Nobody's Coming To Save Us!
so we are helping save each other 🤝🏾
Stuck on Cash App, Chime, or Venmo because those are the only accounts you can get, and real banks keep telling you NO? Girl, listen to this right now! 🛑
It was NEVER your credit score. There is a secret report called ChexSystems that 8 out of 10 banks use to block you.
Do not let an old overdraft, a bounced check, or a bank error keep you from having a real checking account. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, ChexSystems has 30 days to prove a reported debt is 100% accurate. If they cannot verify it, they legally must delete it!
I am giving you the exact letter so you can bank where you want to. Stop getting rejected. ✉️
The rule they do not⚡ advertise ⚡
That Adverse Action Notice the bank hands you when they say NO! It is not just a rejection letter. It is free legal ammunition.
Under federal law, that piece of paper gives you 60 days to force ChexSystems to hand over your complete report for $0, separate from your standard yearly copy. Every denial equals a free peek at what they have on you, so you can tear it down.
Something I learned the hard way😭
I got denied at 4 different banks. Every time, I threw the letter away. Then one day I finally sat down and read it. 💡
4 times I walked out of a bank embarrassed with that paper in my hand, and four times it went in the trash before I made it to the car.
That Adverse Action Notice is the paper they hand you when they deny you. It gives you direct access to your free ChexSystems report.
Keep it. It is not a rejection. It's the instructions on pulling your report.
Pull your report 🔎
You do not need a denial letter to do this. Request it today. And pull both of them, because banks do not all use the same one.
ChexSystems
chexsystems.com · 1.800.428.9623
Free once every 12 months, and free again any time a bank denies you.
Early Warning Services
earlywarning.com
This is the second one. Most people never pull it, and sometimes it is the one doing the blocking.
Have your ID information ready, because both of them will make you verify who you are before they hand anything over. Then when your report comes, do not just glance at it. Go line by line looking for these 5 things.
An amount that is wrong
A date that is wrong
An account you never opened
Something you already paid that still says unpaid
Anything older than 5 years still sitting there
Any one of those is something you can dispute. And if everything on there is accurate and you know it, do not stress. Keep reading, because there is a second move for that and I break it down further down this page.
Now let me show you what happens the second you send that dispute in. 👇🏾
⏳ The thirty day clock
You dispute it. The bank that reported you gets 30 days to prove that debt was really yours. If they cannot prove it, it has to be deleted off your banking report.
How the dispute works
Before you send anything, here is exactly what you are setting in motion.
The clock starts the day it arrives
Not the day you mail it. The day it lands on their desk. 30 days from that date.
They have to go ask the bank
ChexSystems did not make up the item on your report. A bank reported it to them. So when you dispute it, they have to turn around and ask that bank for records proving the amount, the date, and that it was really you.
The bank has to answer in time
This is where a lot of these fall apart. That account might be 6 years old. The bank may have merged, switched systems, or gotten rid of the records. Sometimes nobody over there answers at all.
No proof means it comes off
If the bank does not verify it inside that window, federal law says it has to be deleted. Not updated. Not marked as disputed. Deleted. And they have to mail you a fresh copy of your report showing it.
If they do prove it, you still have options
Sometimes the bank comes back with the receipts and the item stays. That is not the end of the road. Keep reading, because there is another move waiting for you further down this page.
You are not asking anybody for a favor. You are making them go find paperwork on something they may not have kept.
Before you mail it 📬
Three things. Skip one and you lose a month.
Send it certified mail
At the post office, ask for certified mail with return receipt. It runs a few dollars. That receipt is your proof of the exact date it arrived, and that is the date your 30 days starts counting.
Put a photocopy of your picture ID in the envelope
Never send the real thing. A copy of your driver's license or state ID, plus a copy of a utility bill or bank statement showing your current address. Leave those out and they write back saying they cannot verify who you are, and your clock never starts.
Keep a copy for yourself
Print two. Staple your certified mail receipt to the one you keep. Write down every call, every name, every date. That paper trail is what protects you if they come back sideways.
The letter ✍🏾
Fill in everything marked in yellow. Everything else stays exactly how it is.
[YOUR FULL NAME]
[YOUR STREET ADDRESS]
[CITY, STATE, ZIP]
[PHONE NUMBER]
[EMAIL ADDRESS]
Date: [MM/DD/YYYY]
ChexSystems, Inc.
Attn: Consumer Relations
P.O. Box 583399
Minneapolis, MN 55458
Certified Mail Number: [FROM YOUR POST OFFICE RECEIPT]
Re: Formal Dispute of Inaccurate Information
Consumer Report ID: [IF YOU HAVE ONE]
To Whom It May Concern:
I am formally disputing inaccurate information appearing on my ChexSystems consumer report under my rights in the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. section 1681i.
After reviewing my file, I identified the following item as inaccurate:
Financial Institution: [BANK NAME]
Account or Reference Number: [ACCOUNT NUMBER OR "UNKNOWN"]
Reason for Dispute: [CHOOSE ONE BELOW]
(Got more than one? Copy those three lines and list each item separately.)
Under 15 U.S.C. section 1681i(a)(1)(A), you are required to conduct a reasonable investigation into this disputed information within 30 days of receiving this notice.
If the furnisher cannot verify this item within that 30 day period, or if the information is found to be inaccurate or incomplete, you must delete it from my file as required under 15 U.S.C. section 1681i(a)(5)(A).
I am also requesting, under 15 U.S.C. section 1681i(a)(6)(B)(iii), a description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy of this item, including the name, business address, and telephone number of the furnisher you contacted.
If this item is deleted or corrected, I request under 15 U.S.C. section 1681i(d) that you notify anyone who received a report containing this item within the past six months.
Please mail me an updated copy of my consumer report once your investigation is complete.
Sincerely,
[YOUR PRINTED NAME]
Enclosed:
Hit the yellow button and the letter copies to your clipboard. Nothing gets emailed and nothing gets sent to anybody. From there you go paste it yourself into a Word document, into your Notes app on your phone, or into an email to yourself so you have it saved. Then fill in the yellow parts, print it out, sign it in blue ink so they can tell your signature is an original and not a photocopy, and mail it certified.
If the debt is really yours 💸
If it is accurate and you know it, disputing will not move it. Call the bank you owe, not ChexSystems, and ask them straight. Will you delete this from my ChexSystems if I pay in full?
That is called a pay for delete. And hear me good. Get it in writing before you send a dollar. Paying by itself does not remove it. It just marks it paid and it sits there the rest of the 5 years.
One more thing. Cleaning up ChexSystems does not erase a bank's own memory of you. I cleaned mine all the way up, walked into a bank I had burned years before, and still got denied, because they had their own internal block on me. So do not go apply where you already owe. Go somewhere that never had anything to do with you, and call first to ask which report they pull. 📞
More free plugs 🔌
This is one of them. I find them, I check them, and I write them out plain so you are not sitting up at midnight trying to figure out a government website by yourself.
New one drops every week.
Nobody's coming to save us
closed mouths don't get plugged in.
This page is educational, not legal advice; I am not an attorney. Only dispute information you truly believe is incorrect. For complex cases, contact your local Legal Aid.