10DLC Registration

10DLC stands for 10-Digit Long Code, the standard 10-digit phone number used to send and receive SMS in the United States. Beginning in 2023 and now fully enforced in 2026, US carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Dish) require business senders to register their 10DLC numbers through The Campaign Registry (TCR) before any business SMS can be delivered reliably.

What 10DLC registration involves

• Brand registration — legal business name, EIN or tax ID, business address, vertical (mortgage / financial services), business website, and a brief description of the messaging use case
• Campaign registration — types of messages (lead nurture, status updates, marketing), expected volume, and sample message content
• Trust score — assigned by carriers based on brand vetting, campaign vetting, and sending history. Determines throughput in messages per second

What happens to unregistered SMS

Carriers progressively filter and block unregistered business SMS. AT&T blocks aggressively. Verizon throttles and routes to spam. T-Mobile adds surcharges and filters. The result for an unregistered loan officer sending texts to borrowers: 20-60% of messages don’t reach the recipient, with no error message back to the sender. The LO concludes the borrower isn’t engaged when in fact the borrower never received the message.

Cost

Brand registration: ~$4 one-time vetting fee for low-volume sole-prop brands; $40-300+ for higher-tier vetting. Campaign registration: $1.50-15 per campaign per month. Most LOs need 1-2 campaigns. A modern mortgage CRM that handles 10DLC registration on the LO’s behalf removes the operational overhead.