What we do when your institution calls

Every plan includes all of the following.
We answer.
A trained paralegal on our staff takes the call and confirms that TCL is your trusted contact.
We reach you — and the person you chose.
If your institution contacts us about a potential scam, we contact you and the professional, friend, or family member you designated at enrollment. You decide in advance who else gets that call.
We tell you and your institution what we think.
We give a recommendation on whether the transaction should be stopped or allowed to proceed.
We raise the temporary hold.
Under FINRA Rule 2165, a firm that reasonably suspects exploitation of an eligible customer may pause a disbursement for up to 15 business days, extendable by 10 and then by 30. Many people never learn this protection exists. We will ask the firm to consider it.
We go after the scammer.
On your request, we send a cease-and-desist letter to the scammer by email, text, and fax.
We document everything.
Contemporaneous records of what was said, when, and by whom — which matters a great deal if there is a later dispute about what the institution knew.
You also get access to TCL's ScamBuster AI interface and our financial exploitation educational materials at every plan level. And if your institution has no trusted contact form of its own — which, as our research found, is true of most banks and credit unions and many advisory firms — we supply one for you to send.

Three Plans

Every plan buys the same core protection. The higher plans add earlier notice to your institution, direct access to a lawyer, and an automatic tripwire on large withdrawals.

Service (monthly)
Essential
$4.99
Advantage
$9.99
Guardian
$19.99
Authorization to list TCL as your trusted contact ✓ ✓ ✓
TCL supplies a trusted contact form if your institution has none ✓ ✓ ✓
TCL confirms the representation on your institution's request ✓ ✓ ✓
If your institution reports a potential scam, TCL alerts you and the person you designated ✓ ✓ ✓
TCL paralegal communicates with your institution ✓ ✓ ✓
Cease-and-desist letter to scammers by email, text and fax, on request ✓ ✓ ✓
Recommendation to you and your institution: stop the transaction, or proceed ✓ ✓ ✓
ScamBuster AI interface and financial exploitation education materials ✓ ✓ ✓
TCL writes to your institution to confirm it is your trusted contact — ✓ ✓
Unlimited attorney phone conferences about a suspected scam, including review of the scammer's letters, emails, texts and screenshots — ✓ ✓
The 5% Rule. TCL asks your institution in writing to contact us if you withdraw more than 5% of your balance at once, or within any 60-day period — — ✓
What the 5% Rule actually does.

Most trusted contact protection is reactive—it depends on your institution noticing something and deciding to call. The 5% Rule flips that. It asks your institution, in writing and in advance, to contact us whenever a withdrawal crosses a defined threshold. It converts a judgment call into a standing instruction, which is the difference between a scam caught on day one and one discovered on the next statement.

What we are not

Role Can move your money? Sees your account? Is TCL this?
Trusted contact No No Yes
Power of attorney Yes Yes No
Joint owner Yes Yes No
Financial advisor Per authorization Yes No
Beneficiary After death No No

We do not give investment advice, do not manage assets, and do not sell financial products. We serve one narrow function, and we are transparent about how narrow it is.

How enrollment works

  1. Enroll with TCL. We collect only what we need to reach you and to identify which institutions you have named us with. No account numbers. No credentials.
  2. Add us at your institution. Most firms let you do this online in a few minutes, by phone, or on a short form. We will tell you exactly what to enter for each of your institutions.
  3. Confirm and forget it. You will get confirmation from us once the designation is in place. Then, ideally, nothing happens for a very long time.

Important. The Trusted Contact Law Firm serves as a trusted contact person. A trusted contact has no authority to access, manage, or transact in your accounts, and naming TCL does not make TCL your power of attorney, legal guardian, trustee, executor, or investment adviser.

Serving as a trusted contact does not guarantee that fraud will be detected or prevented, that your institution will contact us, or that any loss will be avoided or recovered. Whether a financial institution places a temporary hold on a transaction is the institution's decision; FINRA Rule 2165 permits holds but does not require them.

Services vary by plan, as set out in the comparison table above. Written notice to your institution and unlimited attorney phone conferences are included on the Advantage and Guardian plans only; the 5% Rule is included on the Guardian plan only. TCL cannot compel a financial institution to honor a 5% Rule notice or to contact TCL, and an institution’s willingness to accept a law firm as a trusted contact, or to act on our recommendation, is outside our control.

Trusted contact requirements described on this page arise under FINRA rules applicable to broker-dealers. Banks and credit unions are not governed by those rules, and their practices vary.

This page is attorney advertising and general information only. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. [INSERT: bar admission, principal office, and any jurisdiction-specific advertising disclosures.]