How to Open a Checking Account If Denied
- 1). Locate a bank that offers second-chance checking accounts. Second-chance accounts are specifically geared toward people who have been denied traditional bank accounts for reasons of negative past account history or bad credit. Online banks and private banking institutions are good places to locate these types of accounts.
- 2). Find out the requirements to open up a second-chance bank account. Requirements might include maintaining a minimum account balance at all times, often higher than that of traditional accounts, having a co-signer or additional account holder on the account and a time period of good standing before checks or other account benefits are accessed. Account holders have to be at least 18 years of age at the time of opening the account.
- 3). Fill out an application for opening a checking account. The account holder has to provide a Social Security number, a valid form of identification--a state-issued ID or driver's license with accurate contact information. Legal residents of the United States are eligible to open up accounts and have to provide a permanent home address within the state of a branch banking location.
- 4). Deposit funds into the account. Second-chance checking accounts often require a minimum balance to be kept in the account at all times and can range from $100 to $500 or more, depending on the bank. Even if no minimum balance is required, money has to be put into the account in order to start it.
- 5). Maintain good standing with the bank account. Second-chance banking options require the account holder to maintain the account in good standing for a year as a kind of probationary period. The possibility of account restrictions being lifted, minimum balance requirements ended and having the account upgraded to a regular account are results of rebuilding bank trust with the second-chance accounts.
