Comments on: More Than a Cereal: What You Should Know About ChexSystems

By: Dani

Dani — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:39:27 +0000

I was turned down twice by the same bank and two years apart. There should be nothing to report. I’ve worked in banking for decades and maintained my DDA accounts in an exemplary manner. Before Chexsystems would tell me what they were reporting, I would have to provide a huge amount of personal information. I wouldn’t give them the information so I never find out. Also Chexsystems is regional and if you move to another state they may not have your information and you can be turned down for lack information as well as negative information. It’s possible we were turned down because our drivers licenses didn’t match our state.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:20:20 +0000

I work at a bank, and you’re right, we do check everyone against Chexsystems. (We also check everyone against OFAC too) I’m not sure what how strict our rules are though since I don’t open accounts yet. I have seen people get turned down though so they are probably pretty strict.
Anyway I most know about Chexsystems from working at the mall; every time someone wrote a check to pay for something, we had to run their check and their driver’s license through our Chexsystems machine. If it came up bad, we had to reject the check and ask them to pay another way. We had little cards with 1-800 numbers to give to the customer, so the customer could call and figure out what was up. At my first job, our boss used to tell people that sometimes, Chexsystems would reject their check if they didn’t have enough information in their records about the person, like if it was a new account or something. I don’t know if that’s true or not but I always told people that when I had to turn them down because I felt bad.

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Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:36:17 +0000

[...] What You Should Know About ChexSystems. ChexSystems is a reporting system for banks that I wasn’t aware of until I read this article. [...]

By: Donna

Donna — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:48:00 +0000

I did some research into this for a friend who had an account go up in flames when she had a bout of serious mental illness a couple of years back. In her case, there is nothing she can do but wait for these things to drop off her Chexsystems report, but there are ways to get an account if you are in the same situation as my friend.

This woman maintains an up-to-date list of banks and credit unions who will work with you if you have something on your Chexsystems report. (All data on a Chexsystems report is negative – this isn’t like a credit report.)

http://www.chexsystemsvictims.com/AboutmyList.html

In my friend’s case, she was able to get an online checking account with Bank of America. If you apply at a branch, they will reject you. For some reason, they’re not running Chexsystems reports for online banking.

By: Amber C

Amber C — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:29:02 +0000

Wow, I had never heard of this either. Good to know.

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Friday Linkfest: Ouchie Edition | beingfrugal.net — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:01:23 +0000

[...] More Than a Cereal: What You Should Know About ChexSystems at Mrs. Micah. I had never heard about ChexSystems until I read this article. [...]

By: Student Scrooge

Student Scrooge — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:39:54 +0000

ChexSystems is pretty scary — very few people know of it, and it is easy to even inadvertently end up on the the ChexSystems bad list. For people who like to “game” bank sign-up bonuses, it is important to be aware that opening too many accounts in a short period will trigger a ChexSystems rejection, which is bad, as it will be pretty hard to open a normal bank account with any national bank with a ChexSystems flag.

On the bright side, my understanding is that really the only things that can hurt you on ChexSystems are (a) breaking the bank’s rules (bouncing checks, failing to pay, fees, etc.) and (b) opening too many accounts in a short period of time. At least you don’t have to worry about something like a FICO score for checking accounts.

By: mrsmicah

mrsmicah — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:48:50 +0000

@Zhu, glad to help!

Because I live in a lower-income area, I often see advertisements for payday loans, bad credit stuff, etc. I recently saw something about ChexSystems and decided to look into it. But most people don’t even hear about it until they’ve already been denied.

By: Zhu

Zhu — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:44:53 +0000

So many things I don’t know about finances… it’s scary, really.

I first heard of credit report this year, thanks to you, and I ordered mine for free by mail from Equifax. So far so good.

Thanks helping us becoming money-savy! It’s not that easy when you move to a different country that has a different system…

By: Aya @ Thrive

Aya @ Thrive — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:42:43 +0000

Good thing to know! Just another reason to stay on top of your finances, real consequences…!