Most Americans have been brought up to be concerned about a good personal credit rating, because of the role a positive rating can play in your long term plans; purchasing a home, buying a car, getting a business loan, etc. They have also been made to understand that the premier organizations that pretty much hold the key to their financial futures are Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.

However, there is another organization operating behind the scenes, that is recording information about a singular aspect of every Americans financial life, that, if youre unfortunate enough to mishandle, can get you on their list of offenders, which will mean an almost immediate change in your quality of life. The name of this organization is Chex Systems, and the information they record is your banking history, specifically, your negative banking history.

Negative banking history can mean many things, but typically the following are what the banks report, and what Chex Systems, records in its database:

• Honoring a payment you may have made without sufficient funds (atm charge, check payment or automatic debit).
• Abuse of your atm cards, debit card, or savings account.
• Check fraud.
• Lying on your account application.

Most people reported to Chex Systems, typically fall into one of the categories above, but it is still your duty to find out exactly what your bank deems as a reportable offense.

If youre wondering what the penalty is for landing in Chex Systems, Im about to tell you.

You will be listed in their database for five years before your name is removed. You will not be able to find a bank willing open an account for you anywhere in the US, for at least the next five years.

What does this mean in real terms?

1. If your job was direct depositing your money to your account, you can forget about that convenience for five years.
2. If you enjoyed saving your money in a bank account, you will have to get accustomed to your mattress as your personal bank, for five years.
3. If you enjoyed making purchases using atm and bankcards, you will have to start walking around with your wad of cash from them on.
4. If you liked cashing your paycheck at the bank, you will now wait in line at one of those check cashing facilities, notorious for charging you a fee for you to receive your salary.
5. Oh, and those summer vacations you use to like takingmake sure you walk with lots of cash to pay for your hotel stay, food, and other vacation-like activities.

If this seems like a nightmare to you, it is. And whats worse, is that there are millions of Americans experience this every single day, without any relief in sight, for years to come.

You can avoid this nightmare by being very diligent about how you handle your personal checking accounts by keeping a steady eye on them. With the onset of internet banking, most people have no excuse to not know whats going on with their accounts, as the information is minutes from their fingertips.