subject: What Is A Chexsystems Report? [print this page] There are so many people that are asking what in the world a Chexsystems Report is and how it applies to you. Well, this is something that you are going to need to know about as well as understand as completely as you possibly can. The basic answer to this question is that a ChexSystems Report is a report that ChexSystems - which is a federally recognized Credit Reporting Agency - puts together that details everything that happens that is of Negative Impact. In short, this means that they keep records of every single overdraft that you incur as well as any bad checks that are written on your account and all activity that is looked upon as suspicious and/or fraudulent.
If there have been any instances when the bank that you are doing business with suspects that you are involved in suspicious activities it will be not only noted in the ChexSystems computers but also flagged. Activity such as large amounts of money routinely being deposited into and then withdrawn very shortly thereafter will be noted and flagged on your Chexsystems Report.
This allows all of the banks and credit unions that use ChexSystems to be alerted to what is going on. You need to be aware of the fact that ANY error you make within the previous FIVE years when handling your checking account - no matter how small it happens to be or whether or not it is your doing - is going to be reported on your ChexSystems report.
It might be considered a good thing to have a Chexsystems report to take a look at and for the banks to works with. HOWEVER, there are many that have said that this IS NOT that great a thing due to the fact that EVERY SINGLE error gets reported. You might be saying "Well, what is the BIG DEAL about having ALL Errors reported?!" The big deal about that is this; there are going to be times when we make small accounting errors or the banks do something that we did not expect or bargain for that puts your checking account into the red.
These are things that could and have seriously affected not only your current checking account but also your ability to open another checking in the future if the bank you want to open your account in uses Chexsystems to keep track of financial activity. If you are having problems, you will want to look for second chance checking accounts.If it should happen that you do make a mistake or have an overdraft that puts your checking account into a negative balance, you are going to need to correct that as soon as possible. You also need to know that it has been reported on your ChexSystems Report.
Any activity that the banks considers to be "suspicious" and/or fraudulent will get reported whether or not it actually is happens to be debatable. You also need to be aware of is the fact that ChexSystems does not have any type of Risk Analysis score - such as the FICO score that is commonly used - that they used routinely.
