Iowa telemarketing rules

Do not call and the national registry

The Iowa Utilities Commission's do not call page directs Iowa residents to the National Do Not Call Registry and says telemarketers must check it every three months and remove registered numbers. Federal FCC rules bar telephone solicitations to a residential subscriber whose number is on the national registry. The Telemarketing Sales Rule also treats calls to registered numbers as abusive unless an exception applies, such as the person's express written agreement to receive calls from that seller.

Calling hours

Federal FCC rules bar telephone solicitations to any residential subscriber before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time at the called party's location. The federal Telemarketing Sales Rule sets the same 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. window for outbound telemarketing calls to a person's residence unless the person has given prior consent, again measured by local time at the called person's location.

Automated and prerecorded calls

Iowa once limited automatic dialing announcing equipment in Iowa Code section 476.57, but that section was repealed by 2018 Iowa Acts, chapter 1160, section 32. Federal FCC rules still bar telemarketing calls made with an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice to cell phones, and prerecorded telemarketing messages to residential lines, without the called party's prior express written consent, subject to listed exceptions.

Iowa consumer fraud law and telemarketing

Iowa's consumer fraud statute makes it an unlawful practice to use deception, fraud, false pretense, misrepresentation, an unfair practice, or the concealment or omission of a material fact with intent that others rely on it, in connection with the sale or advertisement of any merchandise, whether or not anyone was actually misled. The Attorney General can seek injunctions and civil penalties, and may also sue under the federal Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act. Deceptive prize claims made mainly by telephone to obtain property are a separate fraudulent practice.

In home sales that follow a phone call

Iowa's door to door sales chapter covers sales, leases, or rentals of consumer goods or services at or above a minimum purchase price in which the seller personally solicits the sale, including in response to or following an invitation by the buyer, and the buyer agrees at a place other than the seller's place of business. The seller must give the buyer a notice of cancellation allowing cancellation within three business days. Sales conducted and consummated entirely by mail or telephone, without other contact before delivery or performance, are excluded.

Recording calls

Iowa's interception statute makes it lawful for a person not acting under color of law to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication if the person is a party to it or one of the parties has given prior consent, unless the purpose is a criminal, tortious, or other injurious act. Iowa's eavesdropping statute likewise does not apply to a sender or recipient of a message who records it.