Credit Tips: Do Bounced Checks Go On Credit Report?

Posted On: January 1, 2006

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Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:50 am
Post subject: Do Bounced Checks Go On Credit Report? melissa
Date: 4/17/2001 10:20 pm CDT

about three years ago, i bounced a couple checks. it wasn’t on purpose and i paid the companies back but ever since, i’ve been afraid to apply for a credit card. it was for this reason that i went with a visa check card through my bank. it worked great - i knew what i had in the bank and never made a purchase i couldn’t afford for well over a year. well, apparently that means nothing in the world of credit… it isn’t a “real” credit card and i have no credit and if they look real hard, they’ll see a couple bounced checks from way back when… so now that i need a car loan in a bad way, i am stuck. a friend suggested that i apply for a net first mastercard to establish credit and i did just that, about five minutes ago. but i have no idea how long it’ll take for my credit report to look decent enough to be approved for a reasonable loan. help! any suggestions?

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Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:51 am
Post subject: Do Bounced Checks Go On Credit Report?

Eugene
Date: 4/18/2001 0:53 am CDT

Bounced checks go into ChexSystems report, mostly used by banks for determining deposit product eligibility. If you opened a deposit account after that, you should not worry about that report.

As for CREDIT report, most probably it is not affected at all by those bounced checks. The only way to know is to look at your credit reports from all three CRAs.

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Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:51 am
Post subject: Do Bounced Checks Go On Credit Report?

Mycroft
Date: 4/19/2001 0:33 am CDT

It is unlikely these bounced checks are on your credit history. If you covered the checks quickly and they were not sent to a collection agency, they would never have reported to the bureaus.

No, a check card will not count towards your credit history. This is because it is not credit. You are only spending your own money. When someone lends you money, they want to know how you have repaid lenders in the past.

I would say it is smart to want to establish a credit history. Assuming you manage it wisely, in the long run it will save you a lot of money on major purchases.

Right now your problem is that you have no credit. This is not the same at all as having bad credit. It may be worth your time to go shopping for cars, and talk to the credit manager of the dealerships you look at. Talk to more than one. Ask them what sort of terms you might be approved at. You may consider asking a relative to co-sign for you, find out how much that will improve your rate.

Above all, don’t let fear of the unknown keep you from taking action. You don’t know that you can’t finance a car right now, so go find out. It’s not a bad thing if they say no, and they might say yes.