Politics
ChexSystems is owned by Fidelity National and used by 80% of US banks. A single 2022 overdraft fee entry is preventing a 2028 presidential candidate from opening a campaign account after contacting 21 banks. The entry expires March 2027. The FEC says keep trying.
NewsOnScale Staff
September 20, 2026
Most Americans have never heard of ChexSystems. It is not a credit bureau in the traditional sense. It is a consumer reporting agency that tracks negative banking history — bounced checks, overdrafts, unpaid fees — and sells that information to banks before they decide whether to open an account for you.
If you are in ChexSystems with a negative entry banks can and do refuse to open accounts. No appeal. No hearing. No meaningful recourse until the entry expires — which under the Fair Credit Reporting Act takes five years.
A declared candidate for President of the United States in 2028 cannot open a federal campaign account because of a ChexSystems entry from 2022. The candidate has contacted 21 banks. The entry expires in March 2027 under the FCRA five year limit. Until then — no campaign account.
What ChexSystems Actually Is
ChexSystems is owned by Fidelity National Information Services — a financial technology company. It operates as a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Banks voluntarily report negative account information to ChexSystems and voluntarily check it before opening new accounts.
Approximately 80 percent of US banks and credit unions use ChexSystems. If you have a negative entry most of those institutions will deny you a basic checking account — the most fundamental financial tool in modern American life.
ChexSystems does not determine whether the underlying event was fair, accurate in amount, or the result of predatory bank practices. It records that something negative happened and reports it for five years.
The Overdraft Fee Problem
The CFPB has documented overdraft fees as one of the most predatory practices in American banking. Banks collected approximately $7.7 billion in overdraft fees in 2021 alone. The average overdraft fee was $26.61 per transaction — charged on transactions that averaged $20.
In 2022 the CFPB announced it would scrutinize overdraft fee practices as a priority enforcement area. In 2024 the CFPB finalized a rule capping overdraft fees at $5 for large banks — a rule that reflected the agency's documented finding that these fees were excessive and harmful to consumers.
The same fees the federal government has spent years trying to limit are the fees that appear in ChexSystems reports and block Americans from basic banking access for five years.
The Campaign Account Problem
The Federal Election Commission requires presidential campaigns to maintain a dedicated bank account for campaign funds. All donations must be deposited into that account. All campaign expenditures must come from it. The FEC's compliance structure assumes candidates can access basic banking services.
When a bank denies a candidate a campaign account — because of a ChexSystems entry from a predatory overdraft fee years earlier — the FEC's assumption breaks down. The candidate cannot deposit donations. Cannot make compliant expenditures. Cannot demonstrate the financial transparency the FEC requires.
The FEC has acknowledged this gap exists. Its guidance to affected candidates is to keep trying to find a bank that will open an account.
That is not a solution. It is an acknowledgment that the system has a hole in it.
The Five Year Cliff
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ChexSystems can report negative information for a maximum of five years. After five years the entry must be removed regardless of whether the underlying debt was paid.
That means a 2022 overdraft fee disappears from ChexSystems in 2027. A candidate blocked from banking today will have clear access to banking in approximately six months.
But the 2028 Democratic primary process begins before that. Campaign fundraising infrastructure needs to be in place now — not in six months. The five year FCRA clock does not align with the campaign calendar.
Who This Actually Affects
Presidential candidates are a small and visible example of a problem that affects millions of ordinary Americans.
Approximately 12 million Americans are unbanked — without any bank account. A significant portion of them are locked out of banking by ChexSystems entries. Without a bank account Americans cannot receive direct deposit paychecks, cannot pay bills electronically, cannot access credit, and are forced to rely on check cashing services that charge fees that compound the financial hardship that got them into ChexSystems in the first place.
The predatory fees that create ChexSystems entries are the same fees the CFPB has spent years trying to limit. The five year reporting window that maintains those entries was designed to protect banks — not consumers.
What Should Change
The FCRA five year reporting window for ChexSystems entries should be reduced. A two year window reflects the actual risk relevant to a bank opening a new account — not a five year window that functions as a permanent economic punishment for a single overdraft.
Banks should be required to distinguish between unpaid overdraft fees and actual fraud or check kiting when reporting to ChexSystems. A customer who overdrafted on a $20 transaction and was charged $150 in fees is not the same risk as someone who deliberately wrote bad checks.
Candidates for federal office should have access to a federally designated banking option for campaign accounts when commercial banks are unavailable due to ChexSystems entries from fees — not fraud. The FEC's assumption that commercial banking access is available to all candidates is not consistent with documented reality.
DISCLOSURE: NewsOnScale is an independent media publication owned and operated by AMILLI AI CORP. JJ Johnson is the founder of AMILLI AI CORP and a declared candidate for President of the United States in 2028. All facts about ChexSystems, overdraft fees, and CFPB enforcement are drawn from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and CFPB enforcement documentation publicly available at consumerfinance.gov.