Highlights of the Web-Based Customer Complaint/Disclosure (3070) System

Beginning February 7, 2000 all complaints and disclosures have to be filed using the new Web-based Customer Complaint/Disclosure system. All filings made prior to February 7th will be converted onto the new system and can be viewed online. A few changes have been made to the system: new fields, new product codes, new problem codes, and new format for the File Upload method. These changes are highlighted below:

 

1. Customer Complaints

 

The minimum fields required of a complaint are:

 

  • Product Code
  • Problem Code
  • Complaint Date
  • Customer First Name
  • Customer Last Name

 

If the "Related To Rep" box is checked, the following additional fields are required:

 

  • Representative CRD number (FINRA no longer collects Social Security Number)
  • Representative Work City
  • Representative Work State
  • Representative Work Zip
  • Representative Employment Status
  • Representative Supervisor Last Name
  • Representative Supervisor Fist Name

 

2. Disclosure Events

 

The minimum fields required of a disclosure filing are:

 

  • Disclosure Event Code
  • Discovery Date
  • At least one "Related To" box has to be checked

 

If the "Related to Rep" box is checked, the Rep information must be entered (see above).

 

If Event Code # 2 (Customer Complaint) is selected, the following additional fields are required:

 

  • Customer Account Number
  • Customer Last Name
  • Customer First Name
  • Security Info (symbol and/or name)
  • Product Code
  • Disputed Amount
  • Total Amount

 

If Event Code # 7 (Civil Litigation or Arbitration) is selected, the following additional field is required:

 

  • Case Disposition

 

If Event Code # 9 (Statutory Disqualification) is selected, the following additional fields are required:

 

  • Relation to Member
  • Party Last Name
  • Party First Name
  • Party Company Name
  • Explanation

 

3. New Fields

 

The following fields have been added to the new system:

  Complaint Disclosure
Customer Name X X
Representative CRD number
(in lieu of Representative Social Security Number)		 X X
Activity Date   X
Case Disposition   X
Representative Work Zip X X
Comment X X


4. New Product Codes  

The following new product codes have been added to the system:

 

  • 19. Managed/Wrap Accounts - (Outside Money Manager)
  • 20. Annuities
  • 21. Warrants/Rights
  • 22. REITS
  • 23. Employee/Employer Stock Option Plans (Not listed options)
  • 24. Equity - Foreign
  • 25. Debt - Foreign
  • 26. Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
  • 27. Single Stock Futures
  • 28. 529 Plans
  • 29. Hedge Funds
  • 30. Private Placements (e.g. PIPES, etc.)

 

5. New Problem Codes

 

The following new problem codes have been added to the system:

 

Non-Sales Practice

 

  • 62. On-Line Trading - Allegations concerning trading initiated by a client on-line (including non-execution, price discrepancy, delays in execution, and delays in trade confirmation).
  • 63. Poor Service - Where the customer alleges that service from the firm or any of its employees was inadequate and/or unsatisfactory (e.g. failure to return phone calls, rudeness, lack of administrative attention to the account, etc...)

Sales Practice

 

  • 11. Failure to Supervise - Allegations where a customer makes a sales practice complaint against his/her account or registered representative (RR) and also cites a failure to supervise on the part of the named supervisor such as the Branch Office Manager at the time the activity occurred.
  • 23. Poor Performance - Allegations where a customer complains about the poor performance of his/her account, but does not allege any sales practice violations against the registered representative or attribute damages to a research analyst recommendation. (Not otherwise reportable under Sales Practice Codes 20, 21 or 22.)
  • 24. Managed Accounts - Allegations where a customer complains about the practices of (in-house or outside) Money Managers. (Not to be used when the RR is the Money Manager).
  • 25. Marketing/Sales Literature - Allegations of false or misleading statements, claims, comparisons, or material omissions found in advertisements, sales literature, and other written firm communications. (Not research trading/investment banking/issuer/sponsor materials.)
  • 26. Regulation B - Allegations that a customer was denied credit on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, ages, receipt of income from public assistance programs and good faith exercise of any rights under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA).
  • 27. Regulation E - Allegations by a customer that the Firm failed to comply with Regulation E - the Electronic Transfer Act (Usually coded as a "firm" vs. RR" problem).
  • 28. Regulation S-P - Allegations by a customer that the Firm failed to comply with Regulation S-P which was adopted to implement Title V of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.Pursuant to Regulation S-P, a financial institution must: 
    • Disclose to customers - on an initial and annual basis - its policies for collecting and sharing a customer's non-public personal information with affiliated and non-affiliated third parties;
    • Provide the Firm's customers with the ability to "opt out" of certain disclosures of their non-public personal information to non-affiliated third parties, with certain exceptions; and
    • State the financial institution's security standards to protect a customer's non-public personal information. (Usually coded as a "firm vs. RR" problem.)
  • 29. Third Party/Anonymous - Allegations received by an unauthorized third party or anonymous source. (RR SSN is not required to be reported with this problem code). (Note: if the member organization received authorization from the client subsequent to the receipt of a third party/anonymous complaint, it is obligated to file an amendment via the EFP system within 45 days of receipt of the authorization to identify the true problem code and the SSN of the registered representative involved).
  • 30. Complaints Referred to Previous Employer - Allegations received by a member or member organization against one of its current or previously employed registered representatives and/or supervisors regarding activities that occurred at his or her former employer. (RR/Supervisor's SSN is not required to be reported by the receiving member or member organization).
  • 31. Other Theft/Forgery - Allegations of theft or misappropriation of funds/securities or forgery against someone other than a registered representative of the member organization.
  • 32. Identity Theft - Allegations where customer alleges that his/her social security number (SSN) and/or other non-public personal identity information was improperly used by unauthorized individuals or entities.
  • 40. Miscellaneous - Firm related complaints only. Non sales practice miscellaneous code is 99. Sales practice miscellaneous code is 00.

 

6. File Upload Method

 

Complaints:

 

In order to import a filing containing one or more complaints the file must adhere to the following XML format:

 

Tag Name Max Length Format Notes
<filings-3070>     Container for 3070 filings
<complaint>     Container for complaint
<id> 8 number Must be unique to firm
<date> 10 mm/dd/yyyy Date complaint was received
<firm-id> 8 number Firm's CRD #
<branch-id> 12 number  
<branch-zip> 5 number  
<contact>     Container for contact info
<phone-number> 20 alpha Contact's phone number
<first-name> 30 alpha First Name
<last-name> 30 alpha Last Name
<related-to>     Container for related-to info
<other> 1 number 1 if selected
<rep> 1 number 1 if selected
<firm> 1 number 1 if selected
<affiliate> 1 number 1 if selected
<product> 2 number Product Code
<problem> 2 number Problem Code
<customer>     Container for customer info
<account-number> 15 alpha Customer's account number
<first-name> 30 alpha First Name
<last-name> 30 alpha Last Name
<transaction>     Container for transaction info
<activity-date> 10 mm/dd/yyyy Date of the transaction
<amount> 12 number Amount of the transaction
<disputed-amount> 12   Amount in dispute
<security> 255 alpha Security info
<investigator>     Container for investigator name
<first-name> 30 alpha First Name
<last-name> 30 alpha Last Name
<response-date> 10 mm/dd/yyyy  
<representative>     Container for rep info
<id> 12 number Rep CRD ID
<location>     Container for rep location
<city> 15 alpha  
<state> 2 alpha  
<zip> 5 number  
<supervisor>     Container for Rep's supervisor
<first-name> 30 alpha First Name
<last-name> 30 alpha Last Name
<employed> 1 alpha Code = Y, N
<comment> 255   Freeform comment


Disclosures

 

Tag Name Max Length Format Notes
<filings-3070>     Container for 3070 filings
<disclosure>     Container for complaint
<id> 8 number Must be unique to firm
<date> 10 mm/dd/yyyy Date disclosure was discovered
<firm-id> 8 number Firm's CRD #
<contact>     Container for contact info
<phone-number> 20 alpha Contact's phone number
<first-name> 30 alpha First Name
<last-name> 30 alpha Last Name
<related-to>     Container for related-to info
<other> 1 number 1 if selected
<rep> 1 number 1 if selected
<firm> 1 number 1 if selected
<affiliate> 1 number 1 if selected
<event> 2 number  
<customer>     Container for customer info
<account-number> 15 alpha Customer's account number
<first-name> 30 alpha First Name
<last-name> 30 alpha Last Name
<transaction>     Container for transaction info
<product> 2 number  
<activity-date> 10 mm/dd/yyyy Date of the transaction
<amount> 12 number Amount of the transaction
<disputed-amount> 12 number  
<security> 255 alpha Security info
<investigator>     Container for Investigator Info
<first-name> 30 alpha First Name
<last-name> 30 alpha Last Name
<response-date> 10 mm/dd/yyyy  
<representative>     Container for rep info
<id> 12 number Rep CRD ID
<location>     Container for rep location
<city> 15 alpha  
<state> 2 alpha  
<zip> 5 number  
<supervisor>     Container for Rep's supervisor
<first-name> 30 alpha First Name
<last-name> 30 alpha Last Name
<employed> 1 Y/N Rep's employment status
<disciplinary-action> 1 alpha Code = W, T, F, S
<comment> 255   Freeform comment
<statutory-disqualification>     Container for SD info
<party-name> 30 alpha  
<party-company> 10 alpha  
<relationship> 1 alpha Code = A, F, O, R
<explanation> 50 alpha  


Hints about XML: Like HTML, every open tag must have a close tag. While indention is not necessary, it does allow potential debugging of a faulty script easier.

 

Sample XML Formatted Complaints Batch File

 

<filings-3070>
<complaint>
<id>54</id>
<date>01/01/1999</date>
<firm-id>7684</firm-id>
<branch-id>112</branch-id>
<branch-zip>20878</branch-zip>
<contact>
<phone-number>(301) 123-4567</phone-number>
<first-name>James</first-name>
<last-name>Smith</last-name>
</contact>
<related-to>
<other></other>
<rep>1</rep>
<firm></firm>
<affiliate></affiliate>
</related-to>
<product>03</product>
<problem>12</problem>
<customer>
<account-number>34534KK34</account-number>
<first-name>Joe</first-name>
<last-name>Smith</last-name>
</customer>
<transaction>
<activity-date>03/12/1998</activity-date>
<amount>345.67</amount>
<disputed-amount>286.22</disputed-amount>
<security>GE common stock</security>
</transaction>
<investigator>
<first-name>Jake</first-name>
<last-name>Remorea</last-name>
</investigator>
<response-date>02/02/1999</response-date>
<representative>
<id>123465</id>
<location>
<city>Mooseville</city>
<state>MD</state>
<zip>20900</zip>
</location>
<supervisor>
<first-name>Josef</first-name>
<last-name>Jones</last-name>
</supervisor>
<employed>Y</employed>
</representative>
<comment>This is test record #1</comment>
</complaint>

 

<complaint>
<id>987654321</id>
<date>01/01/1999</date>
<firm-id>7684</firm-id>
<branch-id>20</branch-id>
<branch-zip>20878</branch-zip>
<contact>
<phone-number>(301) 123-4567</phone-number>
<first-name>James</first-name>
<last-name>Smith</last-name>
</contact>
<related-to>
<other></other>
<rep>1</rep>
<firm></firm>
<affiliate></affiliate>
</related-to>
<product>04</product>
<problem>11</problem>
<customer>
<account-number>34534KK34</account-number>
<first-name>Joe</first-name>
<last-name>Smith</last-name>
</customer>
<transaction>
<activity-date>03/12/1998</activity-date>
<amount>345.67</amount>
<disputed-amount>286.22</disputed-amount>
<security>GE common stock</security>
</transaction>
<investigator>
<first-name>Jake</first-name>
<last-name>Jones</last-name>
</investigator>
<response-date>02/02/1999</response-date>
<representative>
<id>123465</id>
<location>
<city>Mooseville</city>
<state>MD</state>
<zip>20900</zip>
</location>
<supervisor>
<first-name>Josef</first-name>
<last-name>Jones</last-name>
</supervisor>
<employed>Y</employed>
</representative>
<comment>This is test record #2</comment>
</complaint>
</filings-3070>

 

All tags must be listed even if empty. Leading and trailing spaces, tabs, and carriage returns are dropped. Filings that do not conform to this format will not load.

 

The <id> field in both complaints and disclosures is required and must be unique for the complaint or disclosure. The field may be used to reload or amend a filing. Upon reading the field the system will attempt to match this number and replace (if in draft) or amend (if submitted) based on the value of this field. ID numbers may not be reused each month. It is very important that this number is unique across all submissions. (If the number 7 was used in July 98 and now appears again in the current file, the system will assume that the new filing is an amendment of the 98 filing). Numbering may begin with 1 with the start of the use of this format.

 

When a filing is loaded to the system via batch it is validated and if it passes it is immediately submitted. Any filing within this batch that does not pass validation will be placed in the "Draft filings" area. Users have to correct the errors and re-submit it.

 

7. Filing Maintenance

 

Users are provided with capability to:

 

  • Edit filings that are in "Draft" status
  • Amend filings that are in "Submitted" status
  • Delete "Draft" or "Submitted" filings. Users should enter comments when deleting submitted filings.