Question
We are a military family and move often. We had one open bank account in our old home town that we never used, but since we both had to be present to close, just have never closed. My husband paid a bill online a while back but clicked the wrong checking account and paid it out of this account by mistake, which did not have enough funds.
Since we never use the account whenever we get mail from them I simply throw it in the bank statement pile and never look at it. Then, I got what looked to be a debt collection notice, which I found wierd since we have great credit and aren’t over due on anything. Since the overdrawl had not been paid off in 90 days they closed our account. I of course paid it right away, but how bad will this bank account closure affect our current credit and for how long?
Response
It sounds like it never went to a collection agency and the notice was just from the bank. A bank closure itself does not negatively affect your credit –an overdraft fee that went into collections, however, does.
I think your best course of action would be to call the bank and kindly explain to them the situation just like you did in your email to me. More often than not you will find that small local banks are usually helpful with these types of situations. However, if you are dealing with a large bank such as Chase or Wells Fargo, your chances of resolving this are slim. Nonetheless, if in fact the overdraft did go into collections, it will remain on your credit report for 7 years and it will have a significant effect on your credit rating. It is for this reason, I strongly suggest you try to work with the bank as to ensure nothing is recorded on your credit report.
I thought all bank info went on a credit report.. guess it makes sense that it doesn’t.. cool 🙂
Nope, nothing regarding your bank goes on a credit report. there is something called Chek System (I think).. and they will check that before issuing your a bank account.
Its called ChexSystems and its like the credit reporting agencies but contains history about your bank accounts. It does exist if, for example, you write a bad check or have your bank account closed because of insufficient funds.
Ah, that’s right! Thanks!! 🙂 🙂
I doubt whether ChexSystems is accurate. I’ve had an entry on there that totally wasn’t mine and they simply refused to remove it. They are worse than the credit agencies.
naw, they are accurate, come on.
I can’t imagine them being anymore accurate than the credit reporting agencies…
I think you are right. But you should cover more on this topic.
we were denied a loan two weeks ago because we had closed our checking account. lenders do see that info somewhere
denied no checking account