In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initiated the National Do Not Call List to stop unwanted SALES calls to consumers across the country. For many years, the FTC received complaints about telemarketers making harassing phone calls at all hours of the day and night without any clear method for consumers to block, control or stop these unwanted calls.

Today there are over 220M people on the national DNC registry.  Yet there remains confusion for many consumers as to why certain types of calls are still allowed.

First, the DNC list was established to block unwanted SALES calls.  This does not prevent a company that has an existing relationship with a consumer from contacting the customer. The customer may request to be placed on the internal company-specific DNC list.  However, this means the company can’t proactively contact the customer (or you) about new products, special offers or discounts. An existing relationship is valid up to 18 months after the customer last did business with them.

Second, much to many folks’ despair, the DNC will not block any political calls. With an election year in progress, consumers should expect to receive campaign calls to promote individual candidates, spread political party agendas or assess household voting preferences.

Third, non-profit and charitable organizations are not held to the DNC limits. This allows worthwhile causes to reach consumers and engage support and donations to help fund programs that help the needy, and less fortunate. Lastly, legitimate survey calls (consumer research) are allowed because these firms are not attempting to sell anything.   For more details go to the following FTC link:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/do-not-call-registry