Not All Businesses Can Use Business Texting

While texting is a great way to communicate with customers, not all businesses are eligible to use business texting. Carriers restrict some types of businesses from being approved for a verified toll-free texting number.

Ineligible Business Types

High-Risk Financial Services

  • Payday loans
  • Short-term, high-interest loans
  • Auto loans
  • Mortgage loans
  • Student loans
  • Gambling
  • Sweepstakes
  • Stock alerts
  • Cryptocurrency

Get Rick Quick Schemes

  • Debt Consolidation
  • Debt reduction
  • Credit repair programs
  • Deceptive work-from-home programs
  • Multi-level marketing

Debt Forgiveness

  • Risk investment opportunities
  • Debt collection or consolidation

Illegal Substances/Activities

  • Cannabis
  • Alcohol
  • Tobacco or vape

General

  • Phishing
  • Fraud or scams
  • Deceptive marekting
  • Pornography
  • Sex-related content
  • Profanity or hate speech
  • Firearms

Restricted SHAFT-C Content

The CTIA has outlined a set of content rules is known as SHAFT-C: sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, tobacco, CBD, and Cannabis.

Including content related to any of these topics in your call-to-action or any of your messages is considered one of the highest violations. Messages containing SHAFT-C content will be blocked by carriers and may result in an immediate ban.

Content on these topics are also not allowed to be on the business’s website at all. Example: If a chiropractor’s office has CBD oils on its website, the campaign will be denied even if not directly related to CBD marketing.

Texting Guides

Checkout our tutorials and guides on business text messaging, registration requirements, and toll-free number verification.

 

Additional policies, regulations, and laws may exist beyond those listed here. This is not legal advice. It is strongly recommended you consult your own legal advisor for help understanding legal obligations you may have, given the kind of messaging you wish to send.