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My daughter has been denied a bank account


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and we have no idea why. The bank won't tell us. She has never had an account or credit card, so we can't figure out any credit reason why this should be the case. Has anyone known this to happen with someone who has virtually no credit history? Are there reasons other than bad credit that might cause this to happen?

 

We also tried to open an account with both our names on it, and still had this problem, even though many places on the web tell us this should get around the problem. And the bank still won't tell us why they're denying her.

 

We're trying to get a copy of her credit report, but I'm not entirely sure this is going to help us. For one thing, the bank would not tell us which company they were dealing with that was telling them they could not open an account for her. So how do we even know which reporting agency to get the report from? And what if it's not a credit problem?

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and we have no idea why. The bank won't tell us. She has never had an account or credit card, so we can't figure out any credit reason why this should be the case. Has anyone known this to happen with someone who has virtually no credit history? Are there reasons other than bad credit that might cause this to happen?

 

We also tried to open an account with both our names on it, and still had this problem, even though many places on the web tell us this should get around the problem. And the bank still won't tell us why they're denying her.

 

We're trying to get a copy of her credit report, but I'm not entirely sure this is going to help us. For one thing, the bank would not tell us which company they were dealing with that was telling them they could not open an account for her. So how do we even know which reporting agency to get the report from? And what if it's not a credit problem?

 

How old is your daughter? Was she there at the time you were trying to get the account for her? Does she have I.D.?

 

Usually banks will only deny a bank account if someone has really bad credit, not just no credit. There are often high school or college checking accounts for those with no credit to allow them to build credit up. I would suspect not only a bad credit report but identity theft. If "someone" has had a history of writing bad checks, then banks are going to deny them an account. Hopefully if it is identity theft, someone else can give you good advice on how to tackle that.

 

Also- I think there are 3 main credit reporting agencies and most credit reports will list things from all 3 on them.

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I was of the impression that anyone denying someone an account HAD to give the reason in writing as well as telling which credit agency was used IF the decision was based on it.

 

I'd be making some calls or checking online to see if my thoughts were true, then taking the info to the bank to get the scoop.

 

Short of identity theft (which might be understandable), I'd also be switching banks (myself). I require nice service at places where I do business. Now that I write it, I think I'd be switching even if there's identity theft. I'd want my bank to clue me in to it if they saw what appeared to be it.

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Was this a local bank that you do business with yourself? I can't imagine that happening at ours. My 14 yo dd has had savings accounts for several years, but they do require that one of us be on it with her.

 

I hope you can get to the bottom of it and change banks. Our bank would have talked with us if there was a problem. We are in a small town, though.

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It's the bank we've been banking at for years. It's not a local bank but a big nationwide one. (It's Wells Fargo -- anyone else have this sort of trouble with them?)

 

I'm seriously considering moving our money out of there as well. I can understand that they might not want to open an account with what looks like a high risk customer, but at the very least, they should tell us why. And when one looks for advice on the web as to how to get around this problem, the main piece of advice seems to be to open a joint account with a responsible party. She was denied alone the first time, then again when we tried to do it as a joint account with me. The way this bank is talking, there is NO WAY she will ever be able to open a bank account, even with someone else on it.

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Was this a local bank that you do business with yourself? I can't imagine that happening at ours. My 14 yo dd has had savings accounts for several years, but they do require that one of us be on it with her.

 

I hope you can get to the bottom of it and change banks. Our bank would have talked with us if there was a problem. We are in a small town, though.

 

Ours too. We had to be on them but both kids have had savings accounts for years. I hope you get to the bottom of it and get an account.

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I agree - switch banks. If you have done business with them and they won't tell you what the issue is, I'd be very leery of continuing to use them. Can you try a credit union? Mine calls me if any activity seems suspicious (like an odd charge, or multiple charges in multiple states for several days). Or online banking through ING? They sometimes have incentives to join (e.g., start a savings account and get $50 after 60 days).

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Why is she a high risk customer? Is she trying to borrow money? What risk is there in depositing money or are you asking for a loan?

Stephanie

 

I imagine that the bank is extending credit on deposits in a way, because often one can withdraw money even if a check that was deposited hasn't cleared.

 

I know, this looked pretty crazy to me, because all she was asking for at first was a savings account, not even a checking account.

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If it is Wells Fargo you're dealing with, I would run as far as I can as fast as I could.

 

I banked at Wells Fargo about ten years ago, and even had a mortgage through them. When it came to my checking account, their only interest was collecting as many fees as they possibly could. I switched to a local bank, and have been a "model customer" ever since. Wells Fargo was completely unreasonable. My MIL had a CD with them and wanted to move it at the end of the time period and they wouldn't let her take the money even though the time was up without paying a penalty for withdrawing the funds.

 

They probably don't see your daughter as a profitable customer and thus they are not interested in giving her a checking account.

 

My parents banked with a local bank that was purchased by a big bank and they stuck with it. But when my sister and I got our first checking accounts, they were through the local credit union. It was a much more friendly place for teaching a kid how to handle money. I had my own checking account by the 9th grade (or earlier). I went to private school, and my parents made me write the check for my tuition every month. By the time I got to college, my tuition every month was $1500 (again, private school). So it wasn't just a $50 account I used to buy underwear with.

 

I would NOT use freecreditreport.com as I've known lawyers that had difficulties cancelling their account with them, and if a lawyer can't cancel an account, what about the rest of us?

 

I pull our credit report every year after I file our taxes. I would recommend pulling credit reports for all of your children on an annual basis to make sure they haven't been victims of credit theft.

 

As for Wells Fargo, run as fast as you can.

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We recently applied online for our dd to have an account for her college funds. It was like jumping through flaming hoops. I have my name on the account, and they checked my credit, too. :001_huh: We've made 3 personal trips to the bank, each time to answer basically the same questions. She had to come in and prove her identity over and over. :confused: So much for online applications being easier. They finally approved it, but now they are threatening to charge her monthly fees (student accounts are supposed to be free) unless she goes to online statements and banking. I had to go to the bank twice myself, and you will have to go and sit and wait until a branch manager can speak to you and tell you their reasons for denial. I think banks everywhere are running scared and stupid. Sorry for her aggravations!

Edited by Blueridge
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No credit record is as bad as a bad one sometimes. I know a couple of young people who have moved abroad for a few years and had trouble getting bank accounts when they came back to the UK. They were in their early 20s, They had no sort of bad credit history but just no history at all. They had children's bank accounts though. They were told it was because they had no credit records.

 

I think in the end they go around it buy getting a store card using it and paying it off to get some sort of record.

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I would NOT use freecreditreport.com as I've known lawyers that had difficulties cancelling their account with them, and if a lawyer can't cancel an account, what about the rest of us?

 

I pull our credit report every year after I file our taxes. I would recommend pulling credit reports for all of your children on an annual basis to make sure they haven't been victims of credit theft.

 

LOL, poor lawyer dude :lol:

I had no problems cancelling with free credit report but that is good to know.

 

As for Wells Fargo, run as fast as you can.

:iagree:I agree about Wells Fargo those folks do not have good customer service.

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We've used Wells Fargo for a long time, also. My college daughter has a "student account" that we set up last summer with them (she was 18 at the time) that's linked to our account. It includes checking, savings, and a Visa debit card, and has no fees attached to it at all. We can check her balances, transfer funds, etc, online. No problems whatsoever setting it up - they wanted her business. I'm mystified like everyone else as to why they won't help your daughter. Sorry!! I hope you get to the bottom of this soon...

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I would be worried about identity theft as well. I would get credit reports from all 3 agencies. Depending on your DD's age, you might not be able to use the freecreditreport site (I think it only works for 14 and up?). Regardless, you should request that her info be searched w/name and social combo, and again w/just her social.

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To be honest, the only reason we are with Wells Fargo right now is because they bought out our bank. I've never been happy with their service at the office. But I thought it might be easier to deal with the same bank in setting up my daughter, because they would "know" us already. Although, when we were trying to set this up over the phone (because I didn't want to go to the branch office and wait for hours!) I was talking to someone in a faraway state. So much for anyone knowing us.

 

I'm pretty much ready to leave Wells Fargo, except that we have a special deal with free checking with them that I'm not sure I can duplicate elsewhere (they don't even offer it anymore -- probably it was from the bank we originally started our account with.)

 

Thanks for the discussion on this, everyone. I'm getting ideas as to what to do next.

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It's the bank we've been banking at for years. It's not a local bank but a big nationwide one. (It's Wells Fargo -- anyone else have this sort of trouble with them?)

 

In my experience, Wells Fargo is a horrible company to work with.

 

I'm seriously considering moving our money out of there as well. I can understand that they might not want to open an account with what looks like a high risk customer, but at the very least, they should tell us why. And when one looks for advice on the web as to how to get around this problem, the main piece of advice seems to be to open a joint account with a responsible party. She was denied alone the first time, then again when we tried to do it as a joint account with me. The way this bank is talking, there is NO WAY she will ever be able to open a bank account, even with someone else on it.

 

It's ridiculous to not give a "starter" type of account to a child of a customer. The bank can put as much restriction on the account as needed- no money until checks clear, etc.

 

Get thee to a local bank, ASAP!

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YES! My then 17 year old tried to open a bank account to be told NO. What on earth? He didn't have any credit at all but I found out... they don't check credit to open a checking account, they go thru chex system (as someone did mention in this thread). You need to contact Chex system and find out what is on her record there. I had them mail me a copy and found out that some other person had hot checks out that was on my sons record! He had never had a checking account so I knew they weren't his. Come to find out... someone at chex system had missed ONE number in the social security number and that mans mess went on my sons record. THAT kept him from getting a checking account until we alerted them of the mistake and Chex Systems removed it off my sons record and we had no problems after that getting him an account. Seriously, contact Chex System and get a copy of her record and go from there.

 

 

Edited to say: this was a local bank AND I was a customer in great standing. So, that has nothing to do with it.

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As previously mentioned, you need to check Chex Systems. Unless things have changed, this is what is pulled to open checking accounts, not the credit bureaus. DH works for a bank, and to my knowledge, customers are told if there are charge-offs, etc. under their name. I think the reasons must be disclosed. This situation is really strange, and I would be very concerned about identity theft. I hope you get it sorted out soon.

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To be honest, the only reason we are with Wells Fargo right now is because they bought out our bank. I've never been happy with their service at the office. But I thought it might be easier to deal with the same bank in setting up my daughter, because they would "know" us already. Although, when we were trying to set this up over the phone (because I didn't want to go to the branch office and wait for hours!) I was talking to someone in a faraway state. So much for anyone knowing us.

 

I'm pretty much ready to leave Wells Fargo, except that we have a special deal with free checking with them that I'm not sure I can duplicate elsewhere (they don't even offer it anymore -- probably it was from the bank we originally started our account with.)

 

Thanks for the discussion on this, everyone. I'm getting ideas as to what to do next.

 

Our credit union has had free checking as long as I've been here (12 years). Many credit unions do. They care :lol:.

 

:grouphug:

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OK, we've sent in a request to have ChexSystem tell us if they know what's up.

 

The weird thing is that Wells Fargo not only couldn't tell me what the problem was, they couldn't even tell me where they were getting their info from. So it might not be ChexSystem that we should go to, but that is seeming like the likeliest candidate, so that's where we're starting. (I'm only assuming right now that it's bad credit of some sort. Which it might not be. Because the bank couldn't tell us. They did send out a cheery little note telling her she'd been denied, without any info on WHY, and saying they were so happy to be doing business with her. Doesn't anybody read their form letters before they send them out?)

 

Meanwhile, I'm looking at the local credit union. If they take my daughter, I'm going to open another account in my name as well. Eventually, Wells Fargo will likely lose us as customers, which is too bad for them (they have a lot of our retirement money as well, thanks to another recent buyout).

 

Anyway, I can't stand the local branches of Wells Fargo because they're all staffed by men who seem to think women shouldn't have accounts on their own.

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goodness I hope you find out what the issue was and hope it was NOT identity theft or similar.... :iagree: credit unions can be great.I hope that you can get her an account opened there easily. I've had a checking account since I was about 16-17. It started out being a joint account with me and my mom on it and then when I was old enough just me on it. update us when you find out what was going on.....good luck..... :grouphug:

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Any chance there is someone else in the house with a similar name that the bank wouldn't give an account to? Bank of America refused my younger sister an account because she has a somewhat similar name and obviously several records of living at the same address. I had an account with them that was supposed to be closed out, but apparently I owed a fee that went through after I was told the account had been closed. I owed the bank $100 after they tacked on all their late fees, which I paid as soon as I found out! They thought she and I were the same person. Sorry sis! (It's been long straightened out now. I felt pretty awful at the time.)

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Annualcreditreport.com is the government website that was set up to give access to your free credit reports. When you go through this site, you are never asked for a credit card. Start here.

 

Yes. This is what I was going to post. No fees, no trial period...just a free report from all three credit services....is it once a year? Or every six months?

 

At any rate, OP, PLEASE get her credit report. I highly suspect identity theft, and yes the bank probably thinks it is her that did all the charging and not paying.

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Sorry I did not read everything.. There are many way of getting accounts denied. Dh and I had problems at one time because one of us has a ss# issued from a stack that had been issued to the state years before we born (someone made a mistake). I had to go to the SS office to get a letter stating that the ss# was good. We have not had to switch banks again so I don't know if we would have the same problem again but have been told it likely to happen again. (In a weird way we have build in fraud protection.)

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I have no experience with this bank, but I seem to remember when I was a minor that I could not get a checking account. If I wanted to open an account at the bank it had to be savings with a parent on the account.

 

We tried that too.

 

If worst comes to worst, I guess I can open an account in my name and either add her later and remove me (if we can), or just let her have the debit card from that account. And hope that she doesn't wreck my credit. (Not that I have ANY reason to suspect she would do that. I worry more about my husband as he gets forgetful.)

 

But I'm going to try some other banks and credit unions first.

 

I am reading on the web that banks might deny an account to someone with no credit, but I don't get why they'd do that if I'm willing to put my name on the account as well. Also, the second time around, we were specifically trying to open an account geared to college students. You'd think they'd know college students might not have much credit history.

 

But I'm racking my brains trying to figure out if it's something else that's the problem. Maybe that she doesn't have a driver's license (only a learner's permit)? Maybe that a credit report was done on her last week because her new employer requested one?

 

And I suspect there are very few (if any) people in this world with her exact name. My name is really common and I've had to go through weird rigamaroles when I buy houses and such to prove to them that I'm not the person who was caught shoplifting at Penney's, or who bounced checks, or whatever. (Even though they had a different SSN!) This is just weird.

 

So we'll sit and wait to see what's on her report. Assuming I contacted the right place.

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As previously mentioned, you need to check Chex Systems. Unless things have changed, this is what is pulled to open checking accounts, not the credit bureaus. DH works for a bank, and to my knowledge, customers are told if there are charge-offs, etc. under their name. I think the reasons must be disclosed. This situation is really strange, and I would be very concerned about identity theft. I hope you get it sorted out soon.

 

From my own experience, when my minor son was denied, this was the EXACT place to find the problem. Chex Systems. It has nothing to do with not having a drivers license, or the bank you went to or the fact that he/she has no credit. We were in the EXACT same boat with my son.

 

You're problem will be solved when you check Chex Systems. In our case, like I said, it was a social security mix up which resulted in another person's bounced check history being put on my son's record. I faxed his social security number to Chex Systems and it was all cleared up within a couple of weeks. I took that letter to the bank with no problems with opening one up for him.

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My 15 year old son easily got a free account at our local credit union. I had to sign as the guardian but it is in his name and they even offered him a checking account with a debit card.

 

Something fishy is in the air. It might just be that Wells Fargo stinks (because they do!) but if it were me, I would check credit reports and Chex Systems.

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I haven't read the other responses, but I think I would be getting credit reports and finding out if her identity has been stolen. The only reason I can think of that would deny her if someone has been using her I'd to rack up a bunch of bad debt.

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This sounds really fishy to me. I bank with Wachovia (now owned by Wells Fargo) and I have noticed the quality just going way downhill since Wells Fargo acquired them. While it could be identity theft issue, it could also be Wells Fargo being screwy. I am interested to see how this turns out for you as I have been seriously considering switching banks for a while.

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Wells Fargo is regulated by the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency). They have a website that might be helpful to you occ.gov and another site where you can file a complaint helpwithmybank.gov. If they actually denied the account for credit reasons (or lack of credit reasons), there is Regulation B (Regulation 202) that you can read to understand the rules, or to see if the bank is following the rules. You can search for this Regulation, and it will come up at the FDIC site.

 

Best of luck!

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I can't believe they won't give you a reason. :confused: When I got put on DH's bank account, there was some record of someone else with the same name as me who wrote some bad checks, but they gave me the info and I was able to go get it resolved. Just another idea.

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Bank of America is as crummy as Wells Fargo. They try to charge every fee out there. Ugh! Out of all the banks we've had, they were the worst!

 

:iagree:We canceled our account with BofA when they charged us a "teller fee" to deposit cash.:001_huh:

 

This whole thing sounds really odd. Hope you can get it worked out and as painlessly as possible.

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