Do Banks Check Credit Before Giving You an Account?

She can also try a bank with second chance banking until she can clear up the problem(ex. WoodForest Bank in the Woodriver Il, Walmart).

anymore that doesnt suprise me, but ive never heard of it before. The closest was when my husand moved back here a bank told him he couldnt open an account until he paid them like .27c leftover from a service charge he owed in college. lol we thought it was kind of funny but paid them their change and went to a different bank

some do but not usually a full credit report. They have some way of checking to see if you bounced a lot of checks in the past and would refuse to give you an account that way but I haven't had one actually run a credit report on me before unless I was needing a loan. There are some banks with ads that state they don't do credit checks so she may want to open an account to establish herself some credit at one of those banks. I think Bank Midwest is one.

Most banks check your check-writing history prior to opening an account for you, or adding you to an existing account.

I didn't know that either because we don't sign anything giving them permission to do so.

I wonder if they are talking about a different type of check in the banking community looking for bad checks?

Suzi

My bank wouldn't allow me to add my husband to my account because of his credit. But he had an account of his own at another bank, so I guess that some banks are a little more lenient than others.

Yes the larger banks do a credit check. I do know from my own pass experince you can go do a smaller bank and they do not. I would suggest she clean up her credit. I know it work wonders for me. I now have checking and credit. Our past will always be there unless we clean up our own yard.

Absolutely. Some banks even check your credit in order to open a savings account (though credit shouldn't have any effect on how much you can save). A checking account is understandable but certainly not a savings account.

M.,
I used to work at a bank, yes they run credit but the major reason they will turn you down is if you are overdrawn on an account. If you owe one bank money they won't give you an account until it is paid off and you have a letter from that bank that the debt is paid.

Yes, they have to do this to protect themselves. I was refused to be on my husband's account as well, because someone stole my identity. Several years later, it was rectified, but I wasn't able to fix it. Time took care of it. Some Michael Smith in California. I am sure there are a million of those, huh? I am sorry that you are having a problem. You may try a different bank. We didn't have any problems with a different two when we had moved.

Yes. Most banks I've dealt with run your information (and they tell you that upfront), I believe it is checkwrite or something like that..before opening a checking account. There are too many people who are writing bad checks these days and the bank wants to be assured that your friend (or anyone else) isn't one of them. Some banks even do this for savings accounts as well; however, from my experience...it is usually limited to checking accounts, for it is far earier to simply write a check when you don't have the money and quickly become overdrawn.Banking practices have changed so much when technology was stepped up and America went off the gold standard (where credit became really big over time). Banks stopped holding checks for 5-10 days before issuing the money on many of them, and the changes in some of these practices may have put banking industry at high risk as we moved closer and closer to the present day.

These bad checking accounts and the policies behind them are not only things affecting the banking industry, extending credit to people who really couldn't afford the loan, where given loans. In the beginning, many of them may have been able to afford the loan, but things changed and before it was known..the loan goes bad, the bank customer may file bankruptcy and the economy when multipled by all this bad debt begans to crumble as we are seeing in today's economy.

So the answer to your question is yes, banks to check you out before giving you a checking account (even if it is adding her to her husband's existing account).

Note: The economy will only get worst before it gets better. So your friend needs to educate herself on how to increase her FICO score if she wants to have a change of getting anything in the future.

FICO scores can your ability to get a loan, a job, or an apartment. FICO scores (to an adult) are the equivalent to an ACT or SAT score to a high school student entering college. Think about it, educate yourself on how to improve it, then take action to raise it and keep it high.

I would tell your friend to look for a bank that offers second chance checking accounts to get re-established and then once she is in good standing, she could try again later to see if she can be reconsidered. Furthermore, should should also ask any bank that turns her down what she could do so that in the future she could be accepted. This is the key to finding out how to turn her situation around in order to get approved in the future.

Yes, some do, but not all.... Also, I have heard of potential employers doing credit checks before offering a job.... Your credit is something you do NOT want to mess around with!

I think that some banks run your information through a system like CheckFree (or something like that) and it reports if you had a bad history at a previous bank, etc...more situations like that. At my previous bank I couldn't add my husband (fiance at the time) because he had a bad rap with an old bank.

According to my husband, banks don't check your credit but they do run Telecheck. If there is any "bad" information, then you cannot have a checking acct. She could ask the bank what they found? or call Telecheck and ask, correct any problems and go from there.

I think it depends on the bank and what the husband's standing with the bank is. I have accounts in a few different banks and nobody ever checked my credit. On the other hand, my sister and her ex tried to put him on her checking account and couldn't because she had too many overages so they checked his credit first. It also might be a new policy, what with the failing market and all.

Banks not only check your previous credit but will close your account if you have too many overdrafts. I have family members who cannot open an account for that reason and are cash only.

I depends on how long ago the "several years" really is. I know with my family member, five years is not enough for the banks to change their minds.

You didn't say if she already had her own. If she do, maybe for now she should keep it and continue to prove she is no longer a credit risk.

Good luck!

i don't know what "kind" of check they do, but i do know that in the past i have been turned down because of a bad situation with a previous bank account. i think it's not an actual credit check, but this one bank knew i had a bad record with another bank. i ended up going to a credit union and it was the best choice i could have made. a lot of credit unions now don't have requirements like they used to (working for the government, etc), so they're easier to get an account with. AND they have much better service, i feel, and better hours. just a thought!

I don't know of any banks that check your credit. They will check companies like: telecheck and chex systems. This is when you have written a bad check and have not paid it off. The bank should have given her a number to call, if she calls that number they can tell her why they have her in their system.
Usually you remain in the system for 5 to 7 years, and your name will "fall off" even if you don't pay.

It also could be an error, if a cashier misentered a driver's license number when someone paid pay by check, and that check comes back bad, it flags that driver's license number. It's happened to me before and very easy to clear up.

There are some Second Chance Banking. I know my bank does: Bank Midwest. The ones usually in the Wal-Marts doe that and they will open an account with a $1.00. I have been extremely pleased with them.

Good Morning M.. Yea they seem to do that. Our youngest son and daughter in law went through some kind of financial problems several years ago. Even through they took care of it in time. They now have not been able to find a bank willing to allow them to open an account. Only way he can cash his payroll check is by going to the bank they once did business with, because they know him there. They pay all their bills with cash, I get them a Cashiers check for their Rent.

It is a pain and one that should be rectified after a few years.
Sorry for your friend but it's a good thing her hubby has good credit. He could get 2 debit cards with the same Pins and give one to her if need be I think.

Good Luck to them.
K. Nana of 5

I don't know if they check credit but I tried putting my husband, boyfriend at the time, on my checking account and they said we had to wait like a month to do it because he ownes another bank some over draft fees and in there rules it had to be like 1yr or so (I can't remember the exact time)before he could open or be on someones checking account. So maybe she owns another bank over draft fees. Hope this helps!

I work at Bank of the West and the only thing that would keep someone from opening an account would be if they are on ChexSystems. It is a bank service that basically tells us if they have been charged off or closed for cause at another bank. We do run a 'pre-screen' that allows us to pre-approve for our overdraft protection or credit card. It does not ding the credit report and we do not see a score. Thanks!

It really depends on what kind of account it is. i still have my student checking account from high school (I'm almost 25 now) so I never needed a credit check to start it, just 'parental authorization' to start it. But depending on the bank & the type of account is what would determine the need of a credit check or not. Also check to see which banks require what to get a joint account so you can get around the issue.