Robocall Guide · Answers
What is $500 per robocall?
$500 per call is the baseline the TCPA puts on every illegal robocall or text. It’s a fixed amount you can recover without proving you lost a dime.
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Short answer
The $500 figure is the TCPA’s statutory damages, a set dollar amount the law assigns to each illegal robocall or spam text. You don’t have to show any financial harm; if the call broke the rules, it’s worth $500. Because it applies per call and the amounts stack, ten illegal calls can be $5,000 before you ever talk about the willful tier.
What the $500 baseline means
- It’s statutory damages: a fixed amount the law sets, not your actual loss.
- It applies to each illegal call or text, and the amounts stack.
- You don’t have to prove you were financially harmed to recover it.
- It’s the floor; willful violations climb to $1,500 per call.
Why $500 with no proof of loss
Most lawsuits make you prove a dollar amount you lost. Robocall claims work differently. Congress knew a single junk call rarely costs you measurable money, yet the flood of them is a real harm, so the TCPA (the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act) attaches a fixed price to each violation. That price is $500 per illegal call or text, and it’s called statutory damages. You recover it whether or not the call cost you anything out of pocket. That’s what makes these claims worth pursuing even when the only thing you lost was your patience.
What makes a call illegal in the first place
The $500 only attaches to calls that actually broke the rules. Common violations include using an autodialer (software that dials numbers automatically) or a prerecorded voice to reach your cell phone without your written permission; calling a number on the Do Not Call Registry; or continuing to call after you told the company to stop. Calls meant for someone else, a wrong or recycled number, often qualify too, because you never gave anyone permission. Each call that crosses one of those lines is its own $500 violation.
How $500 stacks into a real claim
One call is $500. The reason robocall cases get serious is that the amount applies to every call and the totals add up. Twenty illegal calls is $10,000 at the baseline. A persistent collector or telemarketer dialing you week after week builds your claim with every call. That’s also why keeping a log of dates, times, and numbers directly supports what you can recover. To see how the count drives the total, read how much you can get for a robocall.
When $500 becomes $1,500
The $500 baseline is the floor, not the ceiling. If a court finds the caller acted willfully or knowingly, meaning it knew it was breaking the law and dialed anyway, the damages can triple to $1,500 per call. That tier often comes up when calls keep coming after you’ve clearly revoked consent. See the $1,500 penalty for how that works. Whether your calls fall at $500 or $1,500, Max Morgan, Esq. can tell you for free, and if he takes the case, there’s no fee unless you recover.
Related: The $1,500 willful penalty · How much can I get? · TCPA violations & penalties · Do I qualify?
What kind of calls are you getting?
Each of these is a real, recoverable claim under the TCPA.
Wrong-number robocalls
Prerecorded or auto-dialed calls meant for someone else. You can have a claim even though you’re not a customer.
About wrong-number robocall claimsWrong-number debt collection
Auto-dialed collection calls for a debt that was never yours. Illegal twice over, and it pays.
About wrong-number debt collection claims“Stop calling me”
You told them to stop and the calls kept coming. Each one can be a separate violation.
About claims for calls after you said stopSpam text messages
Marketing texts you never agreed to count under the TCPA too. Screenshots are often all the proof you need.
About spam text message lawsuitsDo-Not-Call violations
Registered your number and the calls didn’t stop? Continued telemarketing may entitle you to damages.
About Do Not Call violation claimsPrerecorded cell calls
Robotic or artificial-voice calls to your cell without consent are a clear TCPA violation.
About prerecorded cell call claimsMore on the $500 rule
Do I have to prove the robocall cost me money?
No. The $500 is statutory damages, a fixed amount the law assigns to each illegal call regardless of any financial loss.
Is the $500 per call or per company?
Per call. Each illegal call or text is its own $500 violation, and the amounts stack, which is why call count matters so much.
Can I get more than $500 for a call?
Yes. If the caller acted willfully or knowingly, a court can raise the amount to as much as $1,500 for that call.
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