I am getting conflicting answers from legal and from FDIC on whether it is okay to take spousal consents on a guaranty in WA.

At a past bank I was at we were told by the FDIC that we were in violation of Reg B if we had a non participating spouse sign a spousal consent of a participating spouse on a commercial business loan (not SBA). Our legal says that in WA State we have to have the spousal consent in order for the community property to be included in the guaranty. I am only interested in the guarantee aspect, as I know that we can require the signature on collateral documents.

If you are doing a spousal consent at your institution are you doing one that is part of your guaranty or are you doing a separate spousal consent? Also do you have any reference you can send me to where I may be able to find support for an actual guaranty with spousal consent for WA?

Thanks. Any help is appreciated.

You cannot require a spousal guarantee, only collateral acknowledgement for community property. If the spouse has no ownership interest in the business you can't require their guarantee. If they have an ownership interest then they can be on the guarantee. I don't have any copies for you, but we treat them as we would any other owner.