You may not be aware of this, but banks and credit unions will likely check your credit when you open a new checking account. They aren’t looking for the kind of information lenders are looking for. Instead, banks look at reporting systems such as ChexSystems for better insight into your customer accounts from other banks and credit unions.

You run the risk of being denied a checking account in 4 primary situations:

1. Evidence of overdraft abuse
2. Evidence of fraudulent activity on previous checking accounts
3. Holding a joint account with someone who has unpaid negative balances on their accounts
4. Unpaid negative balance on a previous bank account