Getting a Checking Account While on Chexsystems

Last time, I wrote about the horrors of trying to get a checking account on Chexsystems. If you haven’t read that post yet, you can find it here:

Crap! I Can’t Get a Checking Account!

In that post, I wrote about some possible solutions you could use if you have less serious blemishes on your Chexsystems report. If you’ve really screwed up, of you just don’t want to mess with trying to find a bank that will take you, there’s still a decent workaround.

For checking, I use ReadyDebit. They do not use Chexsystems or run credit reports. Basically, if you’re a living, breathing U.S. citizen over the age of 18, and you have a Social Security Number, you can get an account.

You get a debit card in about a week, which you can use like any other bank debit card to make purchases, pay bills, etc.

I know I’ll get some emails telling me that Ready Debit is a pre-paid debit card, not a checking account. Erm… not really. Ok, it’s not a traditional checking account. You don’t get paper checks (which I never use anyway). But in the 6 months I’ve used Ready Debit, I’ve seen several advantages over pre-paid debit cards:

• You get a routing and account number, just like with a traditional checking account. This has worked great for ACH payments when businesses won’t take debit cards (like my car insurance and mortgage companies). I also needed a checking account to link to my Paypal account, and supplying them with the routing and account numbers worked just fine.
• They offer online bill pay. Admittedly, I haven’t used this feature yet, but people who use it seem to love it.
• They do credit reporting if you use their online bill pay service. Again, I don’t really know how this works, but if you’re trying to rebuild your credit, it can’t hurt.
• The routing and account numbers work for direct deposit of your payroll or government benefits income. They give you a direct deposit form to give to your employer.
• If you have a Paypal account, you can link it just like a traditional checking account. This allows you to easily transfer money to and from Paypal to your Ready Debit account. Turnaround time on this is consistently 2 days for me.
• If you need to get money into your account in a hurry, you can withdraw it from Paypal or another source, buy a MoneyPak card, and add it to your Ready Debit account online. You can get Moneypak cards at supermarkets, pharmacies, Wal-Mart and a ton of other places. They cost $4.95, and you can load and transfer up to $1,100 on one card. When you enter the card passcode online, the money shows up in your account in under 5 minutes.
• The money you put into your Ready Debit account is FDIC insured.
• I haven’t had a problem making hotel reservations or renting a car with the Ready Debit card. You can’t do that with most pre-paid debit cards because there’s no way for them to pre-authorize the card.
• They have a customer service number, answered by real people who speak English! I’ve called a few times with “how do I do this” questions, and have been happy with the service every time.

And I would be a morally reprehensible assface if I didn’t point out the drawbacks:

• Like I said, no paper checks. If you’re like most people stuck on Chexsystems, though, paper checks are probably what got you in trouble in the first place. Personally, I think checks are a pain in the ass anyway.
• You can only have up to $10,000 in the account at one time. I’m not sure how often that would really be a problem, but still…
• ATM withdrawals are limited to $500 per day, and bank teller withdraws are limited to $2,500 per day. I haven’t gone the bank teller route yet. I don’t know of a purchase limit if you’re buying something with a debit card.
• Some payday loan outfits won’t deposit into a Ready Debit account. I’m not sure why – from what I’ve been told, that’s up to the loan company, not Ready Debit. But why are you using those anyway? Haven’t you read my series on why payday loans are a crap idea?
• Last, and most importantly, there’s no way to deposit a paper check someone has written you.

Admittedly, that last one is a pain in the ass. It took me a little while to figure out a workaround for that. But I did find it… and since this post turned out waaaay longer than I expected, I’ll tell you about it in the next post.

In the meantime, you can get your Ready Debit account here:

ReadyDebit

Stay tuned!