Trade Regulation: FTC Amendment of Telemarketing Sales Rule to Cover Debt Relief Services

On August 10, the Federal Trade Commission published amendments to its Telemarketing Sales Rule, which prohibits certain unfair or deceptive telemarketing acts or practices. The FTC's summary of the amendments states that they "define debt relief services, prohibit debt relief providers from collecting fees until after services have been provided, require specific disclosures of material information about offered debt relief services, prohibit specific misrepresentations about material aspects of debt relief services, and extend the TSR’s coverage to include inbound calls made to debt relief companies in response to general media advertisements."