BK friendly checking accounts

[luckstyl]

Weird. I was turned down and Ally's letter had my score at roughly 560. The good news is that it doesn't appear that my WF account will end up being frozen after all.

[etechjc]

I am confused. My sister have like a 500 credit rating, And she got an ally checking account. I was considering applying myself because she was telling me how well they treat her.

[lastone]

We will be filing soon and have 4 credit products through our bank (same bank with checking accounts). We decided that opening a new account and moving our money prior to filing was the safe thing to do. I made a list of the banks and credit unions that I was interested in using and called each one to ask about their checking account and if they run credit checks or use the chex system only. There were several that used chex system only so we were able to choose the one that offered the best services (free checking, free bill pay, no required balances, free atm) We ended up with a local credit union which used chex system only as we don't have any negatives on this system, however have horrible credit. It was no problem to open the savings and checking account complete with debit cards.

[catleg]

You probably need to be able to access your "profile" for the card and put your name and address on it.
If they don't let you do that, then you probably can't use it online.

[keepsmiling]

Just FYI since we are on the topic... I bought a TD Visa gift card to use for purchasing online since I don't like to keep giving out my debit card. Guess what? Groupon won't take it. After a bunch of "invalid gateway" messages I called them, and for whatever reason they just won't take prepaid cards. I wonder how many other sites won't take them.

[luckstyl]

I also have a greendot available, just in case. I think, though, that I'm going to put a small amount of money in my WF account and see if they end up freezing it.

[JessMN]

Good news - no derogatory information on my chex systems report, which I received today.

Do I have anything to worry about by using the prepaid Amex if I am discharging debt owed to them? They can't freeze those funds, can they?

I'd double check with your lawyer, but my initial thought is they can't freeze the funds because it isn't a bank account. Of course to be on the safe side, I probably wouldn't have gone with a card from someone I owed

[ValleYum]

Good news about your Chex report!!!

Lots of places don't accept AmEx from my experience. Hubby's employer sends out a couple of AmEx prepaids as gifts every year and I have a heck of a time using them.

[luckstyl]

Good news - no derogatory information on my chex systems report, which I received today.

Do I have anything to worry about by using the prepaid Amex if I am discharging debt owed to them? They can't freeze those funds, can they?

[DesdemonaB]

Hi All
As a user of the UpSide Card I can tell you it has one of the lowest fees on the pre-paid market – I got it in November 2010 and when I signed up the monthly fee was 1.99 after 6 months I was upgrade to premium service so no monthly fee. It has really kicked up in services in the last year, the on-line banking website was redesigned and they started a “saving” account attached to the checking called “rainy day reserve”. I even used it in London this week to withdraw cash out of an ATM for only 1.95. They have old school points for cash back – 2000pts = 20.00 nothing to brag about, but after a year I have almost enough bucks for 50.00 there that I plan to use next Christmas (only because I forgot about it this year )

I don’t see on the AMEX pre-paid site where you can have your paycheck direct deposited – or am I missing that? I only see moving money from an existing banking account or MoneyPak – which is what GreenDot really is. UpSide offers direct deposit for payroll etc. They offer a routing number and you can even write checks against the account. (this has a fee – 1 free a month, then 2.00 per check – I had to pay my water bill via check so it worked for me) The only perk I see from AMEX is that if you use the card regularly you MIGHT be invited to apply for an AMEX card. Credit approval pending of course.

I wanted to open a Perkstreet checking account after my BK discharged in March 2011, but I was declined due to open accounts on Chexsystems. Seems I did not include them on my mailing matrix so they did not receive any notification regarding the BK so my two overdrawn accounts were listed as open with a (-) balances. I had to snail mail my discharge showing the bank accounts were IIB and they removed the entries completely. I reapplied and Perkstreet accepted and I was able to open the account and my FICO scores were in the toilet barely hit 600 at the time.

One thing on Chexsystems, with no on-line disputing everything had to go thru snail mail and they don’t have to follow the 30 day requirement for response, so it could take over 45 days to resolve, per their website. I was cut and dry, accounts IIB and discharged so they delete both entries completely so the only thing on my report is inquires which last 5 years. Ouch.

As another poster said – it’s what you are comfortable with that truly matters. Good luck with everything, just don’t judge a card by its name. From what I see I have the better deal with UpSide then what AMEX is offering and my card doesn’t say pre-paid on the front of the card.

[luckstyl]

I got my rejection letter in the mail today from Ally. It said that it obtained information from TU and from Chex Systems, and listed the specific reasons as : 1- serious delinquency and collections, 2- level of delinquency, 3- number of accounts with delinquency, and 4- time since collection is too short.

Based on those reasons, it sounds like I'm being rejected solely based on my credit, and not from anything on Chex systems, correct? I ask because I have not yet received my Chex Systems report in the mail and I have no idea what would be on there that's causing me problems other than applying for multiple checking accounts in a short timeframe.

[Gonzo]

Bank of America does a soft pull, presumably to validate your identity.
I know this because I had placed a credit freeze on my records and could not open an account until I lifted the freeze.
They checked Experian.

Makes sense. I already had another account there so I guess that's why they didn't check.

[catleg]

Bank of America does a soft pull, presumably to validate your identity.
I know this because I had placed a credit freeze on my records and could not open an account until I lifted the freeze.
They checked Experian.

[JessMN]

thanks gonzo. I went ahead and ordered the prepaid AMEX after making sure all of my utilities would accept that form of payment.

I'm a lot less leery of a prepaid AMEX than I would be of some company called GreenDot or upside card, etc.

Actually my ex-BF used Greendot Visa and had no problems. He couldn't get a checking account either... Point is, though, that YOU need to be comfortable with what you choose.

[JessMN]

WF didn't freeze mine, but I think I had $3.07 in it when I filed. To be on the safe side I had opened an account at US bank and started having my direct deposits put there. I still have both accounts open - I use them for different things now - but the point is I was really worried since I owed WF a lot of $ in credit cards and I heard they tended to freeze accounts. Now my sis and her hubby are thinking about filing and they both bank at WF. I told them to be sure to ask their lawyer about their accounts, though I don't think they owe WF anything except their mortgage and they are planning on paying that....


ETA: LadyinRed was correct that WF had been sued: http://caveatemptorblog.com/wells-fa...uptcy-illegal/