Truist Bank pays $4.1M to settle TCPA class action over robocalls

The latest TCPA headline is another wake-up call: Truist Bank has agreed to pay $4.1 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the financial giant of placing unauthorized prerecorded robocalls to consumers without their consent.

The implications? Clearer than ever: No consent, no contact.

If you’re still treating prior express written consent checks  as a one time box-checking exercise instead of a continuous compliance  strategy, you’re leaving your business exposed to lawsuits, reputational damage, and massive payouts.

The case: Wrong party, wrong number, wrong move

Filed in February 2023 by Texas resident Kevin Truong, the suit alleged that Truist made at least 24 prerecorded robocalls to his mobile phone. The kicker? The calls were meant for someone else, a Truist account holder he didn’t know, and Truong never had any relationship with the bank.

Despite this, he was repeatedly contacted via robocalls with no consent and no opt-in, making it a textbook TCPA violation. The class-action suit ultimately included nearly 6,000 individuals, each expected to receive roughly $440 without the need to file a claim form.

The lesson: TCPA consent isn’t optional

Too many businesses still rely on outdated or incomplete data when dialing contacts. This case underscores one of TCPA’s most critical principles: Consent is tied to the individual, not the phone number.

It doesn’t matter if a phone number is in your system or connected to a customer account. If that number has changed hands or was incorrect to begin with, you’re at risk. Recycled numbers, bad data hygiene, and poor recordkeeping can quickly turn into multimillion-dollar mistakes.

Why Truist’s $4.1M payout matters for your business

Here’s what every business using outbound dialers, prerecorded messages, or automated systems needs to take away from this:

• Autodialers require documented, verifiable consent.
  If you can’t prove when and how consent was obtained, you’re exposed.
• Mistaken identity is not a defense.
  Just because you think you’re calling your customer doesn’t make it compliant.
• You must respect revocations and opt-outs immediately.
  Failure to do so not only violates the TCPA, but it also adds fuel to class actions.
• Data integrity matters.
  Clean, accurate, and updated records are your first line of defense.

Final thoughts

Truist’s costly misstep is a signal to every brand using outbound calling: TCPA violations don’t discriminate by size or industry. Whether you’re a global bank or a small operation, if you’re using robocalls, predictive dialers, or any kind of automated outreach, your compliance posture has to be airtight.

But with the right tools and practices in place, you can scale your outreach while staying fully compliant. ActiveProspect’s TrustedForm and LeadConduit were built to help you document consent, filter out bad leads, mitigate risk, and protect your brand. 

In a year where TCPA litigation continues to rise, now is the time to turn compliance into your competitive advantage. Don’t wait until your mistake makes headlines. Protect your business now.

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