Conference 7.286::dcu

I seem to remember that you could only (according to someones rules, I know
not whose) get a signature guarantee from a Commercial banke (not savings) or
a Brokerage house ?  I ran ino this quite a while ago in relation to stock
certificates.

    Yep, my experience has been that only a commercial bank can do it.
    Baybank in Maynard will guarantee a signature for a DCU member
    *if* you bring a letter to Baybank from DCU stating that you
    have an account at DCU.  
    (I spent an afternoon chasing this down not too long ago.)
    
    So...it's a pain, but I think it's as .1 says, due to somebody or
    other's rules that are outside the control of DCU.  

Please pardon my ignorance, but I've never heard of a signature guarantee
before (and I thought I was wise and worldly :-)).  Can someone give me a
further explanation of why and how it's used?  An example or two maybe?  Might
it be to change the name on a stock certificate (I remember reading something
about that here).

thanks,
Jill

Tongue-sort-of-in-cheek

1) You walk into a Commercial Bank
	(Say First Twentieth South North Street Bank and Emporiom)

2) You open an account

3) You tell them that you need a signature guarantee (Guarantee you are you,
	a notary is not good enough)

4) For a fee (sometimes) they will guarantee it (I think an officer (VP }8-)} )
	needs to sign it)  (Remember, the officer has never met you).

5) then YOU send the paperwork to whoever wanted the guaranteed sig

Note the "security" involved in steps 1 and 2.  What does it take, other than
a few dollars, and the capability to sign a name, to open a checking account?


Also, you can proceed directly from step 3 in many institutions with varying
identification requirements.

	So why would you need such a thing? Also if it turns out you are
	not who you claim what is the guaranteers liability?

		Alfred

I could see this being useful while in the course of a name
change due to marriage or divorce.  

./chris

How about at an auction? They require "letters of credit" from a bank, but
I was with a friend of mine (who is conservatively worth $20 Million+) and
he had a signature guarantee. He explained to me that it basically said he
could write out a check for any amount he wanted, and the bank would cover 
it.

Of course, he has been known to stretch the truth without so much as twitching
an eyelash. I guess that's how he got the $20 mil. :-)

Bryan

I spoke to Claire on friday about signature guarantees. The following
represents my best recollection of what she said.

Being able to guarantee signatures *is* a big deal.
Up until a couple of months ago (Feb 1992), no credit union was (by law)
even allowed to guarantee signatures. To her knowledge, there is only
a single one able to now. You have to do lots of stuff to be allowed to
guarantee signatures. And then you have to be bonded. The bonding is an
insurance policy for which the credit union must pay an insurance company in
case something goes wrong with the signature. And bonding insurance is
not cheap.

So, given the above, and the fact we have lots of other stuff to sort thru
at the moment, I think it's appropriate that a service of guaranteeing
signatures should go on the back burner for now.

    Thanks for all the info.  The reason that it was required was because
    my wife chose to change her name when we got married.  She had some
    investments in her former name, for herself, joint with me, and as a
    custodian for others, and the company managing those accounts was
    creating all these hoops she had to jump through.  It took some yelling
    and foot stomping on our part, but it seems like the process is
    starting to happen.  It was easier to get her name changed on her
    Social Security number, I feel like something's wrong with this
    picture.

    Why can't she just use two names, her old one and her married name?
    It's perfectly legal.

Hrumph!  All this talk of complications with name changing is 
making me nervous.  I'm getting married in just over a week, and
both myself and my wife-to-be are changing our names.  This could
be real complex.   Stay tuned for humorous (at least once it's
all take care of) stories.....

./chris
Soon to be Fillmore-Gillett (gulp!)

    Re: .10
    
    I know she could, but for a variety of personal reasons, she didn't
    want to use both names.

Don't worry, Chris, it doesn't have to be that bad!  I've changed my name
twice, and I never even heard of a signature guarantee.  And just recently,
I had my parents change stock that I had in my original name with my father
as custodian to be under my current name, and I didn't have to do anything or
prove anything!!

I think the hardest time I had was with DCU, come to think of it :-).  They
required me to surrender my existing cards (ATM and Visa) before they'd give me
the new cards.  But at least they were willing to let me use the old ones til
the new ones were ready, and they called me to come over and pick them up.  (I
never work in a building that has a DCU branch :-))

Oh, and congratulations, Chris! :-)

Jill

My wife has occasionally gotten checks from her grandmother made out to 
"Diane Schmidt".  She just signed them with both that name and her current 
name, and the DCU took them.  I can well expect that investments would be
handled more stringently.

	Larry

    Gosh, I hope you don't have trouble with AUTHORIZE with a name like
    "Fillmore-Gillett".  :-)

I wish I had known about .2 - it would have saved me several frustrating
days of phone calls and bank visits earlier this Summer.  It would have been
even better if someone at DCU headquarters would let people know about this
policy - I called them and was told all about the bonding, etc.  They could
not advise me how to get a signature guarantee except 'to keep calling
around until you find a bank that would do it.'

I eventually found that Hudson National Bank would do it for a $5 fee.

- Jim

As of the first week in February,
the credit union can now guarantee signatures.

All you need is proof of identification.  This service
is provided to its members at no charge (was there any doubt?)
to its members.

Gim

Is this under the "Medallion" guarantee program?  The last time I needed
a signature guarantee, it had to be by a participating "Medallion"
institution.

				Steve

You are correct. The credit union is a member of the
Security Transfer Agent Medallion Program.
-        -        -     -         -

Gim

Good - this affiliation should be mentioned in communications with customers.

A guarantee can be had at any branch?  I thought it was required that an
officer (VP or so) of the institution do the guarantee.

				Steve

Any branch can provide this service.  

Gim

    Just to be sure - is this the kind of service one needs to use when
    doing things (transfering, etc.) with stock certificates and the like ?
    
    Jon

Yep, that's it.

		Steve