Ginger Chouinard Paper on Lesser-Known Credit Reports

Ginger Chouinard of New Mexico has written The 'Other' Credit Report: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You.  Here's the abstract:

Nearly 90% of financial institutions use ChexSystems or similar account screening reports in their account opening process, yet they are under no duty to disclose this to consumers until an account is denied due to information contained in the report. For those consumers denied accounts, it is too late. They had no idea information was being collected on their checking account usage, much less that it could be used to deny them an account in the future, and are subsequently forced to go outside the mainstream and use expensive alternatives like check cashing services and money orders to conduct their everyday financial business. Increased consumer awareness of these reports is necessary so that consumers better understand the impact poor account management may have on their future usage of traditional banking services.

This article examines these reports, the impact on consumers when they can’t open a new account based on information contained in such reports, and how changes in overdraft practices have encouraged poor account management, which in turn may have resulted in even more negative reports. The article also examines how the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) applies to account screening reports and whether new overdraft practices technically result in loans, triggering additional disclosure. The article concludes with recommendations, discussing how the reporting system could be improved and how consumers could be better informed and protected.

 

 

Comments

[Alex]

This article was awesome!! Thank you. Being fairly new to the credit arena I am constantly trying to gather as much information as possible to try and keep myself headed in the right general direction. Spending some time on this post has actually given me a lot of great points to think about. In my recent research I have also been able to find some pretty useful information related to this topic when I Googled the credit locker university. This was helpful as well. Thanks again!

[georges]

Well people should be aware on this kind of stuff. Remember that you cannot take any loan or mortgage if your credit report is not that impressive.