My son, a former poor college student, closed a bank account, forgot about an outstanding check, and subsequently the check bounced, the bank assessed fees, and eventually reported him to Chexsystems. He contended that they shouldn’t have assessed the fees as the account was closed. ANYWAY, now he can’t get a checking account for five years. I never even knew such an agency existed until this incident. He can’t find a bank that will help him and recently his father gave him a gift of $10,000 and he, unbelieveably, had no place to deposit it. Does anyone know of a bank that does not use this questionable agency to screen people who want a checking or savings account? I can’t believe the federal government doesn’t regulate this business. To be without a checking account for five years in this society is a major inconvenience. If this had been in place years ago when I was going to school and working full time I would have been unable to get a checking account when I was a Revenue Office for the IRS and a federal bank examiner. How much sense does it make to treat everyone like a criminal when they may just be kids learning the consequences of being careless? In any case, there are supposedly a small number of banks that don’t require you to pass the “chexsystems” test.
This link should be helpful:
I did have a problem years ago when I was starting college. I could not get a checking account, even though I’d never had one before. After contacting Chexsystems they claimed I wasn’t who I said I was since they had a different name for my SSN. Eventually they fixed the mistake (after about two years of my time). Luckily my sister was kind enough to let me keep my money in her account.
I don’t know if this will help you since this is a different sort of incident, but just letting you know that it is possible to reason with them (it just takes a long time).