Legal or not?

So I have a bank asking me to sign some papers for an audit they're having. They're asking me to represent it as having signed the papers in August of 2009. This seems extremely sketchy to me and has me pretty worried. Anybody ever have any experience with something like this or do we have any lawyers browsing?

Sounds sketchy to me as well and something they should have been on top of in August of 2009. Is it a small bank? What would happen if you declined, would it affect you at all?

Its Marshall and Ilsley Bank which is a fairly sizable bank. As far as I can tell it won't affect me at all, as the services they're asking me to sign the paperwork for have been in use since 2009 without any issues. I think it is paperwork they somehow lost, as I do remember signing it or something similar back then(which is also a bit scary), however when I called and asked for details on why I needed to sign it again, all they told me is they didn't have one on file for me.

I'm willing to guess that if you were paying for these services and you signed this document with todays date you could probably ask for some sort of refund for previous payments, the bank wouldn't have a leg to stand on as it seems there is no legitimate reason for them to have charged you.

Well the services have been active since 2009, and we have been using them. We initiated the services with them, so I have no interest in getting my money back or anything, I'm simply concerned with the fact that its the federal government auditing the bank, and in essence, the bank is asking me to lie in order to cover their butts(from my understanding of it), for some kind of lost paperwork or a clerical error on their part.

I think you missed my point.

I don't think there is anything completely wrong with what they are doing. It looks like they may be covering their own backs. It all depends really on the service, but i cannot see how what they are doing is illegal.

If it was me though i would date it the day i signed it. Their error should not cause you any problems. If anything, they should be apologising for the inconvenience.

Get in touch with a lawyer.

I got in touch with one of the companies lawyers and the suggested the same thing SB did. Sign and make note of the current date next to all signatures so that's what I did. They said the paperwork is non critical and said more than likely it was something made digital or stored off site and they needed a paper copy for the audit sooner than they could get a hold of the off site copy. Guess it was nothing to worry about, but in recent years you can never be too careful.

I agree with you that it would make me concerned. I would probably have dreams of some auditor coming to my house and asking "did you or did you not falsify this document?!" (yeah, I know.. not gonna happen, but just saying)

I think if they were doing anything wrong, they would have just signed the paperwork with your name and you'd been none the wiser.

Heh, exactly what I was thinking. Glad I'm not the only slightly paranoid one...