I've done quite a few of these for ATH over the years.
Anyways, I went to open a real deposit account at a different bank and was turned down. The bank would not take my money if you can believe that. They gave me a blanket statement and told me to check with a company called Early Warning Systems regarding my account. I got my report back from Early Warning (somewhat like a credit report) and it didn't really show anything negative - with the exception of all those account openings and closings.
I would suggest you limit yourself into how many of these you do. It's an easy couple of hundred bucks but can bite back. I never would have imagined.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2018 12:09PM by tynanla.

There was a thread about this recently, but I can't seem to find it for you.

I wondered about that myself. Also, the ones that run your credit report. You could be doing yourself a huge disservice by doing those shops. Several of them also require that you apply for, and be approved for a credit card. Im suspicious of those... a cc company will always make more off of you than what they pay to do a "mystery shop" if you use their card...

In the last four years, I have only opened four accounts and closed two. I usually check on opening an account at one of my banks about 2 to three times a month and make deposits several times a month. One account was opened because I couldn't have the mystery shop company deposit the check into the same account that was shopped. But now that Pay Pal uses Wells Fargo for direct deposit I can close several of bank accounts and get it back down to normal. But some of the banks let you get ADD and accident hospital insurance for cheap. Currently, my health insurance is $800 + a month I'll be able to get Medicare in Jan 2019 3 years ahead of normal.

I have done the two bank shops and neither one has pulled my credit. I closed one account a week later, and am keeping the new savings account as there is no fee, due to my meeting their balance requirement.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2018 06:05PM by Irene_L.A..

Thanks SoCal I found the posts you were referring too.
Seems the banks have their own internal reporting system and I kind of suspected that. I figured they would erase these shops as part of their protocol. I was so wrong.
I think these shops were not set up properly and ultimately led to failure for the shopper in terms of any future banking needs.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2018 05:07PM by tynanla.

So, is there anything we can do about it?

The MSC should do something about it.

During the last one, the banker mentioned there was a record of a previously opened and closed account. I had actually forgotten about the first one, and sat there squirming and trying to maintain my act, errr scenario.

Didn't like the feeling, and won't be doing anymore.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2018 09:05PM by UserNames2018.

Im with you on that.

Yeah well, the planet Fitness shops are as bad they keep track of you when you give them your DL for a tour. Seems like they would make sure the info has been removed. But I GUESS NOT>

Ive never gotten one of those. There has to be a way to protect our credit and privacy better. Like a photo ID with an acct # or something that would pass for a DL/ID #.... Wonder if we could just get a state ID card. They have those here for people who dont drive....

@lynnea1 wrote:

Ive never gotten one of those. There has to be a way to protect our credit and privacy better. Like a photo ID with an acct # or something that would pass for a DL/ID #.... Wonder if we could just get a state ID card. They have those here for people who dont drive....

You can thank the terrorists and the Patriot Act for this.
They keep close track of who is opening accounts. My mom died in 2003, and I could not open a join checking account with my brother unless we were both physically in the same branch at the same time together. We lived 100 miles apart. It was a huge hassle.

I never understood why mystery shoppers ever thought it was a good idea to open and close shops with great frequency? I am not surprised that it caught up to them. Whether it's because the bank is making no money on the accounts or that the accounts look sketchy, I don't blame the banks for banning people. It's their prerogative.

There are 2 issues here as well. Obviously banks keep up with the accounts a person opens and closes. That seems obvious. Banks have to keep banking records pretty much forever. It sounds like 1 shopper was denied opening a new account because the bank saw the number of accounts they had opened and closed at that bank. On top of that there are reporting agencies that banks report to similar to the credit bureaus your credit cards report to. ChexSystems is the largest of those. So if you go to Bank of Griffin and open and close 82 accounts those will get reported to ChexSystems. Then if you go to Bank of SCM and attempt to open an account, they may or may not check one of the checking account reporting agencies, and all the open and closed accounts could influence your ability to open an account there. Not all banks check it, and not all banks report to it, and there are multiple of them so it's a fragmented industry.

I'll give an example. I open and close a lot of checking accounts for the bonuses. I probably open 2-3 bank accounts per year. I've had 1 checking account denied because I had opened too many checking accounts recently.

Banks definitely keep track. I opened my first savings account for a job (I was going to anyway). They went back to 20 years and told me I had been a customer, your accounts never go away. I opened it, the bonus was huge, but won't be doing anymore. Their hook was you needed to keep a minimum of 500.00 or get charged a 12.00 monthly fee. I sometimes think the banks do this to get new customers, opening checking accounts also has fee attached, so beware.

This problem begins and ends with the banks and it is on them to fix it. They want their employees shopped, they arrange to have it done, and then they throw the shoppers under the bus. They could easily erase records of accounts that were opened on their behalf and at their request, or at least not report them to these bureaus.

I am new to shopping and have looked pretty hard at some of these due to the high fees. I have not taken any for fear of this exact thing happening. Although I had never heard of Early Warning or Chexsystems before I read about them on this and a previous similar thread on this forum, I assumed the banks have some way to keep track in a post-911 world. As for the MSCs, they ought to post a disclaimer on these shops. Shoppers should not be the last to learn about the consequences of doing these jobs.

Having said all that, hello all. I have been shopping for a couple of months and have been reading this forum about that long. I have gotten a lot of info from it and just want to say "thanks".

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2018 05:16AM by panama18.

I recently went to do a checking account opening and found out I needed a 250.00 direct deposit to open it.
I said I'd think about it and left. The MSC would not pay even though I gave them some good information.
Believe me, in life and in MS'ing, you get what you pay for, there really is no great bonus, you earn it either in
traveling, time, or stress. My thinking is eating out is the biggest gain.

Im beginning to think eating out is grand! lol The other one is where they want us, but especially young people, to open credit cards. I was told we could do as many of those as we wanted. But look at what we'd be doing to our credit history? Is it really worth the $300-500? I wonder if that isnt just a way to get people to apply for credit when they otherwise wouldnt do it. Fake mystery shops?

Use this link:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

@SoCalMama wrote:

There was a thread about this recently, but I can't seem to find it for you.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2018 05:12AM by ShopperSavvy.

@panama18 wrote:

This problem begins and ends with the banks and it is on them to fix it. They want their employees shopped, they arrange to have it done, and then they throw the shoppers under the bus. They could easily erase records of accounts that were opened on their behalf and at their request, or at least not report them to these bureaus.

I am new to shopping and have looked pretty hard at some of these due to the high fees. I have not taken any for fear of this exact thing happening. Although I had never heard of Early Warning or Chexsystems before I read about them on this and a previous similar thread on this forum, I assumed the banks have some way to keep track in a post-911 world. As for the MSCs, they ought to post a disclaimer on these shops. Shoppers should not be the last to learn about the consequences of doing these jobs.

Having said all that, hello all. I have been shopping for a couple of months and have been reading this forum about that long. I have gotten a lot of info from it and just want to say "thanks".

I am pretty sure that they can't just erase records or not report accounts.

Let's say I am a banker and am partial to a particular group, let's say oh maybe terrorists? If I have the ability to make information disappear, would this not be a problem?

Attempting to open a credit card with the dummy SSN is easy enough, but opening real accounts and then making them disappear is a bit more difficult, if not impossible.

dummy ssn?

Fake ssn

@bgriffin wrote:

Fake ssn

Won't you get busted?

@lynnea1 wrote:

Im beginning to think eating out is grand! lol The other one is where they want us, but especially young people, to open credit cards. I was told we could do as many of those as we wanted. But look at what we'd be doing to our credit history? Is it really worth the $300-500? I wonder if that isnt just a way to get people to apply for credit when they otherwise wouldnt do it. Fake mystery shops?

Credit cards are a different world than bank accounts. I’m 28 and have just past 30+ active credit cards this year. The only restriction I have is with Chase, who only allows their consumers 5 personal credit cards every 24 months. Any credit card applications beyond 5 personal cards will be automatically denied with no reconsiderations. For what it’s worth, my credit score is been consistent 800+, with occasionally it dropping to 780-ish such as earlier this month when I opened 4 cards this month.

wow! Congratulations on the great credit score! very impressive!

In my case, the bank did not send any data to ChexSystens. The bank just refused to let me open another account. I had only opened 2 account a year for 3 years before I got ousted from the bank with the red logo.

I have not opened an account for a bonus for several years. It’s a nice way to make some money, but today they usually want your direct deposit(s) or high daily balances to give you the bonus. Moving my direct deposit around for a few hundred for 2 months is a pain but I may do it at least once sometime. Plus it seems to me that if you did bonus account openings 2-3 times a year, you could eventually find more banks denying you access to new account openings and you could run out of banks. I guess as long as you keep an account open with at least one bank you like, you’ll always have one you can use.

@bgriffin wrote:

There are 2 issues here as well. Obviously banks keep up with the accounts a person opens and closes. That seems obvious. Banks have to keep banking records pretty much forever. It sounds like 1 shopper was denied opening a new account because the bank saw the number of accounts they had opened and closed at that bank. On top of that there are reporting agencies that banks report to similar to the credit bureaus your credit cards report to. ChexSystems is the largest of those. So if you go to Bank of Griffin and open and close 82 accounts those will get reported to ChexSystems. Then if you go to Bank of SCM and attempt to open an account, they may or may not check one of the checking account reporting agencies, and all the open and closed accounts could influence your ability to open an account there. Not all banks check it, and not all banks report to it, and there are multiple of them so it's a fragmented industry.

I'll give an example. I open and close a lot of checking accounts for the bonuses. I probably open 2-3 bank accounts per year. I've had 1 checking account denied because I had opened too many checking accounts recently.

@nycrocks wrote:

In my case, the bank did not send any data to ChexSystens. The bank just refused to let me open another account. I had only opened 2 account a year for 3 years before I got ousted from the bank with the red logo.

I have not opened an account for a bonus for several years. It’s a nice way to make some money, but today they usually want your direct deposit(s) or high daily balances to give you the bonus. Moving my direct deposit around for a few hundred for 2 months is a pain but I may do it at least once sometime. Plus it seems to me that if you did bonus account openings 2-3 times a year, you could eventually find more banks denying you access to new account openings and you could run out of banks. I guess as long as you keep an account open with at least one bank you like, you’ll always have one you can use.

I hear ya on the high daily minimum balances. Then again, $200 for splitting my direct deposit up is worth the effort and not requiring high daily balances ($10k+) is worth the effort. The bonuses that require $10k+, I agree that those aren't worth it. You're better off opening more credit cards rather than taking that approach.

Actually I tend to stay away from banks with direct deposit requirements. The bonuses are usually smaller but easier. I will do banks that require them if I know I'll have enough work with a company that let's me update my DD info online. But not as often. As long as it's easy to maintain minimum requirements then I just leave it open. It's sad the number of checking accounts I have.

@panama18 wrote:

This problem begins and ends with the banks and it is on them to fix it. They want their employees shopped, they arrange to have it done, and then they throw the shoppers under the bus. They could easily erase records of accounts that were opened on their behalf and at their request, or at least not report them to these bureaus.

I am new to shopping and have looked pretty hard at some of these due to the high fees. I have not taken any for fear of this exact thing happening. Although I had never heard of Early Warning or Chexsystems before I read about them on this and a previous similar thread on this forum, I assumed the banks have some way to keep track in a post-911 world. As for the MSCs, they ought to post a disclaimer on these shops. Shoppers should not be the last to learn about the consequences of doing these jobs.

Having said all that, hello all. I have been shopping for a couple of months and have been reading this forum about that long. I have gotten a lot of info from it and just want to say "thanks".

I couldn’t agree more. I am the one who got blacklisted by the National bank with the red logo. That the MSC fails to warn shoppers that they are risking ruining their banking relationship forever after a few years of opening and closing just 2 accounts a year, is very unfair. That’s why I started the other thread. Someone needed to warn people!

I believe the MSC with the WF account opening shops has an arrangement with the bank to erase your MS opened/closed account records, but I’m not 100% sure. They say the client only requires a 7 day period before you can close the shops, so there must be some monitoring arrangement between the MSC and the bank. If it is possible that this bank will work with the MSC to erase your account opening record after you close the account, all MSCs with bank account opening shops could probably be doing this. The MSC working with the red national bank should try to work out something, if they can. Shoppers aren’t always highly valued by all MSCs. The MSC did at least pay the shop fee, so that’s something.

Welcome to the forum and mystery shopping. In my experience, doing MS work and making the pay worth your time has gotten much more difficult in the past year and a half. The better and consistent money seems to be in the video apartment shops but there aren’t a lot of them in my area and I don’t own a car because parking in NYC is insane. If you can take a course in video shopping and spend about $700-$800 to buy your own equipment, you can probably do pretty well. That’s something I learned from reading this forum.

Most of the other shops that paid well have reduced their shopper fees and lots of businesses ended their MS programs in the past 18?months. It’s frustrating. I’m really glad I don’t have to try to make a living doing MS.

I wish you all the best!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2018 01:00AM by nycrocks.

Thanks for the heads up about the bank shops. These days, everyone is monitored more and more and more... There is no privacy anywhere on the planet. We could change the name of our planet to Nosystad, or something. Anyway, I'm sorry that you have had unpleasant experiences with your shops. Hopefully, your words will reach someone who can make a change that will add some protection for shoppers.