Imagine this: you head off to the bank to open an account — something that practically everyone in the western world takes for granted — only to find out that you are rejected. You are told records show you’ve had some financial difficulties in the past and the bank is unable to start a relationship with you. This leaves you out in the cold. Welcome to the new world of ChexSystems — a company you didn’t know exists until it’s prevented you from getting a bank account.
If you are denied from getting a bank account, the reason is ChexSystems or Telecheck. Both of these entities function as the credit watchdogs of the banking world. Now they don’t look at your credit history in terms of your credit score, but they track your “banking” history. If you’ve messed up your banking history in the past in some way — be it owing the bank money or simply cashing a string of bounced checks, your name will likely have found itself on the ChexSystems list. And once on this list, it’s downright impossible to get it off.
Let’s skip to the chase here: what can you do to get a bank account? Well you pretty much have six options at this point:
1. Get a Second Chance Bank Account
2. Wait 5 years for your name to be dropped from ChexSystems.
3. Find a bank that doesn’t use ChexSystems or the less popular Telecheck.
4. Open an Internet Bank Account that’s designed for people who can’t open a physical bank account (called a Second Chance Account)
5. Get a prepaid visa card that works a lot like a virtual bank account, except you use a visa card
Option one is probably the best option out there out of them all. It’s also the cheapest one too. Basically, a second chance account is a bank account made for people who have their name in the ChexSystems database. Think of it as a “trial” bank account where you prove to the banking world that you can be a good banking client. After a period of time when you prove you are trustworthy, you may be eligible to open a normal bank account again. You can sign up and see the details of this program with the banner below:
Option two is the easiest: you just wait. If you can afford to be without a bank account for 5 years, simply wait that period. You should be able to open a bank account. Regrettably, most people will tell you this is not a practical option. That leaves you with opening a second chance bank account or using something like a prepaid credit card that replaces your bank account. You should consider at least getting a copy of your ChexSystems report. You can get it for free from their website.
Option three is a good one and the best solution. The problem comes when you try to find a non chexsystems bank. Frankly, these are pretty darn hard to find. You might find a few so called bank lists floating around on the web, but from what i’ve seen, these are all fake, outdated, or don’t work. And don’t let someone try and “sell” you one of these lists. It’s all crap. Still it is possible to get a bank account with a bank that does not use the chexsystems network. You might need to look for smaller, local banks or credit unions. Major bank chains like bank of america will certainly use chexsystems. But, you can’t use the web to find out if a bank uses chexsystems or not. You are going to have to pick up the phone and start calling — something a lot of people simply are too shy to do.
Option four is perhaps the best replacement for your bank account. A second chance internet bank account is basically like your regular bank account. You are given a debit/atm card just like a normal bank would and you can make all your normal ATM withdraws and deposits with that card. You can use a website interface to check your balance, make transfers, pay bills, etc. Basically, it’s a regular bank account except you don’t have a physical location. The drawbacks, and there are always drawbacks, is that these bank accounts are more expensive. You pay more in transaction fees and some may have higher monthly fees. If you can afford the slightly higher costs, this is your best bet.
Option five is basically getting some kind of secured credit card that works like a bank. You pay for a prepaid visa card which holds a balance (just like you deposit money to your bank account and use a card to access that money). You can add more money to your prepaid visa card account, just like you can add money to a bank account. Think of it as an alternative bank account, but one attached to a credit card. But once you have nothing on the card, you need to put more money one it — it’s not a credit card where you put a negative balance on it. These cards tend to be cheaper than second chance accounts — there are less fees associated with them.
So there we go: the four best ways to do no credit check banking after your name is added to the ChexSystems database.
