September 25, 2024 - In December 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) introduced new regulations regarding the use of automatic telephone dialing systems (ATDS) and/or artificial or pre-recorded voice technology (which some courts have held includes soundboard and other Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology). With the new rules, companies like Datalign Advisory must obtain one-to-one express written consent before consumers can be contacted through phone and/or text messaging (SMS). We are happy to say as of August 28, 2024, Datalign Advisory is compliant with these new regulations, five months before they are slated to go into effect on January 27, 2025.

According to the new regulations, express written consent is defined as:

“…an agreement, in writing, that bears the signature of the person called or texted that clearly and conspicuously authorizes no more than one identified seller to deliver or cause to be delivered to the person called or texted advertisements or telemarketing messages using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice. Calls and texts must be logically and topically associated with the interaction that prompted the consent and the agreement must identify the telephone number to which the signatory authorizes such advertisements or telemarketing messages to be delivered. (i) The written agreement shall include a clear and conspicuous disclosure informing the person signing that: (A) By executing the agreement, such person authorizes the seller to deliver or cause to be delivered to the signatory telemarketing calls or texts using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice; and (B) The person is not required to sign the agreement (directly or indirectly), or agree to enter into such an agreement as a condition of purchasing any property, goods, or services. The term “signature” shall include an electronic or digital form of signature, to the extent that such form of signature is recognized as a valid signature under applicable federal law or state contract law.”

This one-to-one consent rule may reasonably be interpreted to require that no more than one identified seller, or a few sellers that are listed for individual voluntary opt-in by the consumer with an unchecked checkbox next to each listed seller, can deliver advertisements and marketing via telemarketing. Additionally, as noted above, all such calls/texts to consumers must be logically and topically associated with the interaction where the consumer gave consent.  These rules are being adopted as part of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Under the TCPA, companies that run afoul of the new regulations are at risk of lawsuits and government fines.

These new rule changes are scheduled to go into effect on January 27, 2025.

Changing Our Process - Getting One-to-One Consent

As part of our continued efforts and commitment to facilitate compliance and delivery of a quality customer experience, we would like to highlight what we are doing to support the updated regulations.  As of August 28, 2024, we have made necessary changes to our form and process to be able to provide the exclusive name of the advisory firm during opt-in prior to selling a lead. When leads are matched with an advisory firm, we provide the name of the buyer explicitly and exclusively in opt-in language on a page with contact information visible.

The Impact on Our Advisory Firm Partners

There will be no direct impact to our partners. For auditability purposes, we will be recording specific opt-in language and providing this text as fields in individual lead reports where this information exists (currently JSON, JSON human-friendly emails, and portal lead download reports). We will also generate reports of all leads and their disclosures, which can be sent upon request.

Our partners can continue purchasing leads from us with confidence, knowing that we are taking all reasonable steps to be in compliance with the reasonable interpretation of the new regulations, without making changes to our existing agreement.

The Consumer Experience

Datalign Advisory has implemented several important changes to facilitate compliance under the new FCC regulations without materially impacting the consumer experience.

Will the Matching Process Change?

Outside of a few minor wording changes to the consent form, the process by which consumers are matched with financial advisory firms remains unchanged.

Datalign Advisory has always been committed to protecting consumer privacy. Consumers can consent to be contacted by an advisory firm prior to the completion of matching. Our matching tool selects a single advisory firm whose services are suitable to meet the customer’s needs. Only the matched firm will receive the consumer’s contact info. We will never share contact info with other advisory firms.

I’ve Already Been Matched. Will These Changes Affect Me?

Enforcement of the new regulations is currently scheduled to go into effect on January 27th, 2025.

To get ahead on facilitating compliance with the law, consumers matched using the Datalign Advisory platform on August 28th, 2024 onwards will receive updated wording on their consent forms.

For those matched prior to this date, rest assured that we will not share your contact information with any other advisory firms or financial businesses.

How Does a Consumer Withdraw Consent?

Only the matched advisory firm has a consumer’s contact information once they have completed the process through Datalign Advisory. If any consumer would like to withdraw consent at any time, they can contact the financial advisor or their firm directly.