So you landed on Chexsystems’ list? Second chance bank accounts are offered by an increasing amount of financial institutions as a way to get around that annoying hurdle, and you might be considering that option. But you also realize that it’s a second-best choice, and what you would really want is a checking account with all the bells and whistles.

Personally, I try to make my position on second chance checking accounts simple: you should only settle for it if you have absolutely no other choice. I’m serious: try everything! If you really can’t find anything, then you can say what the heck and take it, because there’s nothing else you can do.

Take it from someone who’s been in Chexsystems for over 2 years now, and I’ve been able to find banks in my area that approved me for full-fledged checking accounts, without ever knowing that I was in Chexsystems. The funny thing is that they do have second chance accounts to offer people who come up to them and say that they’re on Chexsystems. But those banks are non-Chexsystems banks, which means that if you don’t volunteer the information, they’re not going to know because they’re not going to look for it.

Once you find a non-Chexsystems bank that opens a regular checking account for you, you will definitely not go back to second chance checking accounts, because those limited checking accounts simply put you in too much of a stranglehold:

• There’s always a monthly fee. Even at $5-$10 a month, it adds up to $60-$120 a year. That’s a nice chunk of change!
• They usually only accept direct deposit, which could be problematic if your employer doesn’t do business with them. They make it hard for you to deposit money as you like and when you like
• You have withdraw limits on your account (isn’t that YOUR money?)
• Check usage is not an option or is severely restricted
• Very often, you don’t even get a debit card that’s linked to your account. That means making trips to the bank every time you need money.

As you can see, it’s much easier to try and get a local non-Chexsystems bank in your area to give you a no strings attached checking account rather than being put through all this to get a second-rate bank account.