Everything was fine for June Smith. She had a good job, lived in a good neighborhood, and enjoyed being part of her community and staying involved in her children’s activities.
One day she was writing a check at the grocery store, and the cashier handed it back to her with a frown. “I’m sorry, we can’t accept this – there’s an issue reported in ChexSystems.”
ChexSystems? June had never heard of such a thing. She paid with her debit card, then headed home to look up ChexSystems on Google. What she found horrified her.
- ChexSystems is a “consumer credit reporting agency” that looks at check-writing history and banking habits instead of credit card use and loan payments.
- Consumers in ChexSystems are often not aware of the system or of what landed them in the consumer credit reporting agency.
- A listing in the ChexSystems database can lead to checks being refused, and bank accounts being closed – with slim chance of being accepted at another bank for a new account.
- ChexSystems records can remain in consumer files for five years or more.
June immediately called her bank, and was told that ChexSystems had reported her account as having multiple overdrafts, and that her check-writing privileges had been suspended. June was horrified. The bank manager added that they didn’t see such activity in her current history with them, but perhaps it was from a former account…
This was not good news. June was in shock. How was she supposed to pay her rent, which was by check, or for her daughter’s school field trip, as the school only accepted checks? She had banked at this bank for over twelve years and never had an account anywhere else. How could this be happening?
June found a form she could fill out and send to ChexSystems asking for a report. While she waited, she had to endure humiliating experiences, like purchasing a money order to pay her rent, and pleading with the school to accept cash for her daughter’s planned trip.
As it turned out, it wasn’t June who was supposed to be in the ChexSystems database at all. Someone with a similar name at the same bank with an account number just one digit off of hers had bounced some checks, and June’s information had been associated with it due to a typo.
June spent months trying to get ChexSystems to remove the erroneous information, including hours on the phone in her few spare minutes during working hours each day and countless trips to the post office to send documents that had to be first notarized at the very bank in which she was embarrassed to set foot.
Everything was eventually rectified, but June wished she had had someone on her side, an experienced team who could assist her through the process. Too bad she didn’t know about CFS!
Here are six things to do if your name is in ChexSystems.
- Call CFS for help.
- Get a copy of your ChexSystems report.
- Go through your bank records to try to find the problem.
- Sit down with a bank official to get ahead of the issue.
- Gather as much documentation as you can
- Make backup plans to get you through the interval.
June could have had her problem solved much sooner if she had known about ChexSystems and the steps to take to resolve her issues.