In a conversation with a FI, they stated when they open a new account for a customer, for example a savings account, their procedure is to actually check all the boxes i.e. checking, savings, NOW, certificate of deposit and business accounts on the signature card. The reasoning behind this is the customer has the potential of opening any of these other accounts and then the FI will not have to have the customer sign any additional signature cards. Does anyone else practice this?

And they have the potential to never open another account. We use one signature card per account and check the box that relates to the account they are opening. Open a savings, we check savings. A second box is never checked.

How would you differentiate between accounts with different owners and accounts where rights at death might vary? I can't really grasp how that could work.

Exactly my thoughts but to help them understand the issues their procedure they currently use will eventually lead too would you turn to Reg DD? Thanks for your response.

I agree, I was so totally taken aback, I guess I just couldn't come up with thoughts on why this isn't a good procedure. Thanks for your response.

Maybe you want to switch to an access card. We are actually in the process of switching from one signature card per account to one "access card" per customer. Less annoying to customer who comes in and opens additional accounts. Also, we image our signature cards and it will save on storage space.

I would focus on state law and compliance with need to clearly define account owners, rights at death and managing changes to existing accounts. Remember, the signature card for an account is your official deposit record for that account. You don't want to have a judge deciding who owns an account because the Bank's records are unclear.