Looking for a list of which banks do not use ChexSystems? You can stop looking because here’s why that no longer matters.
ChexSystems is a type of credit report function banks use to determine the worthiness of anyone applying for a checking account. If you have had a problem in the past with overdraft fees or a charged off checking account, that bank probably reported you to ChexSystems and that information is reviewed by any future banks with whom you attempt to open a checking account. If you are in ChexSystems, you will probably be denied a checking account.
In addition, there’s another deposit reporting system out there called Early Warning Services which was started by Bank of America and is now networked with a number of large institutions. Any issues you have had could have been reporting to one or both of these services.
You know what, though?
It doesn’t matter.
Your real question should be:
“How can I manage my money and pay my bills without a checking account?”
When you have run up against a difficult situation that caused a problem with your checking account, you can’t let it cause you to fall behind on everything else. You still need to have the money for bills, rent, a mortgage, your car payment and your regular living expenses in one convenient place where you can access it as needed and use it to pay your bills.
Forget ChexSystems. Forget Early Warning Services. Reloadable credit cards let you do all the things you could do with a checking account – except manually write a check. And, is that such an issue?
Reloadable credit cards do not care what problems you have had with a checking account in the past. They are not going to check Chexsystems or Early Warning Services. They only care that you have ID they can verify. They are not going to pull a credit report, either.
What they will do, though, is let you:
- deposit your money in whatever form it comes in – direct deposit, check, cash
- use that money to direct bill payments online to whomever you need to pay
- manage your money online
- withdraw money from an ATM
- make purchases with a Visa or MasterCard branded credit card
Keep in mind, these reloadable credit cards are not really ‘credit’ cards. No one is loaning you money. The money on the card is yours that you have already deposited. The card acts like a debit or credit card, though, when you use it at point-of-sale purchases. Everywhere the brand is accepted, just like the commercial says.
Relax. Knowing which banks do not use ChexSystems doesn’t need to be your concern at all. Now there’s a way for you to manage your money using all the tools you used to have with a checking account except the checks and, really, who is going to miss those?
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