class actions can scale into seven figures fast

Operational checklist

  • Local Call Time set on every campaign
  • Drop SLA = 2.0 seconds, monitor abandonment % daily
  • Federal DNC loaded into vicidial_dnc with campaign_id='all', refreshed monthly
  • Internal DNC enforced (Use Internal DNC = Y)
  • Lists pre-cleaned against the RND
  • Caller ID is a DID you own
  • Consent records stored with timestamp + IP + form text
  • Opt-out workflow tested

Where VICIfast helps

We don't do TCPA compliance for you. But we make it easier:

  • Per-customer audit log of every action - your discovery defense
  • Platform 7-Day Backup: a daily database and recordings export, so vicidial_log is recoverable
  • Region pinning so EU calls live on EU servers (GDPR overlay)
  • TLS on every endpoint that handles personal data
  • VICIdial Local Call Time, Drop SLA, and Use Internal DNC all configurable per campaign

For the screen-by-screen version - which VICIdial field maps to which requirement, and what to keep as evidence - see VICIdial settings for TCPA compliance.

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