The Fair Credit Reporting Act principally regulates consumer reports (often called “credit reports”) and consumer reporting agencies (credit bureaus) but also regulates financial institutions that use credit reports and furnish information to credit bureaus. The main question financial institutions used to have about FCRA was “when can we pull somebody’s credit report”? While still relevant, this question has recently been surpassed by concerns about the accuracy of information institutions furnish (report) to credit bureaus. State and federal laws require that the information be “accurate” but what does that mean? (Yes, there’s a regulation on point.) A related question is how to respond to a consumer’s dispute of information your institution reported. Can you just delete it and forget about it, or must you try to correct it? We will discuss this in our June 2024 webinar. There will be plenty of hypotheticals to illustrate the rules and time for questions and answers.

 

 

With advancements in technology and increasing customer demand, it is becoming more common for financial institutions to offer their financial products and services through electronic means that allow customers to avoid visiting branches in person.  The emergence of e-signatures and digital signatures has made the prospect of using electronic banking services (such as remotely applying for a loan) a more attractive prospect.  Additionally, switching to an electronic storage system for business records has the benefit of cutting down the high costs typically associated with warehousing large volumes of physical records.

Financial institutions considering transitioning to an electronic banking environment need to understand the unique compliance requirements imposed by federal and state law.  The federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (“E-SIGN Act”) and the California Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (“Cal ETA”) together address the legality of electronic contracts, records and signatures.  Another risk in relying on electronic signatures and records is being able to prove up the authenticity of the document.

This Webinar will cover the E-SIGN Act and Cal ETA  as well as other important issues institutions should consider when relying on electronic signatures and documents in the banking environment.