What are the record retention requirements for our bank’s internal records of loan account and deposit account transactions? For loans, we have the loan agreements and account statements, but our internal transaction records are harder to track down.

Regarding your internal records for deposit account transactions, FinCEN and the NACHA rules impose record retention requirements for certain transactional records. If the FinCEN or NACHA retention periods do not apply, the record retention period for these documents would be a business decision for your bank as embodied in your document retention policy.

FinCEN imposes a five-year retention requirement for “each statement, ledger card or other record on each deposit or share account, showing each transaction in, or with respect to, that account” and for records “which would be needed to reconstruct a transaction account and to trace a check in excess of $100 deposited in such account.” If your internal records are the only records your bank retains for such transactions, they should be retained for at least five years.

In addition, the NACHA rules require participating depository financial institutions to “retain a Record of each Entry for six years from the date the Entry was Transmitted, except as otherwise expressly provided in these Rules.” Consequently, if your internal records include ACH entries, those should be retained for at least six years.

Regarding your internal transaction records that are unrelated to a loan agreement or possible disputes over the loan agreement, we are unaware of any record retention requirements. Your bank may wish to follow the general recommendation in the IBA’s Record Retention Manual, which is to retain loan records for five years after a loan is paid off.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

FinCEN Regulations, 31 CFR 1020.410(c) (“Each bank shall, in addition, retain either the original or a copy or reproduction of each of the following: . . . (2) Each statement, ledger card or other record on each deposit or share account, showing each transaction in, or with respect to, that account; . . . (10) Records prepared or received by a bank in the ordinary course of business, which would be needed to reconstruct a transaction account and to trace a check in excess of $100 deposited in such account through its domestic processing system or to supply a description of a deposited check in excess of $100. This subparagraph shall be applicable only with respect to demand deposits.”)

FinCEN Regulations, 31 CFR 1010.430(d) (“All records that are required to be retained by this chapter shall be retained for a period of five years. Records or reports required to be kept pursuant to an order issued under § 1010.370 of this chapter shall be retained for the period of time specified in such order, not to exceed five years. . . .”)

2018 NACHA Operating Rules § 1.4 Records, SUBSECTION 1.4.1 (“A Participating DFI must retain a Record of each Entry for six years from the date the Entry was Transmitted, except as otherwise expressly provided in these Rules.”)

Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, 735 ILCS 5/13-206 (“Except as provided in Section 2-725 of the ‘Uniform Commercial Code’, actions on bonds, promissory notes, bills of exchange, written leases, written contracts, or other evidences of indebtedness in writing and actions brought under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act shall be commenced within 10 years next after the cause of action accrued . . . .”)