Colorado Banks Could Soon Freeze Suspicious Transfers to Stop Elder Fraud.

What This Bill Actually Does

Under current law, if a bank teller sees a confused 80-year-old trying to wire $50,000 to a "foreign lottery official," their hands are often tied by strict banking regulations requiring them to process customer transactions promptly. House Bill 26-1110, also known as the ASSET Act (Adults' Security and Safeguards from Exploitation in Transactions Act), changes the playbook. It allows banks and credit unions to legally delay a transaction if they reasonably suspect an eligible adult is being financially exploited. The bill defines an eligible adult as anyone 70 or older, or anyone 18 and older who lacks the physical or mental capacity to protect themselves from mistreatment.

When a bank decides to pause a transaction, a strict clock starts ticking. The financial institution has two business days to notify all authorized parties on the account (except the suspected scammer) and must immediately alert local law enforcement or the county's Adult Protective Services (APS). From there, the bank can hold the funds for up to 90 days while conducting an internal review. If they are waiting on an official police or APS investigation to wrap up, they can extend that freeze for an additional 90 days, maxing out at 180 days unless a judge orders the delay to be lifted.

To get financial institutions on board with playing detective, the bill offers a massive carrot: civil and administrative immunity. As long as the bank teller, manager, or compliance officer acts in "good faith"—whether they choose to freeze the account or mistakenly let a bad transaction go through—they cannot be sued for their decision. It also mandates that banks hand over relevant transaction records to investigators, explicitly shielding those documents from the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) to protect the vulnerable adult's privacy.

What It Means for You

If you have aging parents or care for a vulnerable family member, this bill provides a vital safety net. Financial exploitation is a booming, billion-dollar industry, and scammers rely on speed to move money offshore before anyone notices. By giving your local bank teller the authority to say "let's wait a minute" when a transaction looks sketchy, the ASSET Act could literally save a family's life savings. It also allows banks to reach out to a trusted third party previously designated on the account. That means you could get a phone call directly from the credit union if your parent suddenly attempts an uncharacteristic, massive wire transfer.

However, there is a very real trade-off here regarding access to your own money. If you or a family member over the age of 70 needs to make a perfectly legitimate, large, and urgent transaction—say, an earnest money deposit for a new home, or paying a contractor for an emergency roof repair—a well-meaning but overzealous bank employee could legally freeze those funds for up to 90 days. Because the bill grants banks blanket immunity as long as they act in good faith, you won't have much legal recourse to sue them for the delay, even if it causes a real-world headache like a breached real estate contract or late fees.

Here is what you should do to prepare:

• Check your parents' accounts: Make sure you or another trusted family member are officially listed as a designated third-party contact on all their bank and credit union accounts.
• Communicate big expenses: If you are over 70 and planning a major, unusual transfer (like buying a car or funding a grandchild's tuition), give your bank a heads-up beforehand to avoid triggering an accidental fraud freeze.
• Make your voice heard: If you have strong feelings about giving banks this much power over private deposits, contact the House Finance Committee members before they vote on the measure.

What It Means for Your Business

If you run a bank or credit union in Colorado, this is the safe harbor legislation your compliance team has been waiting for. Currently, qualified individuals (tellers, loan officers, branch managers) are caught between a rock and a hard place: let a scammer drain a senior's account, or deny the transaction and get sued by the customer for illegally withholding funds. The ASSET Act grants your institution full civil and administrative immunity, provided your team acts in good faith. You'll need to update your compliance manuals immediately to reflect the rigid timeline: you must notify account holders and law enforcement within two business days of delaying a disbursement, and resolve the hold within the 90 to 180-day statutory window.

For non-bank businesses—like real estate developers, general contractors, and business owners who frequently deal with high-ticket transactions—this bill introduces a new layer of friction. If your primary customer base includes retirees (think home accessibility remodelers or luxury travel agents), be prepared for the possibility that a client's payment could unexpectedly get frozen. If a 75-year-old client tries to wire you $40,000 for a kitchen remodel and their bank flags it as potential elder fraud, you might be waiting three to six months for that money to clear while Adult Protective Services conducts an investigation.

Here are the action items your business should tackle this week:

• Train your front-line bank staff: If you are a financial institution, start drafting standard operating procedures for how tellers should document a "reasonable belief" of exploitation. Good documentation is how you ensure you qualify for the bill's legal immunity.
• Adjust payment timelines: If your business relies on large deposits from older clients, consider restructuring your contracts to require smaller, incremental milestone payments rather than massive lump sums that might trigger a bank's fraud-prevention algorithms.
• Update your privacy protocols: Banks will need a secure pipeline to share financial records directly with law enforcement, ensuring these sensitive documents are handled correctly under the new records-sharing mandates.

Follow the Money

The official fiscal note for the ASSET Act hasn't been published yet, but the financial mechanics of the bill are fairly straightforward. This legislation doesn't appropriate any new state funding directly, meaning it won't be a massive line item on the state budget. The heavy lifting—and the associated administrative costs—will fall almost entirely on private banks and credit unions, which will have to absorb the overhead of pausing transactions, conducting internal reviews, and mailing out mandatory notices within the strict two-day window.

However, there will be an inevitable ripple effect on local governments and taxpayers. By mandating that banks report every suspected case to local law enforcement or county Adult Protective Services, those agencies are going to see a significant spike in their incoming caseloads. County commissioners and local police departments will need to stretch their existing budgets to investigate these frozen transactions within the 180-day window, which could quietly strain local municipal resources and eventually require more funding for elder-fraud task forces.

Where This Bill Stands

As of right now, HB26-1110 is at the very beginning of its legislative journey. It was officially introduced in the House on February 3, 2026, and immediately assigned to the House Finance Committee. Because it boasts bipartisan, bicameral sponsorship—spearheaded by Representatives Camacho and Jackson, alongside Senators Catlin and Danielson—it has a very strong chance of moving forward. Bills aimed at protecting vulnerable seniors usually garner broad political support across the aisle.

If it passes both chambers and the Governor signs it, the law is slated to take effect just after midnight on August 12, 2026 (assuming the legislature adjourns on May 13 as planned). It will apply to any bank transactions attempted on or after that date. Keep a close eye on the House Finance Committee calendar for the first public hearing; banking lobbyists, civil liberties groups, and elder-care advocates are all likely to show up to weigh in on exactly how much power tellers should have over your money.