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Bank Account Opening Shops

October 22, 2025 05:02PM
If I open and close multiple accounts for the same bank but at different branch locations, will I be flagged as a mystery shopper?
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More About Banks
October 22, 2025 05:09PM
Avoid bank opening shops. They are NOT worth the hassle. You have to go thru the trouble of closing them. Not worth it especially if the company begins with the letter A. They are NOT nice to work for! Avoid them!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2025 05:10PM by Fatlady.
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October 22, 2025 05:45PM
Nah, this isn't the one that starts with A. It closes the account for you.
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October 22, 2025 07:17PM
Fatlady recommends--Avoid bank opening shops.

Bob comments--For the past 6 yrs., I have opened 1 in each Dec. My pay has varied from $145 to $215. Last years' $215 required a round trip of approx. 70 mls.
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October 22, 2025 07:36PM
Just a suggestion, you might want to read about the implications of multiple opening/closing accounts - as it relates to your Chex score.

When we give up the need to be special, life becomes special.
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October 22, 2025 08:38PM
Not necessarily flagged as a mystery shopper but the banker will definitely see your history in the computer and may be suspicious. I always come up with some dumb reasoning and no one has questioned me further.
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October 22, 2025 09:53PM
I did one and immediately had the MSC close the account for me. I assumed it would be purged. Two years later I went to do a second shop, and my information popped right up when the banker entered my info. I had to be quick on my feet to explain why I was opening an account again…uncomfortable to say the least.
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October 22, 2025 10:03PM
Reasons for opening another account: Want to use it just for online orders or payments, use it as a separate account for selling stuff on eBay, use it to save up for next year's birthday (or Christmas) gifts, open it so my daughter can use it in emergency (I'll bring her her in later so she can add her name/signature on the account).

After awhile, though, you may run out of credible reasons--and the more often you open and close accounts, the more likely you may have problems. Weird stuff happens.

Just don't open and close accounts repeatedly at the bank brand where you do business, as they may flag your real account for suspicious activity and close it without notice. If that happens, good luck opening one with a new bank.
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October 22, 2025 10:44PM
In the bank bonus community, some people NEVER continuously flip bank accounts with the majors: Wells, Chase, BofA, etc...they never want to be closed down permanently.

With smaller, regional banks or credit unions, they go all out lol, no fears.

I tend to read the fine print on the bonus offers - often, it will say every two years, so then I follow that guideline as an example.

When we give up the need to be special, life becomes special.
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October 23, 2025 01:43AM
I will use one of those reasons lol
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October 23, 2025 01:52AM
One of the "financial" msc I work for has some nice jobs that say no more than 3 checking acct openings in 2 years to qualify to accept the job (or something like that) so if you do work for them and open and close checking accts you will miss out on those shops.
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October 23, 2025 02:25AM
Great pay listed above … the fees I see have been dropping and dropping. I never have been offered as much as listed here…ones I see range now in $60 to $64. Tons of photos to attach. Not worth the hassle to me..
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October 23, 2025 03:26AM
To each our own. The opening account for company not A the rotation is 365 days. I find it worth the $125.00 plus a teller shop of $10.00 to close the account except the closest location to me is quite a distance. If it were at the store 6 miles from my house I probably would keep the account open just to complete the teller shops.
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October 23, 2025 04:52AM
I stopped doing the ones where you are required to only use paper disclosure forms. I felt so dumb saying I didn't have my phone and wanted to sign on paper. The banker was stumped for a bit. I know they're testing regulations but I can't see how they wouldn't know I was the mystery shopper.

The same thing goes for visiting a bank and making an appointment for a banker to call me. I was so puzzled after reading the guidelines that I decided to skip it.
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October 23, 2025 06:42AM
@Mellifluy

C'mon now...you can't think of a good reason to use? I have joint account at the stagecoach bank with wifey. When I go open another account, i tell them we share email so I need to have paper version so wifey doesn't know about the separate account. Then i give them another physical address to mail the statements too.

Who cares about electronic or paper disclosures. It is so easy to follow the paper disclosures by using this reason (or come up with another one).

It's harder to be convincing that you need these accounts when you open and close them so often. I try to limit my account opening for stagecoach to 3-4x per year max.

i don't bother with the big bank on AtH site. They don't pay enough for those. I can get 2x as much doing stagecoach openings.
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October 23, 2025 08:51AM
Nope. I'm never divulging financial / SSN / personal info for any pesky little MS shop pay. Credit Unions are the preferred low-cost banking method anyway, aside from large investment houses for the obvious reasons.

""Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent."
[www.youtube.com]
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October 23, 2025 10:42AM
If you're interested in racking up bonuses for account openings (even when it's not for a shop), check out:

[www.doctorofcredit.com]

They've got information on bonuses for checking, savings, business, and credit cards.

If your path dictates you walk through hell, do it as though you own the place. -unknown
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October 23, 2025 12:00PM
I can confirm this is a reliable site of info.
(...even though it has one of those sketchy "dr" names...LOL)

@drdoggie00 wrote:

If you're interested in racking up bonuses for account openings (even when it's not for a shop), check out:

[www.doctorofcredit.com]

They've got information on bonuses for checking, savings, business, and credit cards.
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October 23, 2025 12:05PM
@drdoggie00 I agree. I went through a phase where my work ethic compelled me to take every shop I could find, and I did open two accounts. Even heavily bonused, the pay didn’t compare to hefty account opening promos that I can get by opening an account online, not leaving my house and wasting time on an interaction, or filling out a blow by blow report after.

I would never do a hard pull shop,open a credit card, ir take out a loan. I can’t believe anyone does those.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2025 12:07PM by bradkcrew.
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October 23, 2025 01:56PM
Brad states--I would never do a hard pull shop,open a credit card, ir take out a loan. I can’t believe anyone does those.

Bob comments--Thankfully, many seem to be averse to hard pulls. That permits me to charge an MSC considerably more when they have the need. I do not recall ever applying, on a shop, for either a credit card or a loan, but if the money were right, it would certainly be a consideration.

To paraphrase an old adage, "What's meat for one shopper, could easily poison another." As for me, I have not the slightest concern for my FICO or CHEX,
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October 23, 2025 02:23PM
Wish the bank account opening shops near me paid that much,. All that is available are ones that p[ay $60 or $64 max and they are a pain in the rear to do. the fees keep FALLING not rising for the shops. They are simply not worth it!
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October 23, 2025 10:05PM
@BarefootBliss wrote:

Just a suggestion, you might want to read about the implications of multiple opening/closing accounts - as it relates to your Chex score.

I believe Chex only checks CHECKING accounts.

I always open savings accounts. But you can cooect me if I'm wrong.

I believe Chex was established years ago to prevent businesses from accepting checks that would bounce. Again correct me if I'm incorrect.

Also, the bank will be able to see how many accounts you have opened and closed with them if that is a concern.
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October 24, 2025 01:31AM
I did a very few Stagecoach acct opening shops and felt they were worth the fee. I am not interested in the hefty bonuses many banks give (non shops) for a new account where you need to deal with moving your direct deposit pay or benefits from one place to another in order to satisfy them.
However, I was outed on a phone call shop to Stagecoach where I got a very diligent manager who asked me for my account number (as was expected) and then thoroughly checked into my account and decided I was a mystery shopper so now I am banned from all Stagecoach shops. Prior to that happening I did several phone calls where the bank manager sounded very suspicious, for instance telling me they were suprised they got so many calls at their local branch from customers who lived elsewhere.
The moral of my story is be careful not to overdo a mystery shop you are using as a cash cow as you might get to the end of that stream of money sooner than you want to. Cash cow Is used in terms relative to the fees on other mystery shops.
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October 24, 2025 04:21AM
I do BOA credit card, checking, and savings account openings every six months. I don't mind looking stupid asking for paper documents. They pay well and my credit score is still great.
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October 26, 2025 09:36PM
Wait til they ban you for no reason, they stink
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October 26, 2025 10:13PM
@firenwater29 wrote:

If I open and close multiple accounts for the same bank but at different branch locations, will I be flagged as a mystery shopper?

____________________________

You may not be flagged as a mystery shopper, but you may get a visit from the DOJ or FBI, as that is a tactic money launderers use. I don't see why people would open and close accounts. Just because it is legal to do, banks have audit departments, and opening and closing multiple accounts is suspicious activity. Do it enough, and the feds will want to have a conversation with you.

I worked in the audit department for several banks, and I would receive flagged reports to review. I would have to request the video footage from the branch, and the report would have to match what we saw on the video. I had to recommend to upper management numerous times on suspicious activity (opening/closing accounts). People would open accounts, deposit obscene amounts of money, and close them within weeks of opening.

I would be careful about this kind of activity, especially with Bank of America. Just my personal opinion, coming from the audit side of a financial institution.
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October 27, 2025 02:29AM
@Dino29
Valuable insight. Thank you.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2025 02:31AM by QualityDatais1st.
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October 27, 2025 06:27AM
The only problem is, I really doubt here that anyone doing these shops is depositing "obscene amounts of money." It would be real easy to show a shop log of the shops you did as an explanation IF that every came up.

I do remember getting flagged by Citibank when paying off a CC and i brought in 5k cash on 3 separate trips over 1 week to pay off a credit card 0% balance offer. But that was more than 15 years ago.
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October 27, 2025 08:51AM
Daddy's first paragraph above is exactly what came to my mind. We have proof. I only deposit the minimum to waive fees. Also, as he said, If the MSC has no limits on how many times you can open/close accounts, it's a good idea to limit yourself.
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October 27, 2025 10:42AM
ChatGPT has a very good overview of the implications of Chex Systems on checking and savings accounts.
Just ask it to explain or provide the overview. Could change the way anyone views this topic.

When we give up the need to be special, life becomes special.
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