Federal · Title 15 — Commerce and Trade

15 U.S.C. § 6821: Privacy protection for customer information of financial institutions

Felony

What this law says, in plain English

Federal law prohibits obtaining or attempting to obtain customer financial information through fraud, false statements, forged documents, or soliciting others to do so. Exceptions exist for law enforcement, insurance investigations, public records, and licensed private investigators.

Read the full statutory text
by making a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation to an officer, employee, or agent of a financial institution; by making a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation to a customer of a financial institution; or by providing any document to an officer, employee, or agent of a financial institution, knowing that the document is forged, counterfeit, lost, or stolen, was fraudulently obtained, or contains a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation. It shall be a violation of this subchapter to request a person to obtain customer information of a financial institution, knowing that the person will obtain, or attempt to obtain, the information from the institution in any manner described in subsection (a). No provision of this section shall be construed so as to prevent any action by a law enforcement agency, or any officer, employee, or agent of such agency, to obtain customer information of a financial institution in connection with the performance of the official duties of the agency. testing the security procedures or systems of such institution for maintaining the confidentiality of customer information; investigating allegations of misconduct or negligence on the part of any officer, employee, or agent of the financial institution; or recovering customer information of the financial institution which was obtained or received by another person in any manner described in subsection (a) or (b). No provision of this section shall be construed so as to prevent any insurance institution, or any officer, employee, or agency of an insurance institution, from obtaining information as part of an insurance investigation into criminal activity, fraud, material misrepresentation, or material nondisclosure that is authorized for such institution under State law, regulation, interpretation, or order. No provision of this section shall be construed so as to prevent any person from obtaining customer information of a financial institution that otherwise is available as a public record filed pursuant to the securities laws (as defined in section 78c(a)(47) of this title ). No provision of this section shall be construed to prevent any State-licensed private investigator, or any officer, employee, or agent of such private investigator, from obtaining customer information of a financial institution, to the extent reasonably necessary to collect child support from a person adjudged to have been delinquent in his or her obligations by a Federal or State court, and to the extent that such action by a State-licensed private investigator is not unlawful under any other Federal or State law or regulation, and has been authorized by an order or judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction.

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This page is legal information, not legal advice. Code text is sourced from official publications and may lag amendments — always confirm at the official source linked above. Plain-English summaries and relationship data are AI-derived and reviewed on an ongoing basis; verify with a licensed attorney before acting.