Help for those on ChexSystems
You innocently walk into a bank or credit union to open up a new
checking account and BAM you are introduced to the cold hard
world of ChexSystems. You are told they can not open an account
for you because your name appears on some list that you had
never even heard of. What do you do? Several years ago, I was in
this position. I had recently gotten married and wanted to add
my new wife to my bank account. Imagine my surprise when the new
accounts representative told us that she would not be able to
add my wife to my account. She told me that I had an entry in
ChexSystems and it was the banks' policy not to open a new
account for anyone listed in ChexSystems. At that point, I had
never heard of ChexSystems and was shocked that this company
that I had never heard of was controlling my life. The new
account representative suggested that I contact ChexSystem
directly as she had no idea what the problem was as her system
simply returned a "REJECT" message. I left the bank feeling
confused and frustrated and embarrassed that I could not
accomplish a simple task like adding my wife to my bank account.
So, I went home and got on the internet and learned everything
that I could about ChexSystems. I was shocked to find out how
many people were being negatively affected by being listed on
ChexSystems. This was a really big problem and an injustice to
millions of good and decent people. It planted the seed for me
to later create this website in hopes that I can help people who
have been affected by the SYSTEM.
Soon after the incident at the bank, I wrote to ChexSystems to
request a copy of my report. I wanted an explanation!!! I wanted
to know what information this agency that I had never heard of
was collecting about me. Several weeks later I received the
report. There was one entry in a section called "Reported
Information" that was causing all the problems. There were other
sections of the report but they apparently were not an issue.
The reported information included the name of the financial
institution, my name and address at the time of the incident and
a partial account number. Next to a line called "Reported For"
was OVERDRAFTS. Next to Debt Reported was a statement that
ChexSystems has no debt information available and did not even
know if a debt was still owed and suggested I contact the
financial institution that reported this. Great, this was
turning into a wild goose chase.
It took several months, many letters and phone calls but I
finally got the entire story. I was doing contract work out east
and had opened up a checking account for convenience. One of the
last things I did before returning west was purchase airline
tickets. The travel agency agreed to make the reservations if I
provided a credit/debit card but I had arranged to pay for the
tickets with cash. I paid for the tickets in cash and returned
west and that was the end of the story, so I thought.
Apparently, several weeks later, the travel agency had charged
my card for the tickets even though they had already been paid
in cash. This caused my account to become overdrawn. I had moved
back west so none of the mail reached me. I tried to explain all
this to ChexSystems and the financial institution that reported
me to ChexSystems but nobody listened. That is where things are
today. I am still in ChexSystems today for 1 more year.
Fortunately, there are financial institutions out there today
that will work with you. That is why I created http://www.checkingforyou.com I wanted more
options for selecting my new checking account. I did not want to
be limited to a few internet banks and others that had
inconvenient locations or unreasonable fees. So, I decided to do
research and contact thousands of financial institutions and
find out which ones had reasonable policies regarding
ChexSystems. The result of our extensive research is a
comprehensive list of more than 600 banks and credit unions that
have expressed a willingness to work with you despite the fact
that you are listed on ChexSystems.
I want to share my research with you as I know it is frustrating
and sometimes embarrassing to deal with financial institutions
when you are in ChexSystems. I want to give you a fighting
chance to suceed by helping you target the banks that are most
likely to be willing to open a new checking account for you. If
you are in ChexSystems and having a problem finding a bank that
will work with you, stop by our site and give our services a
try. http://www.checkingforyou.com