Uploading Your AML/KYC

While Equifund is not a banking institution, we follow all AML/KYC regulations as part of our compliance protocols.

In order to verify your identity, we have to collect what’s called Personal Identification Information (PII); this includes your name, address, date of birth, nationality, and tax identification number (i.e. your social security number if investing as an individual).

If you haven’t logged into the new membership website, you’ll need to reset your password (go here to do that).

Inside your “My Account” page, you will see a list of PII we are required to collect as part of our Customer Identification Program (CIP). You will need to enter all of this information before you can invest in any opportunities listed on Equifund.

Please note that any extremely sensitive information required for KYC is encrypted in our database.

This information is then checked against a database of “watchlists” and “blacklists.” If the information you provided does not match information in these databases, our AML/KYC provider will “clear” your identity and your transaction can be accepted.

In some cases, our AML/KYC provider will ask for additional documentation in order to verify your identity. This may include things like:

• A valid government-issued identification: state-issued identification card, driver's license, or federally-issued passport are accepted. Military IDs are not accepted.
  
  
• Proof of address (in English): Must be a utility bill, bank statement, or letter from a government agency, dated within the last 90 days. 

Please be advised: All proof of address documentation must be in English. For investors whose native language is not English, they may request an official translation of any accepted document, or otherwise request an “address verification” document from a financial institution in English.

The easiest way to get this done is to ask your bank for a document, on letterhead, stating something to the effect of "We certify that [Name of Investor] lives at [Address]"

To upload these documents, you can do so in the Document Upload Center section of the member dashboard. To get there, click the My Account button at the top of the screen then click the Document Upload button. 

Once you click those buttons, you’ll see a screen with several upload fields that looks like this:

Click on the appropriate field and select the document you are uploading. Once you do this, the “Document Name” will automatically be named the same as the file name on your computer.

As a general consideration, please upload each document individually, not as one large combined file.

If you are investing as a Corporation, Trust, or IRA, in addition to providing documentation for all parties investing (called “Associated Persons”), you will always need to provide additional documentation verifying ownership of the entity.

For Corporations (i.e. LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp), you will need to provide:

• Articles of Incorporation
• Operating agreement (must be signed)
• Proof of company address dated within the last 90 days (i.e. bank statement).

In some cases, you will also be asked to provide:

• Proof the company is in good standing
• EIN verification letter provided by the IRS

For Trusts, you will need to provide:

• Trust Agreement (or Trust Deed): This is an estate planning document that allows you to transfer ownership of your assets to a third party. The Grantor is the person (i.e you) who created the Trust. A Trustee is a person who acts as a custodian for the assets held within a Trust.

• Proof of address dated within the last 90 days (i.e. bank statement).

For Self-Directed IRAs (SDIRA) you will not need to provide additional information, as long as your individual KYC clears

This means if you have a custodian controlled SDIRA, you will likely not be required to submit any additional documentation.

However, if you have a checkbook IRA – which are structured as a corporation or a trust – you will need to upload the appropriate documentation.

After you have selected all the necessary documents, click UPDATE PROFILE. If you do not click the UPDATE PROFILE button, your documents will not be uploaded.