Certificate of Deposit

Hi,

We are looking into a revised process for our Certificate of Deposit renewal. Historically, we have been requiring the depositor to sign the Certificate itself (when they open a new one, they also sign an Account Agreement). However, it appears that our tracking system for renewals generated through our call center (the documents are then mailed with a self-addressed envelope) has been less than comprehensive, so, over the years we have had many that never got signed.

My question is, do you require depositors to sign the actual Share Certificates? What is the rationale one way or another?

We have had paperless, non-negotiable share certificates for years. The depositor receives the appropriate disclosures and a receipt--no signature required. I can't think of any reason for having depositors sign renewals other than "that's the way we've always done it." For our automatically renewing certificates the depositor has a grace period within which to notify us if they do not want it to renew, otherwise it renews with the current term and rate.

Reason for signing? "That's the way we've always done it."

Thanks, Lil Freak! The "it has always been that way" is definitely the curse around here.

At least we are now in the mindset to review all these types of things from the "is it necessary perspective". But the willingness to actually change it is still somewhat reserved and, in many cases, contingent on "how is this done at other financials because we don't want to be the only one out there doing it the new way". Hence this post - looking for some support to move away from the antiquated system.