New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman stepped up his campaign to get New York banks to revise how they use consumer screening agency data to evaluate basic checking account applications.
Schneiderman sent letters to 100 banks operating in the state detailing agreements his office struck with five large banks, including Chase, Citibank, Capital One, Santander and, most recently, Amalgamated.
"It is critical that low-income Americans – and New Yorkers in particular – have access to mainstream banking services," Schneiderman said. "These new actions on the part of Amalgamated, and those of the other four banks that have already undertaken similar changes, will help expand access to low-cost financial services available to the benefit of consumers across the state. I have sent letters today to the other banks in the state requesting that they look closely at the benefits that would accrue to the people of the state, as well as to their institutions, if they were to adopt similar changes to their account screening procedures."
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While the five banks still use data from ChexSystems and Early Warning Services to screen checking account applicants for fraud risk, they stopped rejecting or rarely reject applications due to previous account issues such as overdrafts, Schneiderman said.
Earlier this month, the National Consumer Law Center and the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund released a report attacking consumer screening firms such as ChexSystems and Early Warning Services for their role in keeping consumers from participating in the mainstream financial system.
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