Second Chance Checking Accounts
There are a lot of individuals in this tight economy that are having financial trouble. Some people have had their checking account go into the negative, and they’ve not been able to pay the money back. If the person can’t pay the money back, the bank may close that individual’s account and set his or her name on the chexsystems list. This is basically the same as having poor credit.
When you’re put on chexsystems, you are basically put on a blacklist which other banks use when they make judgements about opening new accounts for potential clients. For the most part, banks use chexsystems, however they could also use credit checks as a means of doing a background check on prospective customers. When your name pops up on chexsystems, the financial institution will probably deny you the ability to open up a new bank account. Some banks will not even permit you to open a new savings account, but there are still a few that will allow you to open a savings account even if your name is on this blacklist.
A second chance checking account, is exactly what it sounds like. This is a second chance in the financial world. There are several banks around that provide these checking accounts. One big bank that has a second chance checking account is Wells Fargo. These people call this bank account the opportunity checking account. You can have a Visa debit card, and your maximum spending limit is going to be $500 per day. Additionally, you are going to have a holding period on your checks. This is not a bad offer considering the fact that it is very tough to go through day-to-day life without debit cards or a bank account.
So what happens when you can’t get a second chance checking account?
Presently there are a couple choices for you to take when you are down this unfortunate financial path.
- It is possible to open up a checking account with a bank that doesn’t use chexsystems
- You may get a secured credit card or prepaid card
Although most banks use chexsystems, there are still a few of them out there that do not use it when they make decisions regarding opening new accounts. More than likely the ones you will probably have a chance with are credit unions. It is very likely that the larger the bank is, the larger the chance that bank is using chexsystems. Non-chexsystems banks will use some other form of background checks, and I will most likely be a credit check. If your credit is bad, then you are most likely going to need a second chance checking account.
If you’re having a hard time finding a second chance checking account or banks that don’t use chexsystems, one fast and easy option is to open up a secured credit card or a prepaid card. This can be a short-term option to being able to use a card to pay off your bills. Not everybody out there has a credit card, and when these people lose the capability to work with a checking account to pay their bills it makes things extremely difficult.
