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#2126348 - 04/14/17 03:52 PM Release of customer info without subpoena
M&M Offline
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Posts: 530
Midwest
Is there an allowance in Reg P or RFPA that would allow us to release bank records to the police without a subpoena, such as in the case of a missing person and the police need the records to review transactions in an attempt to locate the missing person?

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General Discussion
#2126390 - 04/14/17 06:14 PM Re: Release of customer info without subpoena M&M
Elwood P. Dowd Offline
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No. There might be additional prohibitions or some dispensation under state law, ask your legal counsel.

The RFPA was passed because the Supreme Court acknowledged that there is no constitutionally protected right to financial privacy in the U.S. Regulation P is the joke of jokes and has no penalty provisions.

All of this hand wringing by banks is annoying. In exigent circumstances, I would sit down with law enforcement in front of a computer screen and go through the transactions to see if there was anything helpful.
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#2126397 - 04/14/17 07:07 PM Re: Release of customer info without subpoena M&M
John Burnett Offline
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John Burnett
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The RFPA and Reg P are only distant cousins -- Privacy of customer information is at the hub of both, but that sums up the relationship. Reg P derives from the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, not the RFPA.

As for hand-wringing, I agree. There's too much of it going around.
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#2126411 - 04/14/17 08:09 PM Re: Release of customer info without subpoena John Burnett
RockChucker, CAMS Offline
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The Country
Originally Posted By John Burnett


As for hand-wringing, I agree. There's too much of it going around.


Maybe if the government would get rid of some of the overburden of regulations, banks would not feel so browbeaten and always be second guessing everything.
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#2126422 - 04/14/17 09:11 PM Re: Release of customer info without subpoena M&M
Richard Insley Offline
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Richard Insley
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Toano, VA
Maybe, I missed something during the many years since dealing with RFPA. The OP appears to be dealing with state and local police. RFPA's scope of coverage is limited to federal government agencies. It does not apply to state and local agencies...right? As Ken observes, you should look into your state's laws before deciding how to proceed.
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#2126688 - 04/18/17 02:23 PM Re: Release of customer info without subpoena Richard Insley
John Burnett Offline
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John Burnett
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Cape Cod
Originally Posted By Richard Insley
It does not apply to state and local agencies...right?
Right. I also read "police" as state or local law enforcement, rather than federal.
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#2126881 - 04/18/17 11:06 PM Re: Release of customer info without subpoena M&M
Greg Offline
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Posts: 833
Michigan
Let me offer a possible compromise that I use: I don't ask for a subpoena but I do ask for an E-mail from the trooper's official account or a request on letterhead. They can have it to me in 10 minutes and it gives me some cover.

Surprisingly, I've had troopers come back and tell me their superiors were requiring them to get a subpoena to protect the admissibility of any information I provided. Most of the time I get an E-mail and get them whatever they need.

I know I don't need it, kind of like Linus doesn't need that blanket.
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#2126889 - 04/18/17 11:19 PM Re: Release of customer info without subpoena Greg
Richard Insley Offline
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Richard Insley
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Toano, VA
Originally Posted By Greg
a subpoena to protect the admissibility of any information I provided
This is an excellent point. Even though you may not need a subpoena to cover disclosure to state and local law enforcement agents, you don't want to poison the well.
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#2126903 - 04/19/17 11:31 AM Re: Release of customer info without subpoena Richard Insley
Elwood P. Dowd Offline
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If the bank gave the information to law enforcement voluntarily, it would have no effect on its admissibility as evidence. Evidence is excluded only when the LEA violated the law in obtaining it (fruit of the poisonous tree) not when the bank violated the law in providing it.

Again, the only law that the bank could have violated would be state law as the RFPA only applies to federal LEA's.
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In this world you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.

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