In our previous post, we talked about People’s Cash Solutions second chance checking accounts and what they offer. Today’s post is going to cover another product in that same line, the Excella Visa Prepaid Debit Card. Of course, the target market is the same, as its target market is specifically those people who want a viable solution when looking for a non-chexsystems checking account to go about their daily financial activities. Because of the severity of this recession, many people who thought they would never be in such a situation now have to turn to financial products such as a prepaid debit card.

Not too long ago, because of easily available credit, people were routinely living above their means. That has come to an abrupt end, with a financial cost that has yet to be fully calculated. In the meantime, lots of people have seen their financial situation go into a nosedive, and their credit has considerably deteriorated. To cover living expenses, families have gone even further into debt, and credit scores have tanked. So of course the result of that is that many families have seen their traditional checking accounts get closed because of too many overdrafts. And that’s where solutions like the Excella Prepaid Debit Card can come in handy.

One of the things that you won’t find on this website is false claims that prepaid debit cards are the absolute best thing for you. What you have to realize is that those are products that are tailored for people with less than stellar credit ratings and who are being routinely turned down by large banks who refuse to open bank accounts for them. So if you’re in this situation, there’s going to be a cost in order to get a second chance checking account. The best way to see it is that it’s somewhat like paying a price so that in due time you can get back to having regular checking accounts. Prepaid debits cards like the Excella Visa card allow you to make secured, safe financial transactions.

Just to avoid any confusion, the Excella Prepaid Visa Debit Card is not a credit card. This means that there’s no credit extended to you, and you will never end up owing money using such a card. If you don’t have the balance in your account, the transaction simply gets denied, that’s it. As we said previously, there are fees associated with using this card, but at the end of the day it’s one of the best ways to get a non-chexsystems checking account.

So many of the transactions that we make all the time are now tied to giving a credit or debit card information. For example, stuff like ordering something online, booking a flight, and renting a car require that you give such information. This card fits the bill nad will be accepted anywhere a Visa card is accepted as a form of payment. There are additional perks;

• protection against fraudulent activities
• not having to carry cash all the time
• being able to do online banking and bill paying
• having access to ATMs
• direct deposit of your paycheck and/or social security benefits
• add money to the card to “recharge” it whenever you like

How To Use Your Excella Visa Prepaid Debit Card

Making Purchases

Like we said earlier, anywhere Visa cards are accepted (over 11 million locations worldwide), you can use your Excella card.

Getting Cash Back When Making A Purchase

You can get some extra cash when making a purchase. For example, let’s say you’re going to buy something for $30 but want to have an extra $20 in cash on hand. You can ask the cashier to charge the card for $50 and give you the extra $20 in cash. It’s pretty much like doing an ATM withdrawal without incurring a fee.

Getting Cash From An ATM

This one is pretty much self explanatory. Just keep an eye on the carges to avoid paying exorbitant ATM withdrawal charges. On a related note, you can also add cash to your card at any participating Excella Retail Reload location.

Non-Chexsystems Checking Accounts: A Little Background Information

ChexSystems is a service that is used by about 80% of the banks in the U.S. to determine who they want to open checking accounts for and who they don’t. Created by a company called eFunds, ChexSystems (often incorrectly referred to as Chex Systems or Check Systems) maintains a database of people that have in one way or another abused the banking system. In that regard, it’s similar to the FICO scoring system but the similarity ends there. There’s no Chexsystems score, and whereas you can have a good credit score or a bad one, you can’t have a good chexsystems record. You either don’t have one, or you do. And if you do, well that’s grounds for banks to flat out reject your checking account application.

You’re not going to get rejected by just one bank, though. Most likely every big bank out there will refuse to open a checking account for you if your name shows up in Chexsystems’s database.  Nobody wants to put themselves through this type of shame and discomfort, which is why a lot of people look for banks that do not use Chexsystems.

How can you get into this system in the first place? Your name can show up in Chex Systems for a number of reasons, including for having abused your debit card, having committed a fraud against a bank, or if you still you owe your bank money for an overdraft that they covered for you in the past.

Trying to get removed from Chex Systems is not easy, either. Unless there has been some sort of error whereby something you never actually did was mistakenly attributed to your name in the system, often only time itself can get you safely removed. But, that could take years, and you need a new checking account now.

The good news is that there is an alternative to getting rejected by more banks or to waiting years to get removed from Chex Systems: finding a bank or other financial institution that offers a no ChexSystems checking account. And this is what the Excella Visa Prepaid Debit Card offers.

The Excella Visa Prepaid Debit Card, A Perfect Non-Chexsystems Checking Account

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 Good Banks That Do Not Use Chexsystems

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.

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