Destruction Of Appraisal Records?

[anon dev]

I work for an appraisal management company. The IT department is ready to switch over to a new, custom document handling system that is untested and that I have very low confidence in succeeding. I know our industry is required to retain all documentation about appraisals performed through us for five years, or seven in some cases.

I am trying to make an argument to delay the implementation of this system to perform further testing and raise confidence in this success of this effort. I need to make a case for the worst possible outcome, which is the risk of us losing all data that we've accumulated for the last seven years.

My question is this: what kind of penalties, fines, or lawsuits are possible if we were to lose all this data? I can't find any resources online except for stuff that pertains to federal or state-level government document retention policies. The Minimum Requirements for Appraisal Management Companies (https://www.federalregister.gov/doc...quirements-for-appraisal-management-companies) don't address this issue from what I can tell, or else I'm missing it. Any penalties appear to be left up for states to decide. Is this right?

Thank you!

 

[Howard Klahr]

what kind of penalties, fines, or lawsuits are possible

Not all states regulate and/or license AMCs. However, for those that do, the potential exists to revoke their license in the state and assess fines which could potentially be based on each file within their jurisdiction. Now in terms of what would happen, that will vary from state to state.

 

[The Warrior Monk]

Ditto Howard.

I am not familiar with the record keeping requirements pertaining to AMCs. The conditions you noted deal with appraisers, and the burden is on the appraisers to keep their records for that time frame.

I'll also ask the obvious...is everything backed up? That is Step #1 when dealing with an untested new system.

 

[anon dev]

Ditto Howard.

I am not familiar with the record keeping requirements pertaining to AMCs. The conditions you noted deal with appraisers, and the burden is on the appraisers to keep their records for that time frame.

I'll also ask the obvious...is everything backed up? That is Step #1 when dealing with an untested new system.

As far as I know, AMC's are required to maintain histories of all events and communication over the lifetime of an appraisal order. Yes, everything is currently backed up, but once we start writing to the new system, it has its own (untested) backup system and the new one will go out of sync immediately. This is the part that makes me nervous.

 

[Mike Kennedy]

California Appraisal Management Company Laws
All registered Appraisal Management Companies in California must adhere to the laws issued by the state. To view these laws, click below:

California Appraisal Management Company Laws

 

[DWiley]

It would also be critical to comply with your own corporate record retention policies. When lenders audit AMCs this is something that they look at closely.

 

[The Warrior Monk]

It would also be critical to comply with your own corporate record retention policies. When lenders audit AMCs this is something that they look at closely.

Just for my own curiosity, do lenders commonly audit AMCs, or is this an infrequent event?

 

[Mike Kennedy]

OP ALSO SEE:

https://www.federalregister.gov/doc...quirements-for-appraisal-management-companies

 

[DWiley]

Just for my own curiosity, do lenders commonly audit AMCs, or is this an infrequent event?

I have about 50 client audits per year. I consider that "frequent"

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

Make multiple backups of the old data and any unique programs needed to open the files.
Keep the old system running alongside the new one for a while.