Second chance banking is a special form those who have been reported to ChexSystems. Bad bank credit can prevent you from opening a bank account. With a trouble economy, more and more people are finding themselves on the ChexSystems list. The solution is to open a bad credit bank account – also called a second chance checking account.
Most people assume that bad credit history stops you from being able to open a bank account. However, this is not true. People with bad credit history may find they have problems opening new bank accounts because they are struggling financially and have mishandled their bank account, resulting in a bad bank credit report being sent to ChexSystems or Telecheck.
How do you get reported to ChexSystems? Typically, if you repeatedly write bad checks, default on bank payments in some way, or consistently mismanage your bank account, there is a strong possibility you will be reported to ChexSystems. CheckSystems is sort of like the Equifax of the banking world. Like credit history, bad bank credit history will stay on your “bank record” for 5 years.
This can leave people who need to open a new bank account with bad credit in a tricky situation. These days, it’s virtually impossible to actually to function in society with a bank account, and not being able to open one can cause a lot of problems.
However, there is hope. A second chance bank account can be opened by someone who is on the ChexSystems list. These are no CheckSystems check accounts. This means your previous banking history is not taken into account.
2nd chance banking offers you most of the common banking features such as an account number, routing number, and debit card. Most second chance bank accounts don’t initially allow the cashing of checks, but if your account is in good standing after a certain period of time, checking may be added to your second chance bank account. Keep in mind that this may very depending on the company offering the second chance checking account – some bank companies may throw in checking right from the start.
How to open a second chance bank account for bad credit? The best way is to look around on the internet to see what sort of second chance banking you can find. There are many online (reliable) bank companies that will offer you a second chance account. You should examine as many of the offers as possible to find the best deal. It’s important that you do this comparison shopping because not all the terms from company to company will be the same – you can get better second chance checking options with some companies over other companies.
So if you can’t open a bank account with bad credit, a second chance banking is the solution you need. One advantage to having such account is that in time you will be able to use the second chance account to “repair” your banking credit score and open a regular account.
There is one other option you might want to pursue as well. You can seek out non chexsystems banks — that is, banks that don’t incorporate ChexSystems into their banking structure. These days it’s harder to find a bank that doesn’t incorporate this, but it’s worth your time and effort if you don’t want to pursue Second Chance Banking or wait the standard 5 years to be dropped from the ChexSystems database.
