One of the first financial steps that many people take is opening achecking and savings account. Doing so lets you easily pay for everyday expenses, as well as save up for certain milestones in the near future.
Both types of deposit accounts offer a safe place for your cash, but their purposes differ: A checking account holds your spending money for things like monthly rent and bills, while your savings account acts as an emergency fundthat stores money put aside for a rainy day. People commonly open a joint checking and savings account at the same time so they can easily transfer funds from one to the other.
Banks don't look at yourcredit scorewhen you open a checking and/or savings account, but they may screen your banking history. Potential account holders might be screened through a reporting agency called ChexSystems, which pulls your checking and savings account history similar to the way your credit history is pulled for yourcredit report.
The requirements are not as tough, however, as newcredit cardapplications. Below, we take a look at what you can expect.
What happens when you open a checking and savings account
Opening a checking andsavings accountrequires that you have proof of a few things: your age (you must be 18 or share the account with a legal guardian),your identification (you must be a legal U.S. resident) and your current address. But you don't have to worry about where your credit score stands.
According to Experian, one of the three main credit bureaus, banks and credit unions don't check your credit score when opening these two bank accounts. They may instead run aChexSystems report.
A ChexSystems report shows banks a potential customer's past activity with deposit accounts. It shows any unpaid negative balances (from overdrafting), frequent overdraft fees, bounced checks and suspected fraud.
Access a free copy of your ChexSystems report once every 12 months by going to the consumer reporting agency'swebsiteorby calling 800-428-9623. Note that your ChexSystems report has no direct impact on your credit score.
Why you should monitor your credit
Keeping track of your credit won't affect your approval odds for a new bank account but it will help provide an overall snapshot of your financial health.
In addition to pulling an annualChexSystems report, make sure you are checking your credit report provided by thethree credit bureaus atAnnualCreditReport.com. Any concern you have about your credit history can be relieved by staying on top of it.
To begin, sign up for a credit monitoring service likeExperian free credit monitoring, which is free and gives you access to your Experian credit report and customized alerts. Experian Boost™ also gives you access to your free FICO credit score.
Experian Dark Web Scan + Credit Monitoring
On Experian's secure site
Cost
Free
Credit bureaus monitored
Experian
Credit scoring model used
FICO®
Dark web scan
Yes, one-time only
Identity insurance
No
Terms apply.
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