There are a lot of shops that are posted within the area and I was just wondering how opening and closing multiple checking accounts would affect me. Is this something that the banks would flag?

And does closing checking accounts with BofA affect your credit score? I know that they go through ChexSystems rather than the regular credit score information. Thanks!!

I did two of these, (checking and savings) and from what I recall, you have to keep the account open for 90 days. (No fee on account until after 90 days also lol, $25.00 minimum to open). I think that you could only do one shop at a time.

Bank accounts do not impact credit scores, but each bank keeps track of opened and closed bank accounts forever. If you ever go back to open another account, they will know. You will have to decide whether that matters to you. Closing an account does not impact you (assuming that you have not bounced checks, etc.), but it does leave an electronic trail in the respective bank's system.

There are several companies, ChexSystems is the largest I think, that banks use to check whether you have abused bank accounts. An example would be some of the people who have come to this forum to report that they deposit a scan check for $1800 (or whatever dollars) and spent the money before the check bounced and the bank forcibly closed their account and reported them to ChexSystems. It will be very hard to open another account if you have been reported to ChxSystems because 80% of all banks and credit unions in the US use ChexSystems (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChexSystems)

I personally would not risk the potential for future banking issues for the fee offered. I took exactly one bank account opening shop in my life and still have that account....

I have done the checking and savings account shops. I closed several checking accounts after keeping them open for the required time. My savings account with them is still open (not enough time has gone by).

I'm finding that having an open account with them makes me eligible for some shops.

BofA, and I'm sure most banks, keeps a database of current and former account holders. As long as your former accounts were left in good standing, you will be fine. Your credit is not affected by deposit accounts.

When I opened my savings account, I had to do it at a location 10 miles away. I'm sure the banker looked at my history (mortgage inquiries, checking, checking, checking, savings, deposits of less than $1, etc.). None of the transactions/inquiries were at the branch 0.5 miles away from my address.

Maybe that was why the bank manager came in to thank me for my business. My account screamed mystery shopper!

Thank you for asking this question, I have wondered the same. I mostly do inquiry only bank shops for that reason. I already have a checking account with them (I opened it right before starting ms-ing again, darn it) that I opened it to get more points on my credit card. I did do a credit card shop with them (the other card is in my husband's name, so it made sense). I will probably open a savings account for a shop one of these days. Then I could close the checking account, since I barely use it....and consider myself eligible to re-open a checking account in a year or so.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

I personally would not risk the potential for future banking issues for the fee offered. I took exactly one bank account opening shop in my life and still have that account....

I used to open and close checking accounts with Chase back in the day when they would give out that decent bonus for opening a checking account. I wonder if I'm blacklisted somehow.

I do the same thing with credit cards.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

Maybe that was why the bank manager came in to thank me for my business. My account screamed mystery shopper!

Ding!!!

BoA keeps a record internally for everything. I opened a different business account and they were able to fish out online a copy of a deed that was used to open a condo bank account 10 years earlier and had closed for more than a year. They even had information about a closed account held for minor trust accounts and how the adult person's BoA account was, in a different state, and how the person related to me, and what their accounts were. There was also all the information about an account opened 20 years ago in a different bank that was later bought by BoA and was also now closed.

@Tarantado wrote:

I used to open and close checking accounts with Chase back in the day when they would give out that decent bonus for opening a checking account. I wonder if I'm blacklisted somehow.

I do the same thing with credit cards.

If you close credit card accounts, that does affect your credit.

@Sybil2 wrote:

@Tarantado wrote:

I used to open and close checking accounts with Chase back in the day when they would give out that decent bonus for opening a checking account. I wonder if I'm blacklisted somehow.

I do the same thing with credit cards.

If you close credit card accounts, that does affect your credit.

Still have an 800+ credit score though. Some credit cards aren't worth keeping after collecting the signup bonus due to annual fees after the first year of opening the credit card.

While it does have an effect on your credit score temporarily, your Age of Credit History, Good Payment History, etc. are more important and will show over the years.

Alter, you can have more than one checking account open with them. I did that with Crappy Credit Union when I was working on a home project. Just make sure you meet the requirements to keep it free.

I'm in the 800+ club also so I guess we are both doing something right.

I have multiple savings accounts at each of several different banks. I find a way to keep all of them free of service charges. I received a pretty good fee to open each of them, for various MSCs.

Thanks so much for the insightful and helpful responses. I'll probably keep this second checking account open then.

I'll open and close them all the time throughout the years for these shops. Yes the bank can see all past activity. So what they hit all their points and I am out of there.

@BuffaloNY101 wrote:

I'll open and close them all the time throughout the years for these shops. Yes the bank can see all past activity. So what they hit all their points and I am out of there.

I think the 'so what' would be the lack of mystery in the mystery shop. It might save you a few minutes, but this kind of thing can damage the industry.

@TeriW wrote:

@BuffaloNY101 wrote:

I'll open and close them all the time throughout the years for these shops. Yes the bank can see all past activity. So what they hit all their points and I am out of there.

I think the 'so what' would be the lack of mystery in the mystery shop. It might save you a few minutes, but this kind of thing can damage the industry.

Damage in what way?

This IS part of the mystery shopping industry. Banks keep records. Banks open and close accounts. Opening and closing accounts is not just a mystery shopper activity. How could doing mystery shops as requested damage the mystery shopping industry. If a bank wants shoppers with an existing account, they ask for them. If they want a shopper who has never had an account there, they ask for them.

@TeriW wrote:

@BuffaloNY101 wrote:

I'll open and close them all the time throughout the years for these shops. Yes the bank can see all past activity. So what they hit all their points and I am out of there.

I think the 'so what' would be the lack of mystery in the mystery shop. It might save you a few minutes, but this kind of thing can damage the industry.

I think Teri's point is how some of the assignments create faux mystery shops. It is not quite the same as a target occasionally figuring out who the mystery shopper is and performing flawlessly. Having a program set up guaranteeing the target always knows will never provide unbiased results. My hope would be the MSC would take responsibility for informing the client the parameters are not going to provide the general customer point of view so if the client proceeds they have no one to blame but themselves if the data is not helpful.

The way I see it, there are basically two schools of MSing; One is actually trying to find out about the customer experience and improving it, and the other is being told by superiors that you need a mystery shopping program, having management bonuses based on scores and then structuring the program so that a monkey could spot the shopper.

Unfortunately I see that second scenario a lot, but try to avoid those kind of shops. In truth, they still perform a service for the client because it gives the employees a chance to practice correct customer service...and if your employees can't be bothered to be polite and offered the correct salutations when they know who the shopper is, they probably DO need to be replaced/retrained.

I have been a B of A customer for a long time and can definitely see the difference in how I'm treated on shops vs. when I have an actual customer service request. You stand in a 20 minute line to deposit a $25 check and then ask a question that requires a manager to come to the window and see how they fall all over themselves to assist you....then walk straight up to the manager's desk on another occasion and ask the same question. My guess is that you might not get the same response, because who stands in line to deposit a check these days?

The shops are not really designed to improve the customer experience at B of A in my opinion.

Steve -

I go to BofA branches in PA, DE, and NJ, and there are wide differences from branch to branch in terms of how many people are standing in teller lines. In DE, there are occasional customers who use the tellers. In PA, it depends upon the branch. In NJ, there are almost always at least 3 or 4 people waiting in line in the branches that I visit. There is also a difference in usage of drive-up tellers. In DE and my part of PA, there was so little use of drive-up tellers, that they closed them (but kept the drive-up ATMs and the inside ATMs and tellers). In NJ, there are always cars in line to use the drive-up tellers.

@myst4au wrote:

I go to BofA branches in PA, DE, and NJ, and there are wide differences from branch to branch in terms of how many people are standing in teller lines.

Understood, but my point is that I go into the same branch about once a week and have done so for years. I only accept shops at that branch because I don't really like bank shops in general and don't go out of my way for them.

My branch always has a line and it's generally people without ATM cards, or with special needs, like asking to put money in another person's account. I never wait in the line unless I'm on a shop. I use the ATM and am out of there, and if I have a question, I approach one of the available reps at a desk. I have a very good understanding of what a regular B of A customer gets treated like, because I AM a regular B of A customer.

Now...If wait in line for 20 minutes, produce an ATM card for verification and ask to make a deposit, then ask a question that required a manager and could have been asked to an available rep at the desk, I'm no longer treated like a regular customer. I'm treated like a shopper. The shops I do there have very little merit in terms of the data they supply regarding the ACTUAL customer experience....

Banks do keep track of accounts being opened and closed. The red flag is the amount of monies being transferred between accounts. That would be the problem. If they do not see anything strange then you are fine. When I lived in Spain I would transfer money from American account to American account and one month did too many. Head of the accounting department called me because they were going to red flag my account. Plus I was moving large sums of money. So she gave me strategies on what to do since I was far away.

I received a check for a shopper fee today. My new bank is one that I shop at, so I can't make the deposit there. Luckily, I have the BofA account to cash it.

I discovered the new bank by shopping them so many times. After I opened the account there, I let the scheduler know. She talked to the powers that be, and got an exception for me. I do shops outside of my city.