I am working on training and trying to find the reference as to what the implications are if the demonstratable consent is not followed. If a lender were to send out prelim disclosures for a mortgage and didn't do the demonstratable consent, what is the penalty? Thanks for any advice.

ESIGN has no penalties and no civil liability provisions. All the penalties come from the law or regulation that requires delivery of a "written" disclosure document.

For example, if the TILA/Reg Z requires you to deliver a transaction disclosure in writing and you forget to deliver one, the TILA makes you liable to the borrower for a penalty. If the borrower sues you, you lose and must pay the penalty.

Changing one variable and substituting an emailed transaction disclosure, you still lose--reason: you may have provided the information, but you didn't provide the disclosure document "in writing."

ESIGN is the magic wand that can turn your email into "in writing." The only problem is that you have to play by ESIGN's rules to get the magic part of the wand. (Otherwise you get the shaft--just like in the other two scenarios.)