Iowa Telemarketing and Robocall Laws: Statutes, Rules, and How They Differ from the TCPA

Overview

Iowa has no general telemarketing statute. It has no state do-not-call list, no telemarketer registration or bonding requirement, no state calling-hours rule, and no state statute restricting autodialers or prerecorded messages. Iowa did once regulate automatic dialing-announcing devices in Iowa Code § 476.57, but that section was repealed by 2018 Iowa Acts, chapter 1160, section 32. Telemarketing calls and texts to Iowa residents are therefore governed principally by the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. § 227, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules at 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), 16 C.F.R. Part 310.

State law still matters in four ways. First, the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, Iowa Code § 714.16, reaches deceptive and unfair telemarketing pitches, and the Iowa Supreme Court has applied it to a telemarketing script that failed to disclose its purpose at the outset. Section 714.16(15) also authorizes the Attorney General to sue under the federal Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act. Second, the Private Right of Action for Consumer Frauds Act, Iowa Code ch. 714H, gives consumers who suffer an ascertainable loss of money or property a damages remedy for deceptive practices, including deceptive telephone sales. Third, a 2025 statute, Iowa Code § 525.1, makes it an unfair or deceptive practice for a lender to use mortgage trigger lead information to solicit a consumer who is on a federal do-not-call registry. Fourth, Iowa Code § 68A.506 prohibits caller ID spoofing in campaign-related calls.

Iowa's door-to-door sales law, Iowa Code ch. 555A, which carries a three-business-day cancellation right, expressly excludes transactions "Conducted and consummated entirely by mail or telephone," so it does not supply a telephone sales cancellation right. In practice, compliance in Iowa means federal compliance, together with careful attention to the content of sales scripts under the Consumer Fraud Act.

Key statutes and regulations

Detailed provisions

1. State do-not-call list, registration, calling hours and frequency

Iowa has none of these. No Iowa statute creates a state do-not-call registry, requires telemarketers to register or post a bond, restricts calling hours, or caps call frequency. Callers must comply with the national registry rules (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(2), requiring that the registry be scrubbed at least every 31 days), the federal calling window of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(1); 16 C.F.R. § 310.4(c)), and the TSR's 3 percent abandonment limit (16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(4)).

The only Iowa statute that refers to a do-not-call registry is the mortgage trigger lead law, Iowa Code § 525.1(2), added by 2025 Iowa Acts, chapter 25 (H.F. 857), approved April 18, 2025. It provides that a financial institution is deemed to have engaged in an unfair or deceptive practice when using prescreened mortgage trigger lead information if, among other things:

c. The financial institution uses information regarding a consumer who has opted out of prescreened offers of credit or who has placed the consumer's contact information on a federal do-not-call registry.

The same subsection also lists as a deemed violation the case in which, "In an initial phase of a solicitation from a lender or loan broker, the financial institution fails to clearly and conspicuously state that the financial institution is not affiliated with the financial institution with which the consumer initially applied," and § 525.1(3) provides that "A violation of this section shall constitute an unlawful practice under section 714.16." The Act also added § 714.16(2)(r): "It shall be an unlawful practice for a financial institution to violate section 525.1." "Financial institution" is defined broadly to include mortgage brokers licensed under chapter 535B, "a lender of mortgage loans or consumer loans, and any other person that engages in the business of lending money in the state." Federal law does not bar a lender from calling a national registry number for which it has an established business relationship. Under § 525.1, a financial institution's use of trigger lead information about a registered consumer is itself a deemed violation, whatever the channel of solicitation.

2. Autodialers, prerecorded messages and texts

Iowa has no state autodialer or prerecorded message statute. The Iowa Code (2025 edition) entry for the former statute reads: "476.57 Limitations on use of ADAD equipment" and states that it was "Repealed by 2018 Acts, ch 1160, §32." Accordingly there is no state counterpart to the federal "automatic telephone dialing system" definition, and the narrowing of that definition in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, 592 U.S. 395 (2021), is not offset by any broader Iowa definition, as it is in states such as Florida and Oklahoma. Text messages are likewise governed only by federal law; the FCC applies its do-not-call rules to "telephone solicitations or telemarketing calls or text messages to wireless telephone numbers" (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(e)).

3. Caller ID and spoofing

Iowa has no general caller ID or anti-spoofing statute for commercial calls; the federal Truth in Caller ID Act provision, 47 U.S.C. § 227(e), and the transmission requirements in 47 C.F.R. § 64.1601(e) and 16 C.F.R. § 310.4(a)(8) apply. For election-related calls, Iowa Code § 68A.506(1) provides:

1. A person shall not knowingly use or provide to another person either of the following: a. False caller identification information with intent to defraud for purposes related to expressly advocating the nomination, election, or defeat of a clearly identified candidate or for the passage or defeat of a clearly identified ballot issue. b. Caller identification information pertaining to an actual person without that person's consent and with intent to deceive the recipient of a call about the identity of the caller.

Paragraph (b) is notable because it does not require intent to defraud or cause harm, only intent "to deceive the recipient of a call about the identity of the caller," and it is limited to the use of an actual person's caller ID information. A violation is subject to the campaign finance enforcement provisions in sections 68A.701 and 68B.32D (§ 68A.506(5)).

4. Disclosures and deceptive scripts under the Consumer Fraud Act

Iowa has no statute prescribing what a telemarketer must say at the start of a call. The Consumer Fraud Act fills part of that gap. Section 714.16(2)(a) provides:

The act, use or employment by a person of an unfair practice, deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise, or misrepresentation, or the concealment, suppression, or omission of a material fact with intent that others rely upon the concealment, suppression, or omission, in connection with the lease, sale, or advertisement of any merchandise or the solicitation of contributions for charitable purposes, whether or not a person has in fact been misled, deceived, or damaged, is an unlawful practice.

"Deception" is defined in § 714.16(1)(c) as "an act or practice which has the tendency or capacity to mislead a substantial number of consumers as to a material fact or facts," and "Unfair practice" in § 714.16(1)(i) as "an act or practice which causes substantial, unavoidable injury to consumers that is not outweighed by any consumer or competitive benefits which the practice produces." The term "advertisement" includes "the attempt by publication, dissemination, solicitation, or circulation to induce directly or indirectly any person to enter into any obligation or acquire any title or interest in any merchandise" (§ 714.16(1)(a)), which plainly encompasses telephone solicitation.

In State ex rel. Miller v. Vertrue, Inc. (discussed below), the Iowa Supreme Court held that an inbound telemarketing upsell script was both deceptive and unfair and stated that "at the very least, a telemarketer should disclose rather than obscure the purpose of the interaction at its outset." That standard parallels the TSR's prompt disclosure requirements (16 C.F.R. § 310.4(d)) and the FCC's identification requirement (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(d)(4)).

The Consumer Fraud Act also contains free offer disclosure rules in § 714.16(2)(o), which apply to free trial offers made by telephone as well as by other means.

5. Written contract and cancellation rules

Iowa has no telephone sales writing requirement. The door-to-door sales chapter, which gives buyers three business days to cancel, excludes telephone sales. Section 555A.1(3)(a) defines a "Door-to-door sale" as a consumer sale of $25 or more in which the seller "personally solicits the sale" and the buyer's agreement "is made at a place other than the place of business of the seller," and then excludes a transaction:

(4) Conducted and consummated entirely by mail or telephone, and without any other contact between the buyer and the seller or its representative prior to delivery of the goods or performance of the services.

A sale that begins with a telephone call but is closed during an in-home visit can fall within chapter 555A. Purely telephonic sales are subject only to the TSR, including express verifiable authorization for payment methods other than credit and debit cards (16 C.F.R. § 310.3(a)(3)).

6. Exemptions

Because Iowa has no telemarketing-specific statute, there are no state telemarketing exemptions. The private action statute contains its own exclusions: Iowa Code § 714H.4(1) excludes, among others, insurance companies, attorneys, financial institutions, many licensed professionals, "The provision of local exchange carrier telephone service," cable and video franchisees, and "Conduct that is required or permitted by the orders or rules of, or a statute administered by, a federal, state, or local governmental agency."

7. Private right of action

Iowa does not provide statutory damages for unwanted calls. Consumers may sue under the TCPA, 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) and (c)(5). The state private remedy, Iowa Code § 714H.5(1), requires an actual loss:

1. A consumer who suffers an ascertainable loss of money or property as the result of a prohibited practice or act in violation of this chapter may bring an action at law to recover actual damages. The court may order such equitable relief as it deems necessary to protect the public from further violations, including temporary and permanent injunctive relief.

Section 714H.3(1) defines the prohibited practice as one "the person knows or reasonably should know is an unfair practice, deception, fraud, false pretense, or false promise," or a material misrepresentation or omission, "in connection with the advertisement, sale, or lease of consumer merchandise, or the solicitation of contributions for charitable purposes." A prevailing consumer awarded actual damages recovers costs and reasonable attorney fees (§ 714H.5(2)). Treble damages require proof "by a preponderance of clear, convincing, and satisfactory evidence" of "willful and wanton disregard for the rights or safety of another" (§ 714H.5(4)). The limitation period is set by § 714H.5(5): an action "must be brought within two years of the occurrence of the last event giving rise to the cause of action under this chapter or within two years of the discovery of the violation of this chapter by the person bringing the action, whichever is later." There is a bona fide error defense (§ 714H.5(7)). Under § 714H.7, "A class action lawsuit alleging a violation of this chapter shall not be filed with a court unless it has been approved by the attorney general," and § 714H.6 requires copies of pleadings and judgments to be sent to the Attorney General.

Section 714H.3(2) also makes violations of listed statutes actionable, including "Chapter 555A" and "Section 714.16, subsection 2, paragraphs "b" through "n"." Paragraph (r) of § 714.16(2), the trigger lead provision, is not among them, so a § 525.1 violation is enforced by the Attorney General under § 714.16 unless it also qualifies as a deceptive practice under § 714H.3(1).

8. Attorney General enforcement and penalties

The Attorney General enforces § 714.16 through injunctions, restitution and civil penalties. Section 714.16(7) provides that "the attorney general may request and the court may impose a civil penalty not to exceed forty thousand dollars per violation against a person found by the court to have engaged in a method, act, or practice declared unlawful under this section," with the qualification that "a course of conduct shall not be considered to be separate and different violations merely because the conduct is repeated to more than one person." In an action for reimbursement or an injunction it is not necessary "to allege or to prove reliance, damages, intent to deceive, or that the person who engaged in an unlawful act had knowledge of the falsity of the claim or ignorance of the truth."

Section 714.16(15) gives the Attorney General federal telemarketing authority:

15. The attorney general may bring an action on behalf of the residents of this state, or as parens patriae, under the federal Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, Pub. L. No. 103-297, and pursue any and all enforcement options available under that Act.

The Attorney General may also sue under the TCPA, which authorizes state actions on behalf of residents (47 U.S.C. § 227(g)).

How Iowa law differs from federal law

Where Iowa is stricter. Only in narrow pockets: the trigger lead statute's treatment of a lender's use of information about registry consumers as a deemed violation, and the campaign caller ID statute's ban on using a real person's number with intent to deceive.

Where Iowa is looser. Iowa offers no statutory damages for unwanted calls, no state list, and no autodialer, hours, or frequency rules. Its private remedy requires an ascertainable loss of money or property, which most unwanted-call claims cannot show, and class claims need Attorney General approval.

Where Iowa is the same. For nearly every operational rule (consent, hours, registry scrubbing, abandonment, caller ID, opt-out handling), the federal rules are the only rules.

Notable enforcement and case law

State of Iowa ex rel. Miller v. Vertrue, Inc., No. 11-0449 (Iowa July 5, 2013). State ex rel. Miller v. Vertrue (Iowa 2013) The Attorney General sued a seller of buying club memberships under the Buying Club Membership Law and the Consumer Fraud Act. Among other issues, the Iowa Supreme Court reviewed the district court's finding that Vertrue's inbound telemarketing upsell solicitations were deceptive and unfair. Examining a script that opened with a "thank you" and a gift card offer before describing a trial membership that would automatically renew for a charge to the card already provided, the court held: "We conclude the script is misleading. Opening with an ostensible "thank you" does not promptly disclose the purpose of the interaction, but rather fosters the misleading impression that the new interaction is somehow related to the initial transaction." It added that "a telemarketer should disclose rather than obscure the purpose of the interaction at its outset," and concluded "the use of the script also constituted an unfair practice." The court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and modified the judgment.

No reported decisions were located construing the former § 476.57 or applying § 525.1 or § 68A.506 to telephone calls.

Recent amendments

• 2025 Iowa Acts, chapter 25 (H.F. 857), approved April 18, 2025. Enacted Iowa Code § 525.1 on mortgage trigger lead solicitations, including the federal do-not-call registry provision, and added § 714.16(2)(r). No special effective date appears in the chapter; under Iowa Code § 3.7, Acts of a regular session generally take effect July 1 following passage, and the Legislature's enrolled bill list (consulted through a search result, not the live site) shows an effective date of July 1, 2025.
• 2018 Iowa Acts, chapter 1160, § 32. Repealed the ADAD statute, Iowa Code § 476.57. Section 31 of the same Act amended the private action exclusions in § 714H.4.
• Senate File 2296 (2026). The enrolled bill, which relates to digital financial kiosks, adds § 714.16(2)(t), making a violation of § 533C.1004 an unlawful practice, and takes effect upon enactment. It does not address telemarketing. The approval date could not be confirmed from an official source.
• No 2023, 2024 or 2026 Iowa enactment addressing telemarketing, robocalls, or caller ID was identified. The Iowa Legislature website could not be reached directly; Iowa Code text was taken from Internet Archive captures of the official Legislature PDFs, and the 2026 Code text predates the 2026 session.

Compliance checklist

• Treat Iowa as a federal-rules state: scrub the national registry at least every 31 days, honor company-specific do-not-call requests, and call only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. local time.
• Obtain prior express written consent for autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing calls and texts to wireless numbers under federal rules; Iowa provides no additional exemption.
• Open every sales call by disclosing who is calling and that the purpose is a sale; avoid "thank you" or gift openings that obscure the purpose of the call.
• Clearly disclose the terms of free trials and automatic renewals before the consumer agrees, consistent with § 714.16(2)(o).
• Lenders and mortgage brokers using trigger leads must suppress consumers on a federal do-not-call registry or who have opted out of prescreened offers, disclose nonaffiliation at the outset, and make a firm offer of credit.
• Do not alter caller ID in political calls, and never display a real person's number without consent.
• If a telephone contact leads to an in-home sale, provide the chapter 555A notice of cancellation.

References

• Iowa Code § 714.16 (2026), https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/714.16.pdf
• Iowa Code ch. 714H (2026), https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/714H.pdf
• Iowa Code § 525.1 (2026), https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/525.1.pdf
• 2025 Iowa Acts, ch. 25 (H.F. 857), https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/iactc/91.1/CH0025.pdf
• Iowa Code § 68A.506 (2026), https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/68A.506.pdf
• Iowa Code ch. 555A (2026), https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/555A.pdf
• Iowa Code § 476.57 (repealed), https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/476.57.pdf
• Senate File 2296 (2026), enrolled, https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/media/cms/5_EAB620CDE76E3.pdf
• State of Iowa ex rel. Miller v. Vertrue, Inc., No. 11-0449 (Iowa 2013), https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2013/07/05/state_of_iowa_ex_rel._thomas_j._miller_attorney_general_for_iowa_v..pdf
• 47 U.S.C. § 227, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/227
• 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200, https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/64.1200
• 16 C.F.R. § 310.3, https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/310.3
• 16 C.F.R. § 310.4, https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/310.4

This page summarizes state law for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. Statutes change; confirm current text with the official source before relying on it.