Credit unions that engage in legitimate debt collectionpractices could still find their actions restricted by the FederalCommunications Commission.

The agency has until June to write rules to implement a lawpassed by Congress aimed at cracking down on businesses that causecaller identification services to translate “misleading orinaccurate” caller information aimed at defrauding or wrongfullyobtaining something of value.

The FCC needs to provide exemptions so as not to ensnare thosewho are operating properly, according to an advisory memo from thePhiladelphia law firm Ballard Spahr. Congress passed the law, theTruth in Caller ID Act, last December.

Because the law “neglects to define 'misleading or inaccurate'caller ID information or the phrases 'cause harm' or 'wrongfullyobtain anything of value,' it could conceivably be interpreted toreach collection calls by creditors and debt collectors that do notinvolve legally false information simply if the person called canallege some breach of privacy, emotional distress or a mistake ortechnical deficiency of some kind as to any amount paid as theresult of the call,” according to the law firm's memo.

Barbara S. Mishkin, an attorney at the firm, said in aninterview that “the language is so vague that until there is moreclarity credit unions and others are in limbo land.”

If the FCC doesn't carve out an exemption, credit unions andothers could find themselves in trouble if the caller ID displaysan abbreviated form of the caller's legal name rather than thecaller's complete legal name.

Violations are punishable by a civil penalty of up to $10,000for each violation or three times that amount for each day of acontinuing violation. Penalties for continuing violations can'texceed $1 million. Violators could also face criminal fines orimprisonment.

When lawmakers considered the legislation it wasn'tcontroversial. The Senate approved it by unanimous consent and theHouse approved it on a voice vote.

Mishkin said the measure, which amends the Communications Act of1934, deals with a legitimate problem but she hopes the FCC doesn'tgo too far.

“There have certainly been instances of people being dishonestwhen identifying themselves on caller identification. But peoplewho are doing what they are legally entitled to do shouldn't beprevented from collecting what is owed to them,” Mishkin said.