One small bounced check or an overdraft of a few dollars is enough to get you blacklisted, barred from being able to open a bank account...one million lower-income Americans are in exactly this situation. There are companies whose business it is to gather information on the various financial transgressions people commit. The banks pay a fee to subscribe to this information—which was originally being collected to help banks identify serial fraudsters—and if your name comes up, too many banks will simply tell you, thanks, but no thanks, and turn your business away.
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