WASHINGTON — The Defense Credit Union Council and America’s Credit Unions have joined seven banking, lending and payments trade groups in urging the Federal Communications Commission to rate phone companies on how many illegally spoofed calls pass through their networks.
In a Sept. 22 comment letter, the groups supported the FCC’s proposed Robocall Mitigation Scorecard but said ratings should measure results, not simply whether providers have filed required paperwork or adopted plans to combat illegal calls.
A provider could block millions of spoofed calls while still allowing many others through, the groups said. They recommended measuring unblocked, illegally spoofed calls as a percentage of all calls carried by a provider. The measure would also recognize providers whose safeguards prevent fraudulent calls from entering their networks in the first place, the organization said.
Need More Than ‘Removal’
“We strongly believe the Scorecard should encourage prevention, not merely removal of illegally spoofed calls after they have entered the provider’s network,” the groups wrote.
The proposed ratings should cover companies that originate calls and those that carry them between networks, in addition to companies that deliver calls to recipients, the letter said. According to data cited from a previous American Bankers Association filing, an estimated 9 million illegally spoofed calls in the first six months of 2026 were authenticated by originating providers as legitimate.
The groups argued that broader ratings could help phone companies decide which other providers to work with. Banks, credit unions and other businesses could also use the information when selecting companies to carry their calls, creating a commercial incentive to prevent fraud, they said.
Proposal Gets Backing
The letter supported the FCC’s proposal to track legitimate calls that are mistakenly blocked or labeled as suspicious. Fraud alerts, account-servicing calls and other time-sensitive messages from financial institutions must be able to reach their intended recipients, the groups said.
They also urged the FCC to rate wireless providers on how effectively they keep illegal text messages off their networks and to present the scorecard in a format consumers can understand. Citing Federal Trade Commission data, the letter said consumers reported about $470 million in losses from scams initiated through text messages in 2024.
The other signers were the American Bankers Association, American Financial Services Association, Bank Policy Institute, Consumer Bankers Association, Electronic Transactions Association, Mortgage Bankers Association and Payments Leadership Council.
