September 2020 by Liz Dewberry
I am not allowed to be a member of this bank because ChexSystems scored me so that I was declined to open a simple free checking account. First of all, information on the report is incorrect and difficult to dispute. Second, the information on the report has no indication that I should be declined. There is no negative information. When I called to try to understand why this information was the reason I was declined, "regulation" and "policy" were thrown up in my face. Additionally, when the person I was speaking to could not justify the reason for being declined she said to me, "I am sorry, we cannot open an account for you" and "we do not serve people who have made poor financial decisions" and "we do not serve people with poor credit." For starters, my credit score is not included in the report. Second, the report only indicated (if anything could be interpreted as negative) a "wealth index" score that indicated I don't have a lot of wealth. This is financial discrimination and these people should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for this. No bank should use ChexSystems and First Horizon should remove all advertising from Facebook and elsewhere encouraging applications because they will, in fact, decline you if you are not good enough to be a part of their banking network. I have been with one of the largest banks in the world for over 5 years, I have never walked out on a bank account or bank card, never had unpaid fees, and I haven't overdrafted my account in over 5 years. The email First Horizon sent me claims they declined me for the following reasons TIME AT CURRENT ADDRESS TIME SINCE NON-DDA INQUIRY ACTIVITY ASSET OWNERSHIP HISTORY NON-DDA INQUIRY OR RETAIL ITEM HISTORY. Not only could the employee not explain what two of these lines meant, but she could not justify the decline. I am apparently not allowed to move and I need to own boats and airplanes to be able have an account with them. This system and this bank practice financial discrimination and until someone can explain to me why any of these reasons are valid to deny a consumer a bank account, I will not be satisfied. I have filed complaints with every major governing bureau on them and will continue to do so. Also, the employee I spoke with needs training on how not to speak to people about this. If you cannot explain the report (without insulting financial decisions you know nothing about) your own institution uses to decline people, maybe you shouldn't work for the bank.
