Has anybody done these? There are several I could do in my area. Basically, you fork over a little money to open an account and then overdraft the account and then at some point after a period of time close the account. They are basically wanting to see if te bank is making these overdraft calls to customers, I think. Worth my time? I talked to somebody on the phone about this from the MSC and she said they were assured it would not affect my credit score. Any feedback?

Details:
PART ONE: Account Opening Shop You will be opening a checking account (acceptable account names listed in guidelines) in order to complete this assignment. The survey for this shop contains three separate phases and must be filled out as indicated in your guidelines. (Phase 2 and Phase 3 are follow-up sections and only contain 2 questions. These may fall outside of the due date) Note: The pay for this shop is inclusive of a $12 debit card fee which is a requirement of the shop. In order to open the checking account, you will need to supply the minimum initial deposit of $25.00 - $100 (Note: The amount varies branch to branch) This part/shop pays $50 plus a $25 BONUS!!!! This shop is part of a special study, which requires an abundance of information and detail. If assigned, you MUST read the guidelines and the survey THOROUGHLY and follow all instructions exactly. Failure to do so will result in loss of payment. PART TWO: Overdraft Telephone Shop This shop takes place approximately 30 days after the account opening shop. This will be a simple shop in which you overdraw your account by a small amount. An employee from the bank will call you after the overdraft has posted to your account. You will then fill out the survey based on that telephone call. After completing this portion, you will need to visit the bank and bring the account back into the positive (or to a $0 balance). NOTE: The bank has asked that we have shoppers purposely overdraw their accounts, they have assured us that this will NOT affect your credit score or your account with the bank. The bank will refund all fees associated with the overdrawing of your account. To successfully complete this shop, you will need to keep the account open for approximately 40 – 50 days. Once this project is complete you can elect to keep the account open or request that we close the account for you. This part/shop pays $40!!! FINAL NOTE: If you are assigned this shop, you MUST complete this shop within the scheduled time frame!!!! You are given a start and due date, this shop must be completed between those dates. Overdrawing your account before the start date will result in the overdraft fee not being waived by the bank. Shoppers must have computer knowledge.

yup did one..

$90 bucks aint bad...

all fees are covered by the msc

including the maintenence fee which isnt in the guidelines but they cover

in order to close the account you have to make your balance $0 and then email the scheduler to close...

in order to overdraft i had to buy gas because the Pos debit would not let me overdraft in store

you just have to have more that $1 in your account and pay for more than you have with gas... otherwise the card will just get declined...

Good to know.. thanks for the tip. These are paying $115 in my area. Guess I had better jump on it.

I guess banks have to keep info even after you close an account so it would probably be suspicious if after I closed one that I went to another down the road and so on? Any thoughts onthat? Somebody would probably think I was up to something if they do keep closed records. Hmmm

If they keep the records then there is going to be record of the overdraft which could impact your credit. It seems to me they would have to delete everything to protect the shopper. That's a great question for the scheduler;D

Hmm, I might consider one of these. I never looked too closely because I didn't trust it wouldn't end up on my credit report. Of course, if it did, I'd know how to dispute it and I'd have all the paperwork to back up what the client requested. Plus, if it showed up, I'd have a legitimate potential for a lawsuit. I know they wouldn't want that.

Now I've got to go through the old emails to remember which company offered these. LOL

Overdrafts will not appear on your credit report unless you:

a) close the account with the balance negative
b) keep the account balance negative for more than 30 days

I see no customer names here, so....who's the MSP?

I should have mentioned: Pinnacle

This shops are very, very easy. One thing that I have to recommend for shoppers is to not close your account right away after you receive your second payment from the shop (Part 2). You would be surprised at the number of shops that this bank has for current account holders. Plus, if you seek to have a secondary account for MS purposes, this may be a good way to go.

Eric in Tampa Wrote:
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> This shops are very, very easy. One thing that I
> have to recommend for shoppers is to not close
> your account right away after you receive your
> second payment from the shop (Part 2). You would
> be surprised at the number of shops that this bank
> has for current account holders. Plus, if you seek
> to have a secondary account for MS purposes, this
> may be a good way to go.

Are you shopping a bank in the Tampa area? I haven't seen anything posted in Florida.

I'll almost echo the "super easy" statement. I had a few issues with mine, but still well worth the $90!

I was told my debit pin would be set to my last 4 of the SS#, and it wasn't. No big deal, I'd have to go in and set it (though that is hard due to my schedule and the location of these branches.) I then went in to set it, and the lady working there was, well, a few screws short of a hardware store... She couldn't do it, I had to go back another day.

THEN, I went to overdraw my account, and used it at a grocery store. I swiped it as credit, all should be good, but it took the exact amount I had in there, and not a penny more, leaving me to have to use some cash for the last $3 AND re-do an overdraw...

My scheduler was AWESOME through all of this, and in the end I got paid the $90, and my fees reversed, and everything. So it was still good paying!

I'm heading in tomorrow for Phase I. Yay.. thanks all for the feedback! I'll report back with my findings

i agree the msc is very prompt in handling any problems that come up...

@raisitup Not Tampa. I've since relocated to Northern Alabama yet will be returning back to FL in June of 2012.

Eric in Tampa Wrote:
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> Plus, if you seek
> to have a secondary account for MS purposes, this
> may be a good way to go.


Unless you're keeping it open for the purpose of doing shops at this bank, there are better banks to open a checking account with, IMO.

I closed mine. The montly fee was like $6 dollars, unless you carried a balance. The bank has very little ATMS to use as well.... For a shop, it went well, but I didn't see the point of keeping an account open. The shops offered for existing clients was like $6 or $7- not worth the account in my book

monarch2003 Wrote:
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> I closed mine. The montly fee was like $6 dollars,
> unless you carried a balance. The bank has very
> little ATMS to use as well.... For a shop, it went
> well, but I didn't see the point of keeping an
> account open. The shops offered for existing
> clients was like $6 or $7- not worth the account
> in my book


Plus, they're not a full service bank or a credit union. There's no advantage to establishing a financial relationship with them when they don't offer any other credit or investment products.

Okay, now I remember another reason. The one C bank I could do this shop for was notorious for handing out heavy daily fees for overdrafts. I knew two people who had issues with it and ended up owing hundreds for $50 or less in overdrafts. It was a decade ago so I don't know if their policies are the same but I've avoided them over the years to be safe.

Has anyone done the C one and still had a good experience? Thanks!

Alrighty, well so far so good. I completed Phase I of III which meant opening the account and starting my report which was really easy. This should be an easy $115, I hope!

C one?

another name for residents?

if thats what you are talking about yeah i did that one too... it was just an opening an account no overdraft or anything

30 min in store, 30 min report--- $75 not bad... no problems at all...

cooldude581 Wrote:
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> C one?
>
> another name for residents?
>
> if thats what you are talking about yeah i did
> that one too... it was just an opening an account
> no overdraft or anything
>
> 30 min in store, 30 min report--- $75 not bad...
> no problems at all...

You and I both live in the USA...

well, i'd be bothered too it would bother my credit score.
Has anyone done a shop where you were to do a mortgage shop either? I've seen them sent to me but sort of worried they ask lots of personal questions to do the shop.

the $90 one did not

the $75 on did... it didnt lower my score but it was a hit

but as my credit rating is in the pits... i have no worries... heck if someone steals my identity im pretty sure they wont get anything out of it... even i cant get another card...

plus i use the only totally free credit check company... they have a lot of ads on the site

www.creditkarma.com

www.inboxdollars.com paid me $2 to sign up with them...

Inquiries on your credit report might ding it a tiny bit but it's temporary and not worth much. I've heard a point or two and after three months, it loses weight and continues to do so until it doesn't show after a year. That's going on memory so I might not be exact.

Another thing to consider, if you're planning on buying a house or a car, then you might want to pass on these shops as every little point might help. If you've got no intentions any time soon, then it won't hurt you because time will reverse the effects. It only "hurts" when you need your credit pulled for something in the here and now, not six months from now because our credit is fluid.

Make sense?

monarch2003 Wrote:
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> unless you carried a balance. The bank has very
> little ATMS to use as well....


Miniature ATMs? Bizarre!

they are for the hamster ninjas...