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ChexSystems, Inc., a company owned by Deluxe Corporation, is a service that many banks use to protect themselves from fraud and the risk of losing large sums of money. It is used in over 75,000 locations across the country. If someone has a negative record with ChexSystems and tries to open a new account with another bank that uses ChexSystems, the customer will be denied an account.
This system is a good idea on paper, but in practice as it is now it is widely misused. The Federal Government does not regulate the ChexSystems database. Basically, ChexSystems has full dictatorial rule over YOUR financial future. Think of the trouble that you would be in if you could not open a checking account. Try cashing a paycheck without a bank account and you will end up giving 10% of your income away. Most people can't afford to lose 10% of their income. Many people have also been denied accounts because they supposedly had invalid driver's license numbers (even though they were state issued licenses).
What causes a "negative record"? If you make one bad mistake – a hot check, a missed loan payment, an accidental overdraft on automatic debits – or if the bank makes an error, the bank has the right to post your name, birth date, and SSN on ChexSystems, preventing you from opening a checking account for five years. THE BANK HAS THE POWER TO BLAME YOU FOR THEIR MISTAKES! Even bankruptcy looks better to a bank than an error on your ChexSystems record! You can try to persuade the bank to take you off of this blacklist, explaining that all money owed has been paid, but it is still to the banks discretion. If the bank wishes, they can easily come up with a worse way to hit you with ChexSystems. All that you have to do is make an innocent, human error, and you can be blacklisted.
This petition is designed to persuade the members of the U.S. Legislature to form a bill that will protect consumers from this type of persecution. A Company with this much power over our finances should be regulated by the Government. When it comes to this side of doing business, THE CONSUMER ESSENTIALLY HAS NO RIGHTS.
A Company that works with Federally insured and regulated institutions, with interstate sharing of personal information should be Federally regulated. We are guaranteed by constitutional rights as Americans, the right to privacy, the right to free enterprise, the right to redress, and the right to face our accusers. If we are to be enterprising people, working and contributing to our country, we need checking accounts, and we need not to be persecuted for simple human errors. Checking accounts are tools essential for us to function properly in our society today. We MUST have our constitutional rights protected from this Company, which denies us of these rights.
By signing this petition, you are stating that you have
read and agree with the above statements.
