# TCPA consent > The permission the Telephone Consumer Protection Act requires before marketing calls or texts sent with an autodialer or prerecorded voice: a signed written agreement, electronic signatures included, naming the number to contact. Also called: TCPA, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, prior express written consent. Topic: For agents. If you text or call leads with automated tools, TCPA consent is what makes those messages lawful. Getting it right comes down to a clear sentence on your forms and records you can produce later. ## What does the TCPA require? The Telephone Consumer Protection Act limits calls made with an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice, and the FCC treats texts as calls. For marketing calls and texts sent that way, FCC rules require prior express written consent: a signed agreement that authorizes the business to send them and names the phone number. Electronic signatures recognized under the [ESIGN Act](https://brokerandagent.com/glossary#esign-act) or state law count, so a website form can collect it. The agreement has to say clearly that the person is agreeing to automated marketing calls or texts, and that agreeing isn’t a condition of buying anything. Other rules sit alongside consent. Telephone solicitations are limited to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the recipient’s time zone, and numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry can’t receive them unless an exception, like the person’s written permission, applies. ## What should a texting consent line on a form say? Name who will contact them, say how (calls and texts, including automated ones), say what about, and say that consent isn’t required to buy anything. Put it next to the phone field or the submit button, not inside a linked policy, and keep a record of the exact wording each person saw and when they agreed. Many businesses also add that message and data rates may apply and that replying STOP opts out. That matches what you describe when you register for [A2P 10DLC](https://brokerandagent.com/glossary/a2p-10dlc). ## Can someone take back their consent? Yes, in any reasonable way: replying STOP, saying so on a call, or answering an email. FCC rules require businesses to honor a request to revoke consent within a reasonable time, no later than 10 business days after they receive it. Your [CRM](https://brokerandagent.com/glossary/real-estate-crm) should mark the contact as opted out and stop every automated text to that number, including any [drip campaign](https://brokerandagent.com/glossary/drip-campaign) they’re in. ## What happened to the FCC’s one-to-one consent rule? In 2023 the FCC adopted a rule that would have required consent to cover one seller at a time, with calls limited to subjects logically and topically related to where the consent was given. It was aimed at lead generators collecting one consent on behalf of many companies. On January 24, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit vacated that part of the order, finding that the FCC had gone beyond what the TCPA allows, and the federal rule text today doesn’t include it. Consent given on your own site, naming your business, is still the cleanest kind to have, especially compared with consent that came with a purchased [lead](https://brokerandagent.com/glossary#lead-source). ## What happens if you get it wrong? The TCPA lets people sue for $500 per violation, and a court can raise that to as much as $1,500 when the violation was willful or knowing. Each call or text can be its own violation, so a campaign to a few hundred people adds up fast. Email follows separate rules under the [CAN-SPAM Act](https://brokerandagent.com/glossary#can-spam-act). This is a general overview, not legal advice. Have an attorney review your consent language and texting practices. ## Common mistakes - Hiding the consent language in a terms page instead of next to the phone field. - Treating a phone number on a form as permission for automated marketing texts. - Missing opt-outs that arrive as “please stop texting me” instead of the word STOP. - Assuming purchased leads came with consent that covers your business. ## Questions ### Does the TCPA apply to text messages? Yes. The FCC treats text messages as calls under the TCPA, so automated marketing texts need the same prior express written consent as automated marketing calls. ### Is a checkbox on a website form enough? It can be, if the wording clearly authorizes your business to send automated marketing calls or texts to that number and says consent isn’t a condition of purchase. Keep a record of what the person saw and when they agreed. ### How quickly do I have to honor an opt-out? FCC rules require a revocation made in any reasonable way to be honored within a reasonable time, no later than 10 business days. Stopping right away is better. ### Does the one-to-one consent rule apply to me? Not as the FCC wrote it. The Eleventh Circuit vacated it in January 2025, and the current federal rule text doesn’t include it. The rest of the TCPA’s consent rules still apply, and some states have telemarketing laws of their own. ## Related terms - [A2P 10DLC](https://brokerandagent.com/glossary/a2p-10dlc): The U.S. carrier system for business texts sent through software from ordinary 10-digit phone numbers. Senders register a brand and a campaign through The Campaign Registry, and unregistered traffic is blocked or filtered. - [CAN-SPAM Act](https://brokerandagent.com/glossary#can-spam-act): The federal law for commercial email: honest headers and subject lines, a clear notice that it’s an ad, your physical postal address and a working opt-out, honored within 10 business days. - [Drip campaign](https://brokerandagent.com/glossary/drip-campaign): A planned series of emails, texts or call reminders that goes out on a schedule after someone is enrolled, such as a new lead or a past client, until they reply or you stop it. - [ESIGN Act](https://brokerandagent.com/glossary#esign-act): The federal law, passed in 2000, saying a signature, contract or record can’t be denied legal effect just because it’s electronic, with consent and disclosure rules before consumers receive records electronically. - [Lead source](https://brokerandagent.com/glossary#lead-source): Where a lead came from: your website, a portal, an open house, a referral, your sphere or an ad. Tracking it shows which channels bring in clients, not just names. ## Sources - [47 U.S.C. 227, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (Cornell LII)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/227) - [47 CFR 64.1200, delivery restrictions (Cornell LII)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/64.1200) - [U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC (Jan. 24, 2025)](https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202410277.pdf) Checked 2026-10-02 by the Broker & Agent team. General information, not legal, tax or lending advice. Source: https://brokerandagent.com/glossary/tcpa-consent