Helping you With Your Compliance Efforts
- Access a highly secure service that lets you verify the identity of your customers instantaneously
- Record the information for your records - protecting you from OFAC sanctions
We can check every customer that you do business with: cash, finance, lease, etc.
All citizens and businesses, including auto dealerships, are prohibited under Federal law from conducting business with blocked persons. In order to comply with this requirement the dealer must check a customer's name against the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control's (OFAC) blocked persons list, prior to completing any sale.
What is OFAC?
The Office of Foreign Assets Control was established by President Roosevelt in 1943 to keep companies from doing business with the enemy. OFAC enforces economic and trade sanctions against targeted foreign countries and their agents. When an OFAC regulator examines your institution, you must provide written proof you have determined your customers do not appear on the OFAC list of blocked entities. This list includes drug traffickers, money-launderers, criminals, terrorists, and even countries.
Who must comply with OFAC?
All U.S. citizens and permanent residents regardless of their location and size are required to comply with OFAC. This includes all car dealerships.
What types of fines are imposed?
OFAC can impose fines of up to $1million, $250,000 per incident, and 12 years of jail time. In addition, any property or funds involved in the violating transaction can be confiscated.
Can I be fined if I had no prior knowledge?
Making no attempt to verify identity or claiming ignorance on the subject will not exempt any company from compliance.
How often do I need to check against the list?
Many dealerships think they are in compliance if the lenders or credit unions check the list for them. The greatest exposure is on cash transactions under $10,000. Every customer, no matter how they purchase, need to be checked against the OFAC list.