Check & Bank Screening

If you’ve ever been denied a checking account and couldn’t understand why, a check or bank screening report is often the reason. Banks and credit unions use screening companies such as ChexSystems and Early Warning Services — consumer reporting agencies covered by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) — to decide whether to let you open an account. When these reports contain errors, like an account closure that wasn’t your fault or activity that isn’t yours, you can be shut out of the banking system entirely. At The Kim Law Firm, we help consumers across the country correct these reports and hold the screening companies accountable.

ChexSystems, Early Warning Services and the other account-screening databases are consumer reporting agencies under the FCRA, even though most people have never heard of them.

How check and bank screening works

These companies track your banking history — closed accounts, unpaid overdrafts, bounced checks, and suspected fraud. When you apply to open an account, the bank checks your file, and a single negative entry can trigger a denial. If you’re denied, the bank must tell you which screening company it relied on, which is how you get your report and dispute any errors.

Common check and bank screening errors we see

• An account closure reported as your fault when it wasn’t
• A balance you already paid still shown as owed
• Fraudulent activity from identity theft attributed to you
• Someone else’s record mixed into your file
• Duplicate entries for the same event
• Outdated information that should have aged off (ChexSystems generally reports records for about seven years)

How a screening error hurts you

Being wrongly flagged can lock you out of basic checking and savings accounts, force you into costly check-cashing or prepaid card services, make it hard to receive direct deposit, and damage your financial reputation — all over a mistake you didn’t make.

Your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

You can request a free report from ChexSystems and from Early Warning Services and review it for mistakes. If you find an error, you can dispute it, and the company must reinvestigate — generally within 30 days — then correct or delete anything it can’t verify. When a screening company reports inaccurate information or ignores a valid dispute and you’re harmed, the FCRA lets consumers recover actual damages, and for willful violations, statutory damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees and costs. We can pursue these cases at no upfront cost to you.

How to dispute a check or bank screening error

1. Request your free reports from ChexSystems and Early Warning Services.
2. Identify every error and gather documents reflecting that the information is not accurate — i.e., bank records, proof of payment, an identity-theft report if applicable.
3. Dispute in writing with the screening company, and keep copies.
4. Track the 30-day investigation window.
5. If it isn’t corrected — or you were already denied an account — talk to an FCRA attorney.

If your dispute didn’t fix the record, that’s often when the law has been broken — and where we can step in.

How The Kim Law Firm helps

From our Philadelphia office, we review your report, pinpoint the FCRA violations, deal with the screening company and the bank where appropriate, and pursue compensation for the harm you’ve suffered. With extensive experience representing individuals under the FCRA, we know how these screening companies operate and what it takes to force a correction. You don’t pay unless we win.

Check and bank screening companies we handle disputes against

Errors can appear on a report from any of these check and bank screening companies. If one of them has reported inaccurate information about you — or if yours isn’t listed — contact us.

• Certegy Payment Solutions, LLC
• CheckCare
• Chex Systems, Inc. ⇒
• CrossCheck, Inc.
• Early Warning Services, LLC ⇒
• Electronic Check Alliance Processing
• First American Payment Systems (SecurChex)
• Global Payment Check Services, LLC
• TeleCheck Services, Inc.

Check and bank screening errors often overlap with other consumer-report problems — see our pages on credit report errors, background check companies, tenant screening, and property & insurance reports.

Frequently asked questions