No, we do not believe this form is required by Illinois law, and we are not aware of any Illinois law requiring a lender to obtain written consent to contact their customers about their loan accounts by telephone, text or email. However, federal law may require that you obtain prior written consent to contact your customers’ mobile numbers regarding their loan accounts, depending on the method used to contact them.
The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) requires prior express written consent before texting or calling a consumer’s mobile phone using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice, with limited exceptions. Accordingly, you would need to obtain your customers’ prior written consent if you intend to contact their mobile numbers regarding their loan accounts by using these methods. We note that the TCPA also requires express written consent for all telemarketing calls to a residential land line using an artificial or prerecorded voice, but this would not restrict non-telemarketing calls made to a customer regarding their loan account.
The Illinois Telephone Dialers Act also limits the use of autodialers, but exempts calls made to any person with whom the telephone solicitor has a prior or existing business relationship, provided the autodialer used to make the call does not impede the function of any caller ID. Given that you have an existing business relationship with your customers, you would not be required under Illinois law to obtain your customers’ consent to contact them using an autodialer that does not disguise the originating number.
The Illinois Electronic Mail Act places certain restrictions on unsolicited electronic mail advertisements, which are defined as “any electronic mail advertisement that (i) is addressed to a recipient with whom the initiator does not have a prior or existing business or personal relationship and (ii) is not sent at the request of or with the express consent of the recipient.” However, communications with your customers about their loan accounts would not fit under this definition and would not be subject to this law.
Likewise, the federal Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM) places certain restrictions on “commercial electronic mail messages” transmitted without prior affirmative consent. However, these restrictions do not apply to “transactional or relationship messages,” such as communications with your customers about their loan accounts.
For resources related to our guidance, please see:
- TCPA Regulations, 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(1)(iii) (“No person or entity may: . . . Except as provided in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, initiate any telephone call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or is made with the prior express consent of the called party) using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice; . . . To any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call.”)
- TCPA Regulations, 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(3) (“No person or entity may: . . . Initiate any telephone call to any residential line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the prior express written consent of the called party, unless the call; . . . Is made for a commercial purpose but does not include or introduce an advertisement or constitute telemarketing
- Automatic Telephone Dialers Act, 815 ILCS 305/15 (“(a) No person shall operate an autodialer in this State to place a telephone call during the hours between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. . . . (d) An autodialer may not be operated in a manner that impedes the function of any caller ID when the telephone solicitor's service or equipment is capable of allowing the display of the solicitor's telephone number.”)
- Automatic Telephone Dialers Act, 815 ILCS 305/20(a) (“Except as provided in subsection (b), the provisions of this Act shall not apply to the following types of telephone calls made by an autodialer: (1) calls made in response to an express request of the person called; (2) calls made to any person with whom the telephone solicitor has a prior or existing business relationship; . . .”)
- Automatic Telephone Dialers Act, 815 ILCS 305/20(b) (“Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), all calls made by an autodialer must be made in compliance with the requirements of subsection (d) of Section 15.”)
- Electronic Mail Act, 815 ILCS 511/10(a) (“No individual or entity may initiate or cause to be initiated an unsolicited electronic mail advertisement if the electronic mail advertisement (i) uses a third party's Internet domain name without permission of the third party, or otherwise misrepresents any information in identifying the point of origin or the transmission path of an electronic mail advertisement or (ii) contains false or misleading information in the subject line.”)
- Electronic Mail Act, 815 ILCS 511/5 (“‘Unsolicited electronic mail advertisement” means any electronic mail advertisement that (i) is addressed to a recipient with whom the initiator does not have a prior or existing business or personal relationship and (ii) is not sent at the request of or with the express consent of the recipient.”)
- CAN-SPAM Act, 15 USC 7704(a)(5)(A)(i) (“It is unlawful for any person to initiate the transmission of any commercial electronic mail message to a protected computer unless the message provides . . . clear and conspicuous identification that the message is an advertisement or solicitation; . . .”)
- CAN-SPAM Act, 15 USC 7704(a)(5)(B) (“Subparagraph (A)(i) does not apply to the transmission of a commercial electronic mail message if the recipient has given prior affirmative consent to receipt of the message.”)
- CAN-SPAM Act, 15 USC 7702(2) (“(A) The term ‘commercial electronic mail message’ means any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service (including content on an Internet website operated for a commercial purpose). (B) The term ‘commercial electronic mail message’ does not include a transactional or relationship message.”)
- CAN-SPAM Act, 15 USC 7702(17)(A) (“The term ‘transactional or relationship message’ means an electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is— (i) to facilitate, complete, or confirm a commercial transaction that the recipient has previously agreed to enter into with the sender; . . . (iii) to provide— (I) notification concerning a change in the terms or features of; (II) notification of a change in the recipient’s standing or status with respect to; or (III) at regular periodic intervals, account balance information or other type of account statement with respect to, a subscription, membership, account, loan, or comparable ongoing commercial relationship involving the ongoing purchase or use by the recipient of products or services offered by the sender; . . .”)