I went to a local bank and was told I could not open an account, due to something reported in Chex System. They gave me a form to fill out and send in, I did. It came back clear as a bell, what gives?

Have you applied for 3 or more bank accounts within the last 90 day period? Some banks will refuse an account based on this information.

No, I've been at one bank for a long time, but wanted to change my account to a smaller locally owned bank, where I have my car loan. I was SHOCKED. You would think they would want me to have my account there. Do you suppose that chex system tells banks one thing and when you question it, they tell the consumer another..just a thought

There was no negative information on the report, and no inquiries?

Show the report you received to the bank and ask them what gives. I suppose a person at the bank could have been given incorrect information, or they misunderstood what was told to them.

Ask them to check again. If negative information again comes back, ask them to read your report to the operator and ask the why the difference, while they are still on the line. The operator has no authority to do anything you will need to talk to a supervisor if there is a difference.

I had an instance where I wrote a merchant a check to pay for a purchase and the check insurer indicated that I had no account at the bank I wrote the check on. I questioned this and the merchant was kind enough to let me use their phone to talk to them. They went so far as to say they called my bank and was told I didn't have an account there.

My response was that a 8 Am in the morning I know for a fact there was no one in the bank to even answer the phone. These people will flat lie to you. I finally got a supervisor who admitted they did not call but that they would, and find out what the problem was. I called back in an hour and was told I still didn't have an account. I told her I was now standing in the lobby of my bank with the operations office who said she never called them to verify anything on my account.

I went over the bank name and routing number with the check ex supervisor and found out that there system was showing a different bank for the routing number of my bank. She did make the correction to their system, and I finally completed my purchase. The fact that I knew more about the banking system than the insurer alowed me to counter their misrepresentation and was the only thing that saved me from a protracted mess. (Plus maintain my cool)

It took a half day to get this squared away and If I followed the requested procedures it probably would still be an issue.

They do make mistakes. Good Luck

Good thing you knew a thing or two. I had no idea about any of this kind of stuff. I got my report back yesterday from Chex System and there is not one Bad thing on it in any of it's catagories.

Do you have any credit at all? I know you mentioned a car loan, but not all banks report car loans to the credit bureaus. The lack of a credit history can give you a negative score with ChexSystems as well. Some banks will take this into consideration while others will not.

how do i check to see if i am in the chex system before going to a bank?

Credit information is not reported to ChexSystems.

Anon, you cannot check before going to a bank. However, you should know. If a bank has closed your account account in the past 5 years for abuse, overdrafts, or similar activity, you may assume you have been reported to them. Also, if you have bounced checks at retail businesses that you have not paid, you will also be in ChexSystems.