Bouncing back from a checking ban
By Laura Bruce • Bankrate.com

It's tough getting by without a checking account. Paying a dozen bills by money order each month is not only a hassle; it's expensive. But that's what many people deal with if their checking account was closed because they bounced checks.

Mess up your credit, it's reported to the major credit reporting agencies. Mess up your checking account, it's reported to ChexSystems, and the little black mark stays there for five years.

During that time it can be quite difficult to open a checking account. But there is a way to redeem yourself, get in the good graces of a bank or credit union and start writing checks again.

Re-education camp for bouncers
Get Checking is a checking-account school; a one-day, six-hour class where check bouncers learn the basics of owning a checking account and financial responsibility.

The program relies on a growing number of financial institutions that agree to allow Get Checking grads to open a checking account. Pass the test at the end of the course and you'll get a certificate to take to a participating bank.

This is only for folks who "honestly" messed up and bounced checks. If fraud is suspected, and that would be in your ChexSystems report, you won't be accepted for the class.

"We assume people know how to manage an account and that's not always true," says Kim Terry, financial management educator at Get Checking, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, the program originator.

"The two biggest pieces that people don't do, or do well, are, first, maintaining the register and balancing or reconciling it with their statement. The second is the question of funds availability -- when you make a deposit and when you have access -- how the system works."

Get Checking classes are usually run by consumer credit counseling agencies and university extension programs. There is a fee to register and it varies around the country; but expect to pay somewhere in the range of $35 to $50. If you owe money to a financial institution due to bounced checks, you'll have to show proof that it's been repaid before you can get your certificate.

Sally Antwiler, director of education at Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Orange County, Calif., says that the people enrolled in this program know they have a problem. "They've been to many financial institutions and they know there's no way they'll open a checking account without the class. When they finish the class they usually say they enjoyed it and learned a lot from it."

Lolita, an Orange County woman who asked that her last name not be used, found herself without a checking account after bouncing some checks at Washington Mutual. She enrolled in Get Checking after other banks refused to let her open an account.

"I couldn't get by without a checking account. I'd have to go to the Post Office for money orders. Class was good. It teaches you how to balance a checking account. There were a lot of helpful things."