Title 12Banks and BankingRelease 119-73

§3404 Customer authorizations

Title 12 › Chapter CHAPTER 35— - RIGHT TO FINANCIAL PRIVACY › § 3404

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

A customer may give a signed, dated authorization letting a financial institution disclose records to a government authority. It may last up to three months, can be revoked before disclosure, must name the records, state the purpose and the authority, and state customer rights. A financial institution may not require this authorization. Unless a court order is obtained, the customer may get the institution’s disclosure log, including which government authority received records.

Full Legal Text

Title 12, §3404

Banks and Banking — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)A customer may authorize disclosure under section 3402(1) of this title if he furnishes to the financial institution and to the Government authority seeking to obtain such disclosure a signed and dated statement which—
(1)authorizes such disclosure for a period not in excess of three months;
(2)states that the customer may revoke such authorization at any time before the financial records are disclosed;
(3)identifies the financial records which are authorized to be disclosed;
(4)specifies the purposes for which, and the Government authority to which, such records may be disclosed; and
(5)states the customer’s rights under this chapter.
(b)No such authorization shall be required as a condition of doing business with any financial institution.
(c)The customer has the right, unless the Government authority obtains a court order as provided in section 3409 of this title, to obtain a copy of the record which the financial institution shall keep of all instances in which the customer’s record is disclosed to a Government authority pursuant to this section, including the identity of the Government authority to which such disclosure is made.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1979—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 96–3 struck out subsec. (d) which had directed that all financial institutions promptly notify all of their customers of their rights under this chapter, that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System prepare a statement of customers’ rights under this chapter, and that the supplying of such a statement to their customers by the financial institutions be deemed compliance with the notification requirement.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective upon the expiration of 120 days after Nov. 10, 1978, see section 2101 of Pub. L. 95–630, set out as a note under section 375b of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

12 U.S.C. § 3404

Title 12Banks and Banking

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73