News

American Modern now accepts electronic signatures.

An esignature can be as basic as inserting a scanned image of your handwritten name onto a document’s signature line. However, that’s not a particularly secure or recommended practice. A better approach is to use software that provides some degree of security and authentication to the digital image. DocuSign or Silanis are well-known packages.
American Modern does not endorse or require a particular method or vendor. If your agency uses, or is considering, an esignature tool, just be sure that you follow a legally defensible process and that you maintain proper records of your business transactions.

In particular, an electronic signature from your office must meet two criteria:

• First, your office’s process must comply with the law. Either the UETA (Uniform Electronic Transactions Act) or ESIGN (Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act) are the federal authority for signatures. Both have been in effect for more than a dozen years. Individual states have their own requirements as well.
• Second, you are responsible for defending your process if a customer at some later date disputes the legitimacy of the signature. This is really no different than being prepared to defend the integrity of a written signature if someone later claims it was forged or that they never signed. Whether your agency limits electronic signatures to just the agency principal or allows it for staff or customers is up to you.

If your agency’s process works just fine with an original signature written in ink you do not need to change anything. American Modern will monitor the effectiveness of electronic signatures and make any necessary changes to their policy as needed.