Chexsystems report from BoA... Pay or dispute?

[gettingitdone]

I recently tried to open a new checkings account with a local bank and was denied due to a report on there from Bank of America in the amount of 357$. I had never even heard of Chexsystems so I went home and googled it and ordered my free report...

Finally received the report a month later and it states the bank, Bank of America Missouri, the amount owed, and just states "account abuse" as the reasoning. Now this report was added in 2010 and has no contact number for the bank listed and only states telephone number not available?

I did indeed have this bank while I was in college downstate, but I don't remember ever over drafting or receiving notice if this... So it was quite the shocker to find this out. I currently have TDBank and they didn't have a problem opening my account a few years back.

Now I am currently trying to get a personal loan through my mothers credit union and will be approved but am now afraid this will show up when I open a savings account with them. I want to dispute this report, because I have no memory of ever overdrafting with them.

I have the money to pay it, but that's not the point. Should I just bite the bullet and pay it in order to get my loan? Or dispute it? Will a credit union give me a loan if Im disputing this? I have full intentions if paying it if they give me proof that i do indeed owe this much.Who do I pay? I couldn't find a number to call anywhere for BoA and the chexsystems number is just an automated system to order the report. I've been researching and can't seem to find much helpful information out there on this.

Please help!? I've finally fixed my credit after two years of hard work and now this? I feel like the system is against us gaining any financial ground...

[guiness56]

ChexSystems isn't the same as a CRA.  They only have banking information.  When a lender pulls your CRs they don't pull a report from them.  It would just keep you from getting a bank account, even paid.

I would first contact BoA and find out why you were overdrafted in the first place and then not notified.  If you find it is legitimate, you can pay it and ask BoA to have it removed.  They may charge a fee to do this.

[Jon85]

The same thing literally just happened to me--but instead of $375, it was $350 from 2011.

The Bank of America Recovery Department (their internal collections) still had the account, it wasn't sold to another CA so it hadn't reported on my CRs yet, I had only found out about it when I tried to open a checking account with a different bank and got denied.

Long story short, I called their department and asked them If I could settle with them... they said they could settle and close out the account and remove from ChexSystem if I settled with them for $200. I told them I only had $140 to pay toward this bill. The representative was really nice... she asked if I could do $150 and I just said yes... forward one month, it's been deleted off of ChexSystem, I got a letter from BOA saying my account was closed out, and all is well.

So you could probably get that $375 down to like $200 easily if you don't want to pay the full amount. 

And BTW, you definitely want to take care of this while BOA still has it--because the representative on the phone told me they usually hold on to checking/savings accounts for 2-3 years, and then sell it to an external CA--if that happens, it will be reported on your CRs most likely through the third party. So act on it ASAP.

[gettingitdone]

Thanks for the info I will give that a try and let you know how it turns out .

[RobertEG]

While Chexsystems deals with banking account information rather than consumer credit, they are still a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA.

You can file a dispute with them under FCRA 611(a) the same as any other CRA.