WASHINGTON — If you’re behind on your government student loans, your mobile phone soon may begin ringing with calls from debt collectors.

WASHINGTON — If you’re behind on your government student loans, your mobile phone soon may begin ringing with calls from debt collectors.

Your friends and family may hear from them, too, thanks to Congress.

A provision stuck in the recently approved spending bill last week exempts the U.S. Department of Education from a 1991 law that prevents harassing, automated phone calls.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act barred pre-recorded messages or auto-dialing, known as "robocalls," made to cellphones without the consent of the person called.

The budget grants an exemption to government debt-collectors, allowing them to auto-dial and make twice as many calls as they can by hand.

It’s unclear when cellphones will start buzzing.

In a letter sent Monday, four senators urged Education Secretary Arne Duncan not to allow robocalls until the Federal Communications Commission creates rules for the exemption. Congress gave the FCC nine months to act.

"We are concerned that this provision will subject student loan borrowers to a barrage of unsolicited calls — and possibly leave them with no refuge to stop the calls," wrote Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey, both Massachusetts Democrats, and Sens. Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch, Republicans from Utah.

The senators say the provision can be read to allow robocalls to friends and family of those who owe money, as well.

An Education Department spokesman declined comment on when debt-collecting robocalls might begin, or if friends and family will get them, too.

The change comes as the Federal Reserve reports total student debt has doubled since 2008, to about $1.3 trillion, though loan default rates have dropped for recent graduates.

Even so, the Obama administration asked Congress to allow more aggressive collection techniques.

In an Oct. 1 report, the Department of Education asked Congress to give its debt collectors the freedom to use "modern technology."

Reaching those who owe money spurs repayment, the department argued, and allows it to advise borrowers of options such as repayment plans that help avoid default.

Many borrowers, especially those who’ve just graduated, move around and do not have landlines, the report said. A prohibition on auto-dialed calls to cellphones made it "virtually impossible" to reach them.

One contractor, Nelnet, made a business decision in 2013 to stop even trying to call borrowers whose phones it had to dial manually, according to a December 2014 inspector general’s report. The company’s contract with the government did not say how many calls it had to make.

As a result, the report said, borrowers with landlines were reached within 20 days of the last time they were contacted. Those who could not be auto-dialed did not hear from the collection agency for as long as 328 days.

Nelnet and other companies lobbied and failed to get the FCC to relax robocall rules earlier this year.

According to information provided by Nelnet to the FCC, student loan borrowers who receive auto-dialed calls have default rates seven times less than those who cannot receive robocalls.

But the FCC in June mostly rejected the petitions of 21 companies or groups in various industries to weaken aspects of the law.

In remarks at the time, Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said, "It’s simple: Consumers should be able to make the decision about whether they receive automated calls. If they want them, they can consent. And if they don’t consent, they should be left alone."

Consumers Union spokesman Tim Marvin said Congress last week acted in the opposite direction.

"It’s kind of ironic this happens as the FCC chairman is trying to clamp down on robocalls," he said.

The senators, meanwhile, questioned whether allowing robocalls will truly bring in more money.

"The federal government should focus on giving students the tools they need to repay their debts and to avoid default," Sen. Warren said in a press release, "not on squeezing them even harder."

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.