Title 12Banks and BankingRelease 119-73

§3410 Customer challenges

Title 12 › Chapter CHAPTER 35— - RIGHT TO FINANCIAL PRIVACY › § 3410

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

A customer can ask a court to block a subpoena, summons, or a formal written request for their bank records. The request must be filed within 10 days after it is served or within 14 days after it is mailed, and a copy must be given to the government. If it is a judicial subpoena, file in the court that issued it. If it is an administrative summons or a request to stop the government from getting records, file in the right U.S. district court. The filing must include a sworn statement saying the filer is the customer and explaining why the records are not relevant to the government’s stated investigation or why the government did not follow the rules. If the court accepts the filing, it will order the government to file a sworn response, which may be shown to the judge only. The court must decide within 7 calendar days after the government’s response, but it may hold extra hearings first. If the court finds the customer is not the right person or the request is legitimate and relevant, it will deny the challenge and allow the records to be released. If the court finds the customer is the right person and the request is not legitimate or the rules were not followed, it will block the request. A denial is not a final order and cannot be immediately appealed; a customer can appeal later either with an appeal from any final case based on the records or within 30 days after being told no legal action will be taken. If no case starts within 180 days after denial, a government supervisor must tell the court this in a written certification. These challenge rules are the only court remedy for a customer. A customer cannot use the bank’s rights to fight a request.

Full Legal Text

Title 12, §3410

Banks and Banking — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Within ten days of service or within fourteen days of mailing of a subpena, summons, or formal written request, a customer may file a motion to quash an administrative summons or judicial subpena, or an application to enjoin a Government authority from obtaining financial records pursuant to a formal written request, with copies served upon the Government authority. A motion to quash a judicial subpena shall be filed in the court which issued the subpena. A motion to quash an administrative summons or an application to enjoin a Government authority from obtaining records pursuant to a formal written request shall be filed in the appropriate United States district court. Such motion or application shall contain an affidavit or sworn statement—
(1)stating that the applicant is a customer of the financial institution from which financial records pertaining to him have been sought; and
(2)stating the applicant’s reasons for believing that the financial records sought are not relevant to the legitimate law enforcement inquiry stated by the Government authority in its notice, or that there has not been substantial compliance with the provisions of this chapter.
(b)If the court finds that the customer has complied with subsection (a), it shall order the Government authority to file a sworn response, which may be filed in camera if the Government includes in its response the reasons which make in camera review appropriate. If the court is unable to determine the motion or application on the basis of the parties’ initial allegations and response, the court may conduct such additional proceedings as it deems appropriate. All such proceedings shall be completed and the motion or application decided within seven calendar days of the filing of the Government’s response.
(c)If the court finds that the applicant is not the customer to whom the financial records sought by the Government authority pertain, or that there is a demonstrable reason to believe that the law enforcement inquiry is legitimate and a reasonable belief that the records sought are relevant to that inquiry, it shall deny the motion or application, and, in the case of an administrative summons or court order other than a search warrant, order such process enforced. If the court finds that the applicant is the customer to whom the records sought by the Government authority pertain, and that there is not a demonstrable reason to believe that the law enforcement inquiry is legitimate and a reasonable belief that the records sought are relevant to that inquiry, or that there has not been substantial compliance with the provisions of this chapter, it shall order the process quashed or shall enjoin the Government au­thority’s formal written request.
(d)A court ruling denying a motion or application under this section shall not be deemed a final order and no interlocutory appeal may be taken therefrom by the customer. An appeal of a ruling denying a motion or application under this section may be taken by the customer (1) within such period of time as provided by law as part of any appeal from a final order in any legal proceeding initiated against him arising out of or based upon the financial records, or (2) within thirty days after a notification that no legal proceeding is contemplated against him. The Government authority obtaining the financial records shall promptly notify a customer when a determination has been made that no legal proceeding against him is contemplated. After one hundred and eighty days from the denial of the motion or application, if the Government authority obtaining the records has not initiated such a proceeding, a supervisory official of the Government authority shall certify to the appropriate court that no such determination has been made. The court may require that such certifications be made, at reasonable intervals thereafter, until either notification to the customer has occurred or a legal proceeding is initiated as described in clause (A). 11 So in original. Section does not contain a clause (A).
(e)The challenge procedures of this chapter constitute the sole judicial remedy available to a customer to oppose disclosure of financial rec­ords pursuant to this chapter.
(f)Nothing in this chapter shall enlarge or restrict any rights of a financial institution to challenge requests for records made by a Government authority under existing law. Nothing in this chapter shall entitle a customer to assert the rights of a financial institution.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Rule 5(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, referred to in subsec. (a), is set out in the Appendix to Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.

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. § 3410

Title 12Banks and Banking

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73