How do you open an account for a person legally blind person. Does anyone have any special type of accounts setup for the blind, i.e. signature cards, checks, etc.
Your help would be greatly appreciated. This is a first ever in 30 years. Thanks.

Only once. We offered to read all disclosures to our customer (in the presence of an officer and another bank employee). Customer declined. Record of our offer and declination was noted on bank documents.

Special notice was attached to safe deposit box entry card noting customer was sight impaired and requiring two bank employees be present each time box was accessed. Again, everything including dual control was noted on contract and entry cards.

If it happened today, I guess we would have to extend training to ATM machines with hearing capabilities.

It is commendable that you are pursuing a way to accommodate a legally blind person. Here are a few special needs considerations:

There is no bar on opening an account by a Blind Person, however to avoid practical difficulty in account operations, banks are opening accounts on Special Terms and Conditions like below:-

* Blind person has to come personally to bank for opening the account.

* He/she may be advised to open account jointly with any other person to whom he may consider reliable.

* The rules and regulations of the bank and special conditions in view of physical disability are read and explained to him/her in the presence of a witness known to the bank with the witness certifying having it done, on the account opening form.

* Since a blind person may not be able to sign consistently, in addition to his/her signature, thumb impression duly attested by a witness and a passport size photograph.

* Payments to blind persons are made in the presence of a third person like customers of the bank or any officer of the bank other than the paying cashier and they sign as a witness.

* Cash deposited by a blind person is accepted in presence of a witness and amount is confirmed to him orally.

There used to be a bank in our area that recorded a reading of the bank statement on a cassette and mailed it to the customer along with the hard copy. If they still offered the service, they'd probably send a sound file via e-mail or enclose a CD recording.

Great list, Paragon. I have forwarded to our retail area and asked that it be incorporated into our next operations manual revisions. Thanks!

We use a procedure similar to Paragon's list.

The statement we place on the signature card is "The applicable rules and regulations were read to [name of blind person] by [name of reader] on [date]." (signed by the reader)

In addition we place account and safe deposit cautions noting that the customer is visually impaired. Of course, for checking accounts, 'sightline' checks are available from the check printers with specially embossed lines. When cashing a check, the teller would turn the check to the proper end and assist the customer to the upper left hand corner, for their endorsement. When cash is given to the customer, the tellers ask how the customer would like the bills, and how they want them -laid on the counter or placed in the customer's hand - as the blind typically place bills in their wallet in a particular fashion. Every visually impaired customer I had through the years that I worked in a branch was eager to teach the branch personnel their own banking methods. It's a true life of trust for them - Good luck to you and your new client!

Similar concept . . . Are there any specific requirements for loan disclosures to the blind? I am now aware of any, though I know in general, the ADA requires reasonable accommodations for providing services. Is it based on applicant request, or does the Bank need to proactively make sure disclosures are provided in a manner that is accessible to the borrower?

bump^

"Reasonable accommodation" is ADA's standard for matters relating to employment. The standard for non-discrimination in the provision of products and services (including credit) is "barrier free access."

It's not exactly a required disclosure, but a conversation (including electronic interactions) with a blind credit applicant could easily begin with your announcement of the various ways you can readily provide loan documents.

"Off the shelf" barrier removals might include Braille--but studies continue to show that a very small percentage of visually-impaired people use it. For those with some (but not total) visual impairment, large print documents might overcome the type size barrier. Others with visual impairments rely on reading devices which can scan printed material and convert it to speech. Generating the necessary loan documents with a font that is well-suited for these scanners would be an important barrier removal for such a customer.

Another common means of communicating with vision impaired or non-English-speaking customers is through a trusted third person accompanying the customer. Before allowing this type of "barrier removal", you would be wise to discuss this topic with legal counsel. A successful interview will lead to a business relationship that is documented by one or more legal contracts. You want to be sure these contracts are enforceable.

Most importantly, your customer contact staff should be trained to greet and serve individuals with common disabilities. After announcing your "off the shelf" list of options, the interviewer should ask the customer what works best for that person in other settings. Knowing what will make the customer happiest, try very hard to make that happen.

If you have online credit applications and e-document delivery, the applicant might decide to discuss product options with a lender and then go home and use an electronic portal for the remainder of the application process. It would be a nice touch if your interviewer invites the customer to call him/her if there are questions during the online session.

ADA isn't designed to work like the familiar consumer protection laws/regs. You are judged by each disabled customer, not by examiners checking off requirements on a checklist. As long as you can satisfy the disabled customer's needs in a prompt and respectful way, you "pass."

Thank you for the detailed response, Richard. I figured it would be an ADA issue at heart.

We had a blind and deaf person inquire about opening an account. After doing some research into the ADA, we were going to hire an interpreter for the initial communications. The individual decided to stay with their current bank, so we did not need to proceed further. It was a great learning opportunity and we will be better prepared if we receive a similar request in the future.

Although I'm by no means an ADA expert, a thought comes to mind, triggered by Deputy Dawn's post --

You can't make everyone happy, but when it comes to dealing with persons with disabilities, you want to make sure you've made a best effort. If you've worked with a disabled person who decides not to do business with you, try to figure out why.

Was it really nothing to do with how we interacted with the individual or our efforts to accommodate his disability (in other words, did we lose on the basis of convenience of location, cost of the service or product, match of the product or service to the consumer's needs)?

If it was about our ability or willingness to accommodate the individual's disability, where did we fall down? Can we get feedback from the individual that can help us be better when another opportunity to serve a disabled person comes along? Was it our interview skills (for example, speaking loudly to an individual who's blind, not hard of hearing)?