I'm curious what other bankers' thoughts and policies are when a customer requests a copy of a signature card for their account. I was under the impression that, since it's a legal contract, we were obligated to provide them with a copy. I know some other banks in my area refuse though. Is that legal?!?

I can't understand any reason why one would refuse to give the customer a copy...

I couldn't find a good reason. The feedback that I received from the other bank was that it was because there is too much information printed on the signature card and if the customer loses it then their account number is out there. But it's would be the customer's responsibility to safeguard their signature card copy just like it's their repsonsibility to safeguard their checks and debit cards!

Can anybody think of a legitimate reason why this request would be refused and whether or not that's even legal??

No reason at all that I can think of.

I believe most bank provide a copy of the signature card when the account is opened. I am not for sure on the legal contract part of your statement.

You don't have to give them a copy unless you intend to enforce the terms against them some day. If your bank is willing to give up the legal protections a contract affords, there is simply no reason to have the customer sign anything.

A bank's signature card is a good example of an "adhesion" contract; i.e. it's presented to the customer on a "take it or leave it" basis. The bank has all the bargaining power and the customer has none. Courts construe adhesion contracts very narrowly against the draftsman; i.e. if it's worded poorly the court will interpret it in favor of the customer.

On the other hand, if the customer gets on the stand and says, "Your honor, I don't have a clue what it says. They never gave me a copy" and your bank cannot refute that, the court will not consider the wording in the contract at all. It will just make its decision based on "what's right."

There is a really good reason why vendors produced signature cards as multi-part forms several years ago and why today's platform systems automatically spit out two copies.

Thank you everybody for the feedback - it was very helpful!