June 30th marked the eighteenth anniversary of the enactment of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National (ESIGN) Commerce Act. Passed by the United States Congress in 2000, the act facilitates the use of electronic records and signatures in interstate or foreign commerce. Dubbed “National eSign Day”, the act has been instrumental in empowering credit unions to enhance their members’ experience and advance the cooperative movement at large.

The ability to apply digital signatures to electronic documents has returned value to credit unions by saving them time, money, and resources. For example, eDOC Innovations’ eSign solution, eDOCSignature, has saved credit unions 1,020,000 sheets of paper (127 full grown trees), and more than $55,000 in printer ink over the last two years. In addition to resources saved, credit unions now are closing nearly 50% of their loans electronically, increasing speed to closure and saving their members time. Similar value is being added by all eSignature solutions penetrating the credit union space.

“eDOC Innovations has been a pioneer in electronic signature technology since the ESIGN act was enacted into law,” stated Mark Fierro, executive vice president at eDOC Innovations. “It has been a long road, and each day we see greater utilization of eSignatures in a wide variety of industries. National eSign Day is a great reminder that you can do almost everything electronically. Please join us in celebrating National eSign Day and finally ditch the paper and pen for good!”