i signed up for checking accounts at National City and First Mid-Illinois Bank online. these are two banks that will run a Chexsystems report on you if you show up in person to get an account. however, both banks gave me an account and all i had to do was show up at a local branch and sign some papers and pick up my checks. is it possible these banks didn't care that i had a chexsystems strike against me, or that they just don't run chexsystems reports for online signups?

when is the last time that you got a copy of your chexsystems report? There is a good chance that it was removed if it was 5 years or older

i applied for an account at another local bank a few weeks after i got the NC and FMI accounts, and was denied due to my Chex report. That is when i called Chex and got my report. I was previously denied for an account at NC - my boyfriend and I went in to a local NC branch to have me added to his existing account - denied because of Chex. That is what makes me wonder if the online signup let me bypass a Chex check - my hit from JPM is certainly still on my Chex report, though it is about time for it to go away.

hmmm well that is interesting. Perhaps the record that you have is not severe so they bypassed it. I do know that National City uses chexsystems. My husband works for them and he was denied an employee account due to chexsystems. They are no longer National City since PNC has just taken over and I do know that PNC uses chexsystems as well and is more strict than National City was. They are just operating under the National City name but they are indeed PNC now.

As far as First Mid-Illinois Bank..I thought they used chexsystems as well but I will re-check and see what they say

Thanks for the information

just an update...

i ordered a new chexsystems report this week and got it in the mail today. there is no longer a hit from JPM on my report, and no negative reports whatsoever.

however, the inquiries section is interesting. i applied for and was approved for an account with WaMu on 6/13/2008, National City on 6/17/2008, and First Mid-Illinois on 7/12/2008. i applied for and was denied by First State Bank on 7/18/2008, and my hit from JPM appeared on my chexsystems report that i ordered that same day. and for unknown reasons (i hadn't applied for anything else), National City inquired again on 7/22, and twice on 7/24.

so perhaps National City, WaMu, and First Mid only look for more recent reports. speculation!

and if anyone's wondering why i would apply for so many accounts in such a short period of time...i was attracted to WaMu's free checking, but they have no local branches, so i couldn't do much with that account. i signed a lease for a new apartment in july, in a town that has no National City branches, so i applied at First State and was denied, so i defaulted to First Mid. ha!

I had the same thing happened to me with Bank of America, went into the branch and got denied, applied online and got approved right away, same thing with Citibank and Wachovia, wells fargo offered me a second chance account.

Suntrust may also bypass chexsystems. I tried for my son in law and it worked but it did not work for my brother.

Online BofA MyAccess checking didn't pull a chex for me at all.