Some people can’t open accounts even if they want to because they’ve been barred by the banks for past financial problems. Banks use a consumer reporting agency, ChexSystems, to flag risky clients. Often, McKinney said, people do not know they’ve been flagged until they try to open a new account. Once a person finds out they have been barred from doing business with a bank, they can request a copy of their ChexSystems report to figure out what problems they have to resolve, she said.