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 09/  02/  2005  16:  31  5~  82784300  ATY  RICHARD  HUBBARD  PAGE  01 
 A  nORNEY  RICHARD  R.  HUBBARD  'NWW  .HU88ARDDEBTCOLLE:  CTJON.  COM 
 P.  o.  Box  567  I 
 UXBRtDGE.  MASSACHUSE-  rTS  0  1  569  508-  278-  5800  FAX  508-  278-  4300 


 August  :31,2005 


 Office  of  the  SecTFtary  An:  OCBO  i 
 Federal  Communibations  Commission  445  12th  Street,  S.  W. 


 Washington,  DC  20554 
 RE:  Request  for  comment  regarding  possible  re\  ision  or  elimination  of  rules  under  the 
 Regulatory  nexibllity  Act  DA-  OS-  1524 


 I  am  a  debt  collection  attorney  in  Massachusetts.  My  business  and  that  of  my  clients  has  been 
 substantially  hanned  as  a  result  of  the  Federal  Communications  Commission's  regulatory  decision  under  the  Telephone  Consumer  Protection  Act  ("  TCP  A")  that  small  businesses,  such  as 


 mine,  cannot  use  predictive  dialers  to  call  wireless  numbers  when  attempting  to  recover 
 delinquent  payments  for  goods  or  services  received  by  consumers. 


 I  am  aware  that  ACA  International  ("  ACA  ")  has  filed  a  written  comment  with  the  Commission 
 regarding  this  issue  in  response  to  the  Commission's  request  for  comments  on  the  possible 
 rc:  vision  or  elimination  of  rules  under  the  Regulatory  Flexibility  Act,  5  V.  S.  C.  §  610  ("  RFA"),  in 


 procc:  eding  DA-  O5-  1524.  See  FCC  Seeks  Comment  Regarding  Possible  Revision  or  Eliminatio~  of  Rulcs  Under  the  Regulatory  Flexibility  Act,  DA.  O5-  l524  (May  31,2005).  J  fully  support 


 ACA's  comment  and  the  relief  the  Association  seeks,  including  ACA  's  characterization  of  the 
 ham1  visited  upon  small  businesses  as  a  result  of  the  Commission's  rule. 


 To  the  extent  that  my  company  uses  predictive  dialers,  we  do  so  to  complete  transactions  for 
 which  consumers  have  obtained  a  benefit  without  payment.  We  do  not  telemarket.  The 
 Commission  should  not  pemlit  its  regulations  to  be  used  as  a  shield  to  encourage  the  non-payment 
 of  debts.  Doing  so  banns  small  businesses,  the  economy,  as  well  as  consumers. 


 As  it  stands  today,  my  clients  face  serious  financial  hardship  due  to  the  Commission's  regulatory  reversal  that  creditors  and  debt  collectors  cannot  use  predictive  dialers  to  call  a  wireless  number 
 to  attempt  to  recover  outstanding  payment  obligations.  The  Commission's  rule  requires  small 
 companies,  at  great  cost,  to  fundamentally  alter  our  business  models  to  reduce  or  remove  our 
 reliance  on  predicti~  e  dialers.  It  also  needlessly  subjects  us  to  federal  enforcement  and  private 
 litigation  rigk,  ev~  though  Congress  never  intended  such  an  outcome. 


 For  these  reasons,  I  encourage  the  Commission  to  promptly  clarify  that  autodialer  calls  to 
 wireless  numbers  to  attempt  to  recover  payment  obligations  are  not  covered  by  the  TCP  A 
 regulations  for  the  reasons  expressed  by  ACA. 


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