Global Advice Center

How To Shop Around For Second Chance Bank Accounts

Posted on Aug 26, 2010 11:10:03 PM

So you can’t get a bank account?  Stop stressing out about it!  There are a lot of good alternatives out there that are available to people that are in your situation.  Second chance bank accounts come in a lot of different forms, so in this article I want to show you how to shop around for them so that you can get exactly what you want from them.

First, you have to figure out if you want to go with a regular bank, or with an alternative company.  Second chance banking is available from some traditional banks.  Compass is know for having accounts like this, but odds are that there isn’t a branch of this bank near you.  You may want to check around with smaller banks in your area that may be able to help you out.  They tend to not have the same restrictions that bigger banks do, and they love to take customers from the big guys.

Should you decide to go with an alternative style bank you now have to figure out the features that you want from it.  If direct deposit and online banking are important to you, find the second chance bank that has those features.  If you’re just looking for whatever is the cheapest, take that route.  On the topic of fees, they are going to vary a lot from one bank to the next, so it really pays off to shop around.  Not only are you protecting your income, you’re also not wasting it anymore at check cashing stores!

You’re probably going to end up with a list of four or five different bank options, and that’s a good thing.  From there you can dig deeper to see what other people are saying about them, what other features they offer (loans?), or if they have any programs that can help you improve your credit score.  Be sure to narrow your choices down to just one though, you don’t want to go from not being able to have a bank account to having multiple!