I recently saw a post on Jay Fleishman’s New York Bankruptcy and Consumer Law Blog where he made a very good point – that is if you are having trouble opening a checking or savings account, you should investigate to see whether Chex Systems has negative information in your file. ChexSystems is subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act and derogatory and inaccurate info can be challenged. Banks use ChexSystems to see if you have bounced any checks – if so, your application for a new bank account can be denied.
Here is the link to getting a ChexSystems report. If you get your report and it contains accurate but damaging information, you may want to contact the bank involved and settle up your dispute. If there is negative but inaccurate info in your file, you should dispute the negative entry just like you would a derogatory entry in a credit report.