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Ostrich Rider
Ostrich Rider (@guest_1806749)
March 2, 2024 16:18

I think I just figured out why I may get “Identity Can’t be Verified” on some applications. I was looking over my Chex Report and noticed on the “Social Security Number Validation” that it shows my ‘SS# Became available for ISSUANCE in 19XX in My State of Birth’, which doesn’t match my birthdate. I was born 10 years earlier. I am guessing my parents must have gotten the card issued when I was a child and not when I was born. So maybe this date difference is causing Identity problems.

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1806765)
March 2, 2024 16:52

Ostrich Rider That’s normal. Back in the day, people didn’t need an SSN to claim the child on their taxes. My number was issued when I was about 10 y/o, which if I had to take a guess, was probably when my parents set up a savings account.

Other random SSN trivia… The first three digits are the area number. The next two digits are the group number. The final four digits are the serial number. So, you can tell what area someone was from when they got their card issued.

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v45n11/v45n11p29.pdf

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1806770)
March 2, 2024 17:09

I am surprised you have not seen this before on the knowledge-based questions banks/CUs throw up to verify identity, as I get that one all the time. But now that I think about it, P2 does not.

Per Wikipedia… Before 1986, people often did not obtain a Social Security number until the age of about 14,[7] since the numbers were used for income tracking purposes, and those under that age seldom had substantial income.

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1806850)
March 2, 2024 21:48

Also, I had my P2 have a run-in with an “Identity Verification” denial and I believe it locked out my P2’s Transunion website access. Weird.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/best-bank-account-bonuses/#comment-1804029

crazypaving
crazypaving (@guest_1787613)
January 29, 2024 07:26

how to get notifications for each chex pull? I have created account and to my knowledge I have enabled text notifications. But I never get them!

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1787694)
January 29, 2024 11:27
ogvon
ogvon (@guest_1791720)
February 2, 2024 23:30

I just signed up and got the essential version for a year. So, does Onalert just email me any time there’s a new chex inquiry?
Also, the comment with the link said “until 12/31/23”. But if this version is the right one, it’s still active.

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1791723)
February 2, 2024 23:38

Yes, you get an email about new bank activity.

New Bank Account Inquiry Alert
Gadget,

An attempt has been made to open a new bank account in your name. This alert is to inform you that a financial institution accessed your ChexSystems consumer report information in order to open a new checking or savings account.

Change: New Bank Account Inquiry
Company: SAN FRANCISCO FIRE CREDIT UNION
Inquiry Date: January 31, 2024

What should I do now?
If you recognize this activity, you do not need to take any action. If you do not recognize this activity, please log in for more information.

If you signed up, apparently it’s not expired.

ogvon
ogvon (@guest_1791725)
February 2, 2024 23:41

They must have forgot to end it lol. Sweet thanks Gadget, this should come in handy.

vc
vc (@guest_1787323)
January 28, 2024 17:59

Unless something happened when I pulled my report, it looks like they updated the chex reports. Each inquiry just has the company’s name and not your info (dl, email, etc).

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1787331)
January 28, 2024 18:09
  vc

I see the same thing. It shrunk my report by 3 pages. The email address was never populated on the individual inquiries, so I guess this fixes that. vc

vc
vc (@guest_1787340)
January 28, 2024 18:14

Same w the email. Now my inqs only span 7 pages. 😳

Jay
Jay (@guest_1786976)
January 27, 2024 21:11

How long does it take to unfreeze your chex report? Is it near-instant, or should you wait a day or two before applying for an account that pulls chex?

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1786982)
January 27, 2024 21:24

Near instant, IF you have online access to your Chex. I waited less than 5 minutes before and it worked. I have never tried from the external website, just the portal. You won’t get the letter until the next day saying it’s been thawed, but it took place immediately. Jay

Jay
Jay (@guest_1786983)
January 27, 2024 21:26

Thank you!

Yawgoog
Yawgoog (@guest_1786721)
January 27, 2024 10:11

One of the codes listed in my Chex score report was “GD INSUFFICIENT DDA INQUIRY ACTIVITY SAME FI.” Does anyone know what that means? Could it mean a lack of activity on some of my accounts?

Yawgoog
Yawgoog (@guest_1786754)
January 27, 2024 11:47

Perhaps it means that most of the inquiries in the consumer report are not from the same financial institution. My consumer report lists inquiries from 18 banks, 4 of which have 2 inquiries, the rest have 1 each.

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1786795)
January 27, 2024 13:40

Yes, that’s likely what it means. But, I wouldn’t sweat it. Getting multiple inquiries of the same FI isn’t going to magically fix the reason you were denied by xxxx bank or score is less than 900. Those codes on the score report are just excuses. Yawgoog

Sergei
Sergei (@guest_1766857)
December 29, 2023 02:13

Got denied when trying to open Citi checking account. I was so shocked – my first denial, called the phone number listed in promo email – a lady on the phone recommended to clear cookies, try another browser. I tried 2 more times, from Firefox after cleared cookies and then from Chrome on the phone with the same result. Went to ChexSystems and requested report – I only had 2 entries (in May and November) under “Inquiries viewed by others” in addition to 3 Citi generated ones today because of my trying to apply 3 times. What would you recommend as next steps? Calling them? Trying physical branch?

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1766859)
December 29, 2023 02:20

What did the denial message or email say? Are your credit reports EQ EX TU frozen? They may do a soft pull of credit.

Calling is likely useless, unless you want to apply over the phone. You can apply in branch… Might make a difference.

The 3 Citi Chex inquires will merge into 1 after a couple of days.

Sergei
Sergei (@guest_1766860)
December 29, 2023 02:24

Message said: “… we weren’t able to approve your checking application. More info will be sent in 7-10 business days…” None of my credit reports are frozen.

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1766865)
December 29, 2023 02:27

I’d wait for the letter. Citi uses EWS too. If there is any bad news there, they can see it.

Sergei
Sergei (@guest_1766867)
December 29, 2023 02:29

Can I get EWS report online? Do you know?

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1766869)
December 29, 2023 02:33

Not really. They make you submit a PDF form via their portal.. And takes like two weeks to get the download link. Big pain in the butt.

Sergei
Sergei (@guest_1766866)
December 29, 2023 02:27

A lady I called was saying something about changing my email or phone number and re-applying. I told her it’s not possible as the system identifies that I have credit cards with Citi and forces you to sign in. At no point am I asked email or phone number. You know what she recommended? Changing email and phone number on all my credit cards! What kind of insane help is that?

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1766868)
December 29, 2023 02:30

LoL. Next they would freeze your credit cards if you go around changing all your contact info.

Jay
Jay (@guest_1766876)
December 29, 2023 02:54

I wasn’t able to proceed with opening Citigold online recently (have Citi CCs). I ended up going in branch and they had to get backoffice override to open my account. Took until the next day and I had to come back into the branch to refill out the application.

I think mine was more run of the mill KYC related info verification though where proof of ID / address in person was sufficient to convince the back office to make overrides on behalf of the personal banker.

MoreSun
MoreSun (@guest_1758907)
December 15, 2023 12:49

Disputed 3 hits by Ally over the last couple years that I did not initiate. Ally called me a couple weeks later to enquire if I had identity fraud issues and I assured the rep it was not fraud related from everything I saw, I told her the accounts were opened long before the dates of the Ally inquiries and I thought Ally made a mistake. About a week later Chex mailed me the inquiries were removed.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1750711)
December 4, 2023 09:59

I just pulled my Chex report online and noticed that my last 2 inquiries were on the bottom (right above the “Inquiries Viewed Only By You” section”). It’s possible that this has occurred before but not from what I remember.

I’m mentioning this so you all can look out for this when you next check your report. Otherwise, you might think that you have less inquiries than you actually do.

CG
CG (@guest_1735418)
November 12, 2023 11:00

Is it possible to obtain chex report again in the year?

I had created a chex account and generated the report in september and was recently denied for Blupeak. When I try to generate it again , it gives me a reference number but no report is generated. No email or explaination as to why the report wasnt generated either
I was able to generate the score report just not the detailed report

I have tried a few times over the last 3 days but its the same every time. Do I need to call them?

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1735638)
November 12, 2023 18:45
  CG

Grrrr… got moderated.

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1735647)
November 12, 2023 18:53
  CG

Technically, you can request Chex annually, or within 60 days of a denial. Chex doesn’t know if you got denied or not, so as long you had activity, it wouldn’t matter. And, based on some comments, it doesn’t even matter if you say yes or no to the recent denial question.

I would recommend just registering for Chexsystems site access. It was a game changer for me, being about to see the entries in near-real-time. Just hit the Register button on the main page. Once you have access, you can go to the Dispute tab and see all the Chex report information, without even submitting the report. If gaining Chex site access doesn’t work, yeah, I would give them a call.
 
Other things you could try are clearing the browser cache and/or using a different browser, but honestly, I recall it having zero positive impact. I used to have a lot of issues like that as you describe, and if you keep resubmitting the request, you will hit the limit and then you have to wait two+ weeks to even try again, or have the report mailed.

CG
CG (@guest_1735881)
November 13, 2023 09:49

Thanks. It seems they were backlogged. I was got an email today that the report got generated (4 days after requesting )

Great tip on going directly to the dispute tab , but it gives me this error and brings me out back to the main page “We are unable to process your Dispute. Please contact ChexSystems at 800.428.9623 for assistance with this request”

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1736759)
November 14, 2023 14:01
  CG

CG,

I just pulled my Chex report online with no issue. I answered “No” to being denied as it’s been just longer than 60 days since Bethpage denied me for Chex in September.

This is less than 2 weeks after I successfully pulled my Chex report online by answering “Yes”.

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1736780)
November 14, 2023 14:29
  CG

Not sure why some people have such a bad time with Chex access.

While in the Chex site today… submitted a full Chex report and score report for P1 & P2. P2 in the lead with a 644, and 601 for P1. It’s been a busy month.

The first report was instant, and the others were within a minute or two via email notification. Mildly annoying to have to log out and in again for P1… I don’t think P2 had to. But, way better than 4 days.

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1737700)
November 15, 2023 19:54

Just for fun, had P2 apply for an account today, get a Chex inquiry, and then run a score report. Now she is exactly 601 as well. Same as me…

Aaron M
Aaron M (@guest_1727184)
October 31, 2023 15:23

Applied in-person for a local credit union today. You should have seen the banker’s face when she had pulled my Chex report. It looked like she’d seen a ghost.

“Um, okay… you’ve opened… (slowly counts from one to nine) nine accounts in the last year.”
“Yep!” (I should have told her that’s just the hard inquiries, not the # of accounts I’ve opened :p )
“Is there any reason for opening so many?”
“Mainly just looking for higher yields or utilizing new account bonuses that they are offering.”
“Hmm, okay… I just have to type a few things.”
(types who knows what for a minute)

I don’t get the big effin’ deal some of these financial institutions have with people opening accounts. Unless someone opens a dozen per month, who cares? Don’t they want to attract new applicants? Do they expect people to keep their money all in one or two places for years and years instead of chasing higher rates and signup incentives?

If someone doesn’t have any delinquent records and otherwise is a responsible, problem-free customer, it shouldn’t be an issue to open ten or more accounts per year. Banks are supposed to operate in a free market, too, and compete for our business. If they don’t offer a good enough product we’re free to leave and go somewhere else, and there’s no law that says you can’t have more than x bank accounts at a time.

Plus, wouldn’t an extensive history of banking with different institutions while not having any derogatory comments provide *more* incentive for a bank to want to do business with that person?

/end rant

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 (@guest_1727217)
October 31, 2023 15:52

Some thoughts on why they care…

1. They are concerned about risk. Maybe ID theft has occurred?
2. They suspect a person can only effectively manage so many accounts, so you are likely bonus mining.
3. Banks are a retail establishment. They want the business of some customers, but they reserve the right to limit who they accept and keep.
4. They make money when you are an active money mover/transactor, which is why so many bank offers want our direct deposits. Most people who get Payroll direct deposits are spending a good portion of that money.
5. I bet the average person opens just a few accounts every couple of years, if that. (Obviously not on this site, but most people aren’t using banks as a hobby)

I had a moment like that once upon a time, but I got denied. I got jerked around by a local bank a few years ago… I won’t list all the details, but they did say I was the only one ever who didn’t get approved for an account solely due to inquiries… and not owing money/derogatory Chex entries. The branch manager said to me I had EVERY bank in the world, except one she mentioned by name, on my report. It’s possible they were just blowing smoke, but it was a fairly small bank so they don’t get the same number of yahoos to compare.

Aaron M
Aaron M (@guest_1727975)
November 1, 2023 15:22

Yes, all fair points there. FWIW the banker didn’t give me a hard time, she was just surprised. I know we are by no means the norm and most people just have < 5 bank accounts, rarely opening new ones.

Regarding ID theft, if a~10 accounts were opened in the span of a few days or couple weeks then that'd be a concern. However, over a year and especially in a rising interest rate environment in which banks are trying to keep customers' deposits, it seems reasonable that people would be "shopping around" a bit for better returns.

Oh, I'm definitely bonus mining! But I do keep all accounts open 6+ months or longer as required, and this CU wasn't offering a bonus. I just wanted the kasasa high yield checking, and I explained to the banker I was interested in using the account as my primary checking in the long run.

True, as we have the choice of where we take our money the banks can choose with whom they do business. Every financial institution is going to have different standards and perspectives. IMO if someone's opening a dozen accounts per year and doesn't have any derogatory comments on their Chex report, I think it should be an indicator that the person is capable of managing their money responsibly rather than purely being a negative or red flag.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1727265)
October 31, 2023 16:45

The funny thing is that you are probably in the bottom 1% or 2% of DoC readers in the # of Chex inquiries. Imagine how she’d react if she ran into 1 of the other 98% of us?

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1727267)
October 31, 2023 16:46

Did she end up approving your account?

Aaron M
Aaron M (@guest_1727278)
October 31, 2023 16:58

Yes the account was approved, but she was giving me a weird vibe the rest of the way like I had been outed as a serial churner or money launderer (I am possibly the former, definitely not the latter :p ).

I had applied online the previous day but was declined due to “identification issues” which is why I went into the branch. I suspect it was actually due to Chex since the app even required photos of my DL and face, answered the verification questions, etc.

Anyway, it’s funny how Chex works vs credit history. Having multiple lines of credit over time and showing your ability to manage them responsibly improves credit scores, yet having multiple bank accounts and responsibly using them without any issues somehow harms your ability to open new bank accounts. Weird.