How well does your electronic signature platform protect you and your clients? If you're not sure, use the checklist below to see how it stacks up. These eight items are important attributes that your eSignature solution should have in order to ensure that your documents are legally binding. If any of these criteria are missing, the service or application may be putting you and your clients at risk! It's also highly likely that no reliable electronic records are being created and that your documents will be rejected by banks.

1. Compliant Signing Process

The person signing electronically must create and adopt their electronic signature, and place it into the document in the appropriate signing location, just as you would if you were signing with a pen.

2. Consumer Consent

The ESIGN Act requires the person who has adopted the electronic signature to also agree to the consumer consent, which indicates that they have agreed to conduct business electronically. That consumer consent must be included in the audit trail/certificate, which is the history of the signed document.

3. Signer Authentication Options

The system provides tools to allow the sender/account owner to request the person who is signing the document to authenticate their true identity with third party services such as Knowledge Base Authentication (KBA) or other third party methods. These tools provide additional assurance that the person signing the documents is the correct person. This is especially helpful when you are not e-signing documents in person.