BREAKING: YouMail CEO Confirms to SPB’s Unprecedented Podcast that Robocall Index Includes Wanted Calls—Rival Hiya Index Notes Only 2% of Debt Collection Calls Are Unwanted

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What timing!

On the very same day that the National Consumer Law Center (“NCLC”) testified before a Senate Subcommittee blaming “household name” American businesses for the scourge of robocalls in this country, the SPB’s Unprecedented podcast team was interviewing the CEO of the company pumping out the data it relied on in its testimony. And boy oh boy does the NCLC’s story not hold water.

All of the NCLC’s bold statements were linked to a single data source—YouMail’s rather famous Robocall Index. So we asked YouMail CEO Alex Quilici to come on our podcast and explain how he is able to track robocalls. Just for fun we also brought on the CEO of a rival call-blocking app Hiya, Alex Algard, publisher of the Robocall Radar, which purports to track unwanted calls. Thinks there’s a difference in their data? You betcha.

Quilici

Alex Quilici

Alex Quilici—all around great guy that he is—explained transparently that his index does not make “value judgments” about the calls he tracks and he doesn’t know how the calls are actually placed. YouMail is just tracking high volume calls, which he calls “robocalls” because that’s what YouMail thinks consumers call high-volume calls. He is quick to admit, however, that large percentages of those calls are account reminder calls, low balance and fraud alert messages, and other legitimate—and innocuous—calls that consumers want and expect. Importantly, YouMail has no idea—and does not purport to track—which calls are legal or illegal, wanted or unwanted, consented to or unconsented to. All the Robocall Index does it track high-volume calls. That’s about it.

Algard

Alex Algard

Meanwhile, Alex Algard at the Robocall Radar employs sophisticated algorithms to track when calls are wanted or unwanted based upon consumer behavior. “Actions speak louder than words” Algard tells the Unprecedented podcast team and he explains that the vast majority of debt collection calls are actually wanted calls. His tracking shows that consumers interact with account reminders and collection calls and respond well because they “see the value” in these calls. In fact according to the Robocall Radar only 2% of unwanted “robocalls” calls are debt collection calls.

RobocallRadar.jpeg

Yet swinging back to the NCLC’s testimony before Congress, it claims that 19 of the 20 largest robocallers in the United States are debt collectors. Their words: “Debt collection callers comprise nineteen of the top twenty robocallers in the United States.” Their source: YouMail’s Robocall Index.

Huh?

When asked about this issue on Unprecedented YouMail CEO cautioned against such a superficial take on its data: “You have to look deeper.” He explains. That’s because account alerts and low balance reminders are included within the data sets that the NCLC is relying on to push its narrative against industry—yet those are not the “robocalls” anyone is concerned with and Congress should not be wasting valuable time on misleading statistics.

As Alex Q. said post-interview: “Had fun, and more importantly, I think these dialogs are forcing everyone to think and explore beyond the headlines.” Absolutely my friend, thanks for helping to elevate the discourse.

Anyway you won’t want to miss the full interview with Alex and Alex, available right here next week. We’re making news every week.

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Published by Eric J. Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.