People’s Cash Solutions

It often happens like the following scenario. Someone, for whatever reason, does a miscalculation on their checking account and the overdraft fees pile up. The person doesn’t pay back the overdrafts either because they think it’s no big deal, or because they just don’t have the money to. No matter which one of those situations happens to be true, the banks will not just eat up the loss without taking any action on their part. They will indeed write off those amounts as a loss, but the transactions will be reported to Chexsystems, and that person will have a lot of trouble if they try to open a new checking account in most banks.

Some people, after finding out about this, will try and get removed from Chexsystems’ database. That usually entails paying off the amounts that you owe the different banks, but you can’t directly ask to be removed. It’s the banks themselves that have to write and state that you’ve paid the debt. You can easily imagine that this is a process that will take some perseverance, and won’t be able to get solved in a couple of days. In the meantime, you want to be able to carry out your life in a manner that is as close as how it previously was.

To do that, you need to find a company that will offer you an account with pretty much all the conveniences you would get with a regular checking account, even if you are listed on Chexsystems. There are several companies that do this, and today we’re going to focus on Peoples Cash Solutions.

Peoples Cash Solutions offers checking accounts to people who have a negative record on Chexsystems and/or Telecheck. The account that they open for you is FDIC-insured (meaning that you’re protected up to $250,000). The only instance where you will be denied is if you have been reported for fraudulent activity. There is a large pool of people out there who need a second chance bank account. It’s not only because they need to make financial transactions, but also because getting such an account can be the first step towards re-establishing yourself as a good customer for banks.

Features of Peoples Cash Solutions Accounts

Debit Mastercard. A Debit MasterCard is tied to a cardholder’s bank account and can be used to make purchases or obtain cash at more than 25 million locations around the world, including more than 1 million ATMs. Purchases using debit MasterCard are authorized by signed receipt or the use of a PIN. In other words, you can make transactions at any ATM, as well as set up Direct Deposit on your account and have access to that money without having to go to a check cashing store and pay the associated fees. Your MasterCard debit card is covered by MasterCard Zero Liability(TM) for fraudulent use and your account is FDIC insured up to $250,000.

Personal Checkbook. The benefits of actually having a checking account are hard to summarize, because it’s the starting point of most financial transactions. Peoples Cash Solutions offers a checking account with check writing privileges, which means that you don’t have to carry cash and can use checks instead. You can pay your bills through the mail. You can also use your checking account for budgeting purposes, so you can clearly see where your money goes.

Online Bill Pay. Nowadays you can pay almost all your bills online. You won’t have access to online bill pay right then and there, but after just 30 consecutive days of maintaining an account with Peoples Cash Solutions, you will qualify for their Internet Banking solution. Once approved, you will be able to make and schedule payments just like the other online bill payment companies offer their customers.

Online Banking. No longer to you have to go to an ATM or look for a statement to check your available balance. Along with being able to pay your bills online, online banking also allows you to check your balances, so you always know how much money you have left in the bank. You can also transfer money between accounts with a few simple clicks. Other benefits include the ability to reorder checks online as well as talk live to a customer service representative, should you have questions regarding your account.

Online Money Transfers. If you send money to relatives on a regular basis, Peoples Cash Solutions offers a free alternative to fee-laden money transfer services. All you have to do is obtain a separate account or ATM card for the people you send money to. From that point on, you can easily transfer funds to these additional accounts for free.

Overdraft Protection. If you’re facing an emergency, instead of getting a payday loan, you can use this service as an alternative. If you are not enrolled in direct deposit with your employer, you may qualify for up to $300 of ODP. If you have a direct deposit tied to your account, you may qualify for up to $500 of ODP. Not everyone will qualify for this, and there are fees, as well as other terms and conditions associated with this service. This is something that you can address with a customer service representative for more details.

Second Chance Bank Accounts: More Information

Second chance bank accounts come in all flavors, depending on the financial institution that offers them. People whose names are listed with ChexSystems and/or Telecheck are usually the target market. Since they are often desperate for a solution, they often tend not to look for lots of information so that they can make an informed decision.

That’s why, in addition to the information provided above, we want to give a little more to the people out there who have a bad credit history or who have had their accounts closed because of overdrafts and debt problems.

1. The best second chance account offers do not require a minimum account balance, nor do you have to submit to an interview. Since the second chance checking account is specifically designed for people with bad credit, it’s expected that you financial picture will be less-than-perfect.
2. The procedures are relatively simple and straightforward. You fill out the required application, submit ID, provide the funds to open the account, and you should be OK.
3. There are now an increasing number of financial institutions offering these types of accounts, making easier for people in tough situations. But that doesn’t mean that all these offers are good. Some are way better than others even though they charge less fees. In the end, it will all depend on how well you did your homework.

People’s Cash Solutions: Your Opportunity To Get A Second Chance Bank Account

What Can Cause You To Get Reported To ChexSystems?

It’s common knowledge that having your name appear on Chexsystems’ database means that most banks will refuse to open you a checking account. Chexsystems is a reporting agency that provides details of poor consumer banking history to its subscribers. What’s less known is exactly what kind of situations can lead to your information being sent to Chexsystems. Here’s a partial list of incidents that can land you in this bad position.

• Unpaid overdrafts. If your bank paid one or more transactions for you while you didn’t have the money in your account (which is know in the banking vernacular as paying on insufficient funds), they expect you to pay back the amount that they paid for you, plus applicable overdraft fees. If, for any reason, you fail to pay the bank back, they will close the account report the incident to Chexsystems. Other banks will view you as a “risk” and most will deny your application if you try to open new checking accounts with them.
• Repeated overdrafts. This is when you start setting a pattern of overdrawing you account on a regular basis. You might think you’re OK because you always pay the overdraft, and because you reason that the bank also makes money because they collect overdraft fees from you. But the bank might not see it that way. They may reason that you have poor money management skills and that sooner or later you will not be able to meet your obligations. When that happens, they close your account and invite you to bring your business elsewhere. Of course, the incidents are reported to Chexsystems. You know the rest.
• Fraudulent transactions. People who indulge in fraud, whether it be bad checks, debit and/or ATM card fraud and the such, are reported to Chexsystems.
• Identity theft. Sometimes it’s not you, but someone else who steals your identity and then proceeds to do all sorts of bad things while using your information. In these cases, you may have a reprieve, but still it’s a serious situation in the time period between when it blows up and when you’re finally able to clear your name.

We’re not going to get into the fraud scenario. Suffice it to say that even companies that offer non-Chexsystems accounts often have a provision that excludes you if you come to them because you’ve been frauding. Identity theft is also a rather particular situation. It does cause Chexsystems problems, but those problems are not the result of you mismanaging your money. For the other situations, there are products and services out there that meet your needs, and that you can even use to improve your money management and avoid falling into the same situation in the future.

Second Chance Checking Accounts

Whether you’ve been reported to Chexsystems because of unpaid overdrafts, repeated overdrafts, or because someone has stolen your identity, you can’t just sit there and wait five years for your name to be taken off their database. You need to find banking services where you will be able to carry out most financial transactions even though you’re on Chexsystems. We’re talking about direct deposit, debit card, withdrawals and deposits at ATMs, online bill pay, and so on. Since the number of people that are locked out of the traditional banking circuit is pretty large, a number of banks have identified it as a potential market.

In response, many financial institutions have shifted their stance and there are now many banks that don’t use ChexSystems at all to evaluate new customers; some others still do, but do not base their decision solely on what the database says. These banks use this fact as a selling point to attract prospective customers who may have had trouble getting approved by traditional banks. These banks refer to those “different” checking accounts as a second chance checking account or fresh start checking account.

What should a second chance checking account provide?

• The ability to deposit, withdraw, and transfer money from your account
• A debit card with the Visa of Mastercard logo that enables you to make purchases everywhere and also withdraw money from any ATM
• Check writing privileges (sometimes)
• Low opening balance, and no minimum balance requirements
• Low monthly maintenance fee.

Think about it: these days, without a bank account, your options are severely limited. For example, if you get a new job, you may be required to give your employer your account number to receive payments. Some corporations won’t send out checks anymore!

For those people who don’t have any options, a second chance checking account gives them a second chance at a bank account. With good use, you can even use a second chance checking account as a stepping stone to open a normal account in a six to twelve month time frame, provided that you show discipline in how you’ve managed your account during the time that you’ve had it.

Make sure you do plenty of research before actually getting a second chance bank account. There are different type of second chance accounts and you want to make sure you choose the one that best fits your situation.

© Reported To ChexSystems? Try Second Chance Checking Accounts

People looking for a list of banks that do not use ChexSystems come from all walks of life. In most cases they have been in bad situations and they’ve had checks bounce. The banks that they held their accounts with decided to close those accounts and report the incidents to Chexsystems. So those financial problems that you’ve had in the past can potentially follow you for years. This is because ChexSystems is a company that maintains a database of all the “bad” banking clients. Since most banks do a ChexSystems check on all new bank applicants, if your name is in the system, you won’t be able to qualify for a new account.

This is what prompts most people to get online and start looking for “banks without Chexsystems“. They look because it’s common knowledge that only about 80% of the banks out there do business with ChexSystems. That leaves a big 20% of banks out there that are open to the possibility of opening a checking account for you even if you have a negative record. Depending on the bank, those accounts are called “fresh start checking accounts” or “second chance checking accounts” but they basically offer the same thing: you get to open a bank account even if you’ve had financial problems, or you have bad credit, or something similar.

You’ll find that there are lots and lots of places that promise to get you a list of banks that don’t use ChexSystems. The problem is that a lot of them are really not about to give you the exact information that you’re really looking for. But at first, let’s give this a little more thought.

ChexSystems makes its money by charging financial institutions to use its service. That means that the more banks use them, the more money they’ll make. So they’re pretty aggressive in terms of marketing their service to banks that don’t currently use them to verify new checking accounts. Conversely, some banks have realized that they lose business by simply turning down everyone with a negative ChexSystems record, and they don’t necessarily want to keep doing that. What that boils down to is that there’s a constant movement of banks signing up for ChexSystems’ service and others that are leaving it.

When you think of the number of banks that there are in the United States (close to 8,500), getting a list of banks that don’t use Chexsystems would be a colossal amount of work in the first place. And that’s only the beginning, because such a list would have to be maintained continuously in order to be accurate. That would necessitate a sizable staff and that list would probably be just too expensive to be attractive to anyone looking for a non ChexSystems bank.

So what’s left for you to do? Well there are companies that are well known for offering “second chance checking” products and services. Three of them come to mind, but there are many more.

People’s Cash Solutions: “Second Chance Checking Accounts”

People’s Cash Solutions refers to their product as a “fresh start at banking”. Here’s what their website has to say:

Have you ever been denied a checking or savings account due to past problems with ChexSystems and TeleCheck? The Peoples Cash Solutions program is the answer for you! Peoples Cash Solutions and Peoples Bank will open a real FDIC-insured checking account for you even if you have been reported to ChexSystems or TeleCheck in the past (except where fraudulent activity has been reported). We want to give you a chance to establish a banking relationship as the first step toward improving your credit record and to allow you to begin building and accumulating assets. Our Second Chance Checking program erases the inconvenience of not having a checking account and/or being forced to use fee-intensive alternatives.

Money Now Usa: “100% Approval, No Credit Checks Prepaid Debit Cards”

Money Now Usa flaunts their wide selection of prepaid debit cards with 100% guaranteed approval. You get to choose from a list of well-known companies that offer their debit cards with no credit checks and no Chexsystems verifications. There’s a small list of features and benefits next to each offering to help you decide which is best for you.

Ready Debit: “100% Approval Guaranteed Reloadable Prepaid Debit Cards”

Once again, I’ll let the company’s website do the talking:

100% Approval Guaranteed — Even if you’ve been turned away or rejected by banks you can still get a READYdebit card. We have no credit or Chexsystems checks to worry about. Our only requirement is that we can validate the information you provide to us when you open your account. We do this instantly online while your application is being completed to make the sign-up process fast and easy!

“Can I Get A List Of Banks That Don’t Use ChexSystems?”

According to the latest available statistics, ChexSystems is doing business with roughly 80% of the banks and credit unions out there. Maybe we’re different, but while most people tend to focus on the 80% figure, we tend to see things the other way around. And the other way around is simply that there are about 20% of the banks and credit unions out there that don’t use ChexSystems. If you stop and think about it, that’s quite a lot of banks! Now we’re not going to lie to you and tell you that those non-ChexSystems banks are popping up in every corner, but if we tell you that there’s a good chance that there are a few in your area, we won’t be lying to you either.

You know the deal: sometimes there’s a company out there that ventures off the beaten path, in order to give its customers a chance at something they really need. In other words, the company takes a risk, in order to make some money by serving a neglected portion of the population. So it is with banks that offer checking accounts for people with bad credit. Because the vast majority of banks out there use ChexSystems to determine whether or not they will open a checking account for a new customer, people with a negative record are left out in the cold.

While it might have been easy to turn away people when times were good, things are different now. The economic crisis means that a lot of people have fallen on hard times and have ended up with negative marks on their ChexSystems record. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they wouldn’t be good customers for the banks and/or credit unions. So those financial institutions have started to try and look beyond this simple aspect. There are now some that simply don’t check your ChexSystems record. Some others do, but also look at other financial information before they make their decision. What that means is that banks do open checking accounts for people with bad credit, so you can still get a second chance checking account and be able to benefit from banking services.

Now it’s important to point out that all banks are definitely not created equal. If you’re going to open a fresh start checking account a non-ChexSystems bank, there’s a few things you need to make sure are kosher, because all it takes is for you to fall on one bad apple, and you’re pretty much screwed. Here’s how to find a “bank without ChexSystems”

Finding A Good Second Chance Bank

1. The most important part of finding a non-ChexSystems bank is, of course, doing your homework to make sure that the bank(s) you’re considering giving your business to are INDEED not going to run your ChexSystems report. Sometimes, and especially when they’re in a situation where they’re opening a lot of accounts in a short period of time, they will open up the account, pending verification. After running the scan, and they find negative marks on your report, your account will be closed. Period. Or, (and that’s even more embarrassing), if the bank checks on the spot, you will be declined in public! So make sure you have your facts right.
2. The second most important thing is that, just because you’re looking for a bank that doesn’t run your ChexSystems report doesn’t mean that you should settle for just ANY bank that you find. You still need the protection that comes with that financial institution being FDIC insured. So you need to have proof that the bank is FDIC insured before you open that checking account. In the case of credit unions, they have to be NCUA insured (that’s the equivalent of FDIC insurance, but for credit unions).
3. Finally, make sure that you’re not going to get some crippled service. If you can’t get the same (or almost the same) level of convenience, then it kinda defeats the purpose to go to such great lengths. You will need to get at least the following: check writing privileges, Visa- or Mastercard-branded debit card, and online banking. Also take a good look at their fee structure, in order to make sure that you’re not getting nickel-and-dimed.

Being reported to ChexSystems doesn’t necessarily have to mean that your financial life becomes a living hell. As previously stated, there are many financial institutions (banks and credit unions alike) that will open a second chance checking account in your area for you regardless of, or in spite of, your ChexSystems profile. All you need is to do your homework and find the reliable ones that will fit you best.

© “Banks Without Chex Systems” | How To Find A Good Second Chance Bank

The banking industry relies on a few companies to do its risk management, the most well-known of which is ChexSystems. This company keeps a record of past blemishes in your banking history and if you were to go open a bank account, this information is available to the participating banks and credit unions and will likely result in them refusing to open an account for you. Fresh start checking accounts can be opened, but of course they comes at a certain cost.

Bad Credit’s Impact On Your Banking Options

Now what a lot of people overlook is the fact that a bad credit history is also one of the factors that can put you in a situation where you can’t open a bank account. It’s obvious that being rejected for a bank account is not a pleasant experience, but when the basis of your rejection is bad credit, it’s sort of frustrating. In all honesty, opening a checking account has no connection whatsoever with your credit. But many banks have decided that having bad credit makes you ineligible for a checking account. A bad credit history should not affect your ability to open a checking account, although it does make sense that it would block you from having access to some bank account options like overdraft, personal line of credit, and so on…

Why Banks Turn Down People With Bad Credit

They base their position on the assumption that you will be a poor customer. They expect that you will overdraw your account because you don’t have enough money to pay your bills (as evidenced by your poor bill-paying history on your credit report). Returning your checks will generate fees on your account, which you may not be able to pay. Paying them will overdraw your account and you may not be able to pay back. Either way, they might have to end up closing the account and reporting you to ChexSystems, so they’d rather not open the account to begin with. In the end, many people with bad credit can’t open checking accounts, and that’s not a good position to be in.

Checking Account Solutions For People With Poor Credit

If you have poor credit and need to have access to a checking account, you need to find those banks that offer second chance checking accounts, also known as fresh start checking accounts. They usually come with their own set of restrictions (you can’t overdraft the accounts and have limited check writing privileges) and costs (minimum opening balance, minimum balance, monthly fee), but it’s such a wide and largely untapped market that competition is picking up. Which means that you can find a bad credit checking account with check writing, no minimum balance, and a reasonable monthly fee of around $5.

Your best bet is to look online. This is such an ever-changing field that no list could realistically be kept 100% accurate. But whatever you decide to do, use the internet to do some comparison shopping, so that you can get a poor credit checking account that works best for you.

© Checking Accounts For People With Bad Credit

Fresh Start Checking Accounts

If we’re talking about Fresh Start Checking Accounts, then there has to be a negative record at one of the companies that track people’s checking activities. Maybe you’re been reported to Chexsystems, or maybe you have a record with Telecheck, it doesn’t even matter. What matters is that you’re going to have to find banks that don’t use Chexsystems in order for you to get what is also known in the industry as a second chance checking account. Chexsystems is kind of the banking system’s watchdog, in that it keeps tabs on your bank related history and will keep on putting notes against your name you have amounts overdue against your name or if you have the fraud against your name.

What that means is that a negative ChexSystem record will prevent from qualifying for a checking account at roughly 80% of the banks in the country. Until people are victims of it, they have no idea how bad it is to not be able to have a checking account: to make a long story short, no access to checking services like ATM transactions, no telephone banking, no online banking, no direct deposit, and you have to carry cash to conduct all your transactions: without a bank account cash is your only option. Not only is it impractical to carry huge amounts of cash in your pocket, it’s also very risky.

The fresh start checking account helps solve this predicament. Of course, it comes at a cost (most banks charge a monthly fee of $5 to $10 to open a fresh start checking account under your name), but consider it as a small price to pay for your convenience

Upgrading from Fresh Start Checking Account to Regular Checking Account

Plus, it’s good to keep in mind that many of those banks also make it a policy to upgrade your fresh start checking account to regular checking account status within 6 to 12 months, provided that you’ve kept your account in good standing and incident free over the specified period. By incident free, they mostly mean that you’ve had no NSF fees.

Banks That Offer Fresh Start Checking Accounts

There are a number of banks that are now offering those second chance checking accounts, because they either don’t really worry about it, or they realize that a lot of people end up with a negative Chexsystems record or a Telecheck report unintentionally or because of something they didn’t know. Those people deserve a second chance and they get to have a checking account and a debit card with either the Visa or Mastercard logo.

Of course, it’s best if you don’t end up getting in trouble with either Chexsystems or Telecheck, because it can really be a nightmare. But in case you do end up being reported to one of them, it’s always good to know that you can still open a checking account. It’s not going to be free, and you’ll have a lot more restrictions compared to regular checking accounts, but at least you’ll be able to access basic banking services.

Fresh Start Checking Account: Banking For People With A Negative Chexsystems or Telecheck Record

One of the reasons why I started this website is that I have been meeting with a lot of people who insist that being able to open a checking account once you’ve been reported to Chexsystems is the closest thing there is to mission impossible, whether it be finding a local non-Chexsystems bank or an online bank that doesn’t use the Chexsystems reporting information to open new checking accounts. It’s easy to understand why so many people people would believe that, since the “big” banks typically will not do business with you once you’ve been reported. You’re left with the only option of looking for other, smaller banks, and the information is not readily available. And let’s not forget scammers who will try and sell you outdated lists, that will do nothing to help you in your predicament.

It certainly is frustrating to look for weeks and weeks and just keep getting turned down, so at that point you start thinking that you’re probably fighting a losing battle. You think that you may just have to deal with it and settle for those awkward “solutions” that are touted as alternatives for people who can’t open checking accounts because of Chexsystems. To be totally honest, finding a non-Chexsystems bank is not the easiest thing, but with some useful information in hand, you can already start narrowing down your search and be more productive. In order to improve your chances of success when negotiating with banks, order your chexsystems report to see what information is in it and try and resolve any issues first.

The first thing you need to know is that you should definitely not expect any bank to openly advertise which reporting system they use (if any). If they did, they would be just opening a can of worms. They would be swamped with new people who want to open checking accounts, but they would have to sit there and sort through hundreds, if not thousands, of applications to handpick the ones that look promising. It’s just not cost-effective. What you can do, though, is take your yellow pages and start calling and asking. The trick here is to ask for the branch manager or someone in the branch who ranks high enough to give you the information that you’re looking for. Also, if you can, try to sweeten the deal. If you have a little bit of savings that you an open a CD with, mention it. Stuff like that will make you look more appealing as a customer and they’ll probably be more inclined to cut you a deal.

Of course, whichever non-Chexsystems bank that you find in your search, and that you’re considering depositing your money in, absolutely has to be an FDIC-insured bank. There’s simply no way around that. If you fail to take this precaution, and the bank happens to go under, you will lose all the money that you deposited there. On the other hand, with an FDIC-insured bank, your money is insured up to $250,000 per account holder (It has been bumped to that level amid the financial crisis and it has been hinted that it might be reverted back to the previous $100,000 once this is all over). Not a bad safety net.

In your search to open a non-Chexsystems checking account, you have to be on the lookout. You will find a lot of information out there and what we recommend is that you gather as much of it as you can. The trick is to avoid getting scammed for large amounts of money. If you find something that looks promising and is reasonably priced, check to see if you can get a money-back guarantee. This will typically protect you. Also, look around, check online banks if brick and mortar ones keep turning you down. Explore every free option before eventually turning to paid ones.

As a final word of advice, when you’re looking for advertisements, favor specific institutions over list sellers. The reason is that if an institution is advertising to people with bad credit or who have been reported to Chexsystems, it’s probably because at that specific moment, they probably have some kind of product or service that caters to this specific niche. Once they decide not to deal with this segment anymore, they will just stop advertising. A list, on the other hand, would have to be continuously updated to account for companies that enter the segment, as well as those leaving it. We’re not saying that it’s not possible to find a good, legitimate list. What we’re saying is that you’ll probably have better luck with the companies that advertise to you than you will with the list sellers.

Finding A Second Chance Checking Account In Your Local Area

If you’ve never had trouble opening a checking account, then odds are you have no idea what ChexSystems is. On the other hand, if you’ve been trying to open a bank account and find yourself unable to do so, it’s likely that it’s because of Chexsystems. ChexSystems was initially developed to detect fraudulent activity and assist financial institutions with risk management analysis, particularly for individual customers. Banks that do not use Chexsystems are not impossible to find, although the company is pretty aggressive marketing-wise and its goal is to have 100% of the banks using its services.

Much like your credit score monitors the way you manage your credit and documents your credit history, Chexsystems monitors your banking activities and documents your banking history. Besides being a credit reporting agency, it’s also a licensed debt collector. From the reporting agency standpoint, though, just like you can request one credit report per year from each of the major credit reporting companies, you’re also entitles to a ChexSystems report, once a year, at no cost.

Here’s what a sample ChexSystems Consumer Report looks like.

September 29, 2003

999-99-9999 Became available for issuance in 1951 or before inthe state of MN.

Drivers License X 123456789123 is a valid format for the stateof Minnesota.

If you have any questions, please contact us at the address or telephone number listed
above in our letterhead or by fax at 602-659-2197.

As you can see, this is a very thorough report. It has drawn criticism because of that. One of the major points is that unlike other credit reports that contain both positive and negative information, a Chexsystems report contains only negative information. This is certainly true, and in response to that, some changes were brought to the way the information was reported and the weight assigned to some entries.

Yet this doesn’t change the fact that being reported to ChexSystems is decidedly not a good thing to happen to you; actually it’s something you should look to avoid at all costs. Otherwise a ChexSystems Consumer Report much like the one on this sample will be there to remind all banks that they shouldn’t be opening checking accounts for you.

© Sample ChexSystems Consumer Report