Bank Account Denied? Overcome Verification Hurdles and Maximize Sign-Up Bonuses

0:00This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks.

0:45Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+. It's August. I can't believe it's August. But Sean, when I say August, what comes to mind for you?

1:01Sean Pyles:I'm going to say tomatoes from my garden, which are finally ripening. Vacations with family. And of course, sweating more than I would like to. I feel you on the sweating part. I think about Christmas and everyone's mad at me because I keep talking about Christmas in August. Not even Halloween yet, Elizabeth. I don't care. Way too soon for Christmas. No, summer than Christmas. All right. You can live in your reality. I'll live in mine. Okay, deal. And I also think about back to school, which took a large chunk of my expenses in August. So that's a good segue because today we're going to be talking about August expenses.

1:40Sean Pyles:Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Sean Piles. And I'm Elizabeth Ayola. This episode, we're going to be chatting about banking, blacklists, and intro offers. But first, it's about the end of August. The kids are going back to school. Most summer vacations have been had. And many of us are left to face our account balances. No! No need to scream at us, Sean. But I'm going to get in your business and ask what your August spending looked like. I had a very expensive August. I finally had to pay for some wedding expenses that I knew were in the pipeline.

2:18Sean Pyles:I got fitted for my suit with my partner. I also, thank you, I also booked some flights from my honeymoon to Japan and South Korea and I traveled to see my baby niece in California and each one of those things cost at least a thousand dollars and then on top of that I had some unexpected expenses for my business but you know it's all part of growing and getting things to where they need to be for my financial planning firm but that's all to say at the end of the month I was feeling kind of broke in a way that I haven't in quite a while. Just hearing your expenses, they were painful for me to hear, Sean.

2:53But joyful too, seeing your baby niece and buying a suit for your wedding, all very fun things.

2:59Sean Pyles:And I had prepared for these expenses. Here's kind of the weird emotional part of spending money for my wedding is that I've been saving up for years for this wedding. And now I'm at the point where the money I saved is being spent. And I'm glad I have this money stocked away to be allocated for all these different things coming up. but it still doesn't feel good. It makes me feel kind of financially vulnerable in a way that I know realistically I'm not, but it just isn't what I want to be doing. I want to see a higher number in my savings account, basically. I can relate with that. When I have to spend anything over like$50, I think my heart breaks a little.

3:35Sean Pyles:So that's my August, a kind of unusual month for me, but what is a usual month nowadays, I guess? So what was your spending like, Elizabeth? it? Well, my August spending included things like buying flight tickets, gallivanting around town, eating, because what else is there to do in Houston when it's 150 degrees every day? I know. Obviously not 150 degrees, but really hot. Yeah. You're staying inside where it's air conditioned. And sometimes that means going to a restaurant and spending money on food. Oh, don't get me started on that. I'm going to talk about that later. But of course, I had to do back-to-school shopping as well because I'm a mamacita, but I did choose to keep that spending light.

4:15Sean Pyles:So Elizabeth, how light did you keep your back-to-school shopping? It can get so expensive. I'm proud to say, Sean, that I only spent$200. That is really impressive. I probably spent$200 just going out to eat over the course of a single weekend at one point this month. So congrats. I think all of this highlights how summer can be really dysregulating just personally and financially because we're all traveling more. We're spending more money at new places, and we're often thrown off from our typical habits. And this can all really easily lead to overspending. And this is on top of even normal things being a little bit out of whack.

4:46Sean Pyles:Like utilities can get so expensive because for me, I'm spending a lot more money on water for my garden, and we all have the AC running because it gets so hot in the summer. And it just feels kind of weird and off and hard to retain control. Do you feel that, Elizabeth? with? Well, since you opened the floor to me, I just want to have a little vent event about my electricity bill because it's so hot that I can't go to gardens. Well, not that I can't. I refuse to go to gardens and nature reserves, which are some outdoor activities that I like during the summer. And we have been indoors and my electricity bill has almost tripled this summer.

5:23So fall could not get here quicker.

5:25Sean Pyles:So have you tried any ways to save money? Are you cutting out the AC at night or are you using fans or is it just so hot you have to rely on the AC? I am a fan of cutting out the AC during the day. I don't mind a little sweat, but the sweat has become so bad that I get irritated because, fun fact, I do not like being sweaty. And guess what? The more you sweat, the more laundry you have to do. And then that's another utility that you're paying for. Look at you! Exactly! Sometimes I'm changing three times a day, and you're absolutely right. My laundry bill has also gone up because I am sweating more, right?

5:56So you just can't win. And you know what, though, Sean? I'm remembering that money is there to create comfort as well as, you know, budgeting and all the other things. And I'm just not going to suffer sweating all day just because I want to save$100 on my electricity bills.

6:10Sean Pyles:But that might mean pulling back somewhere else. I'm sure it's hard to both pay for all of that air conditioning and go out to eat as much as you might want to. And also keep your son entertained because that's a big thing you have to pay for, too. Absolutely. So there are some things I've had to sacrifice. I am very shameless about saying that I do like to shop especially during summertime because I love dresses So i've been doing less shopping. So that's one area where i've been cutting back Yeah, i've been feeling that too. Usually I can buy what I want pretty easily This is the benefit of not having children I guess Is that if I want something, you know, i'll get influenced by an instagram ad and just pay for it I've had my eye on these ug clogs that look somewhere between like cute and ugly and I really can't decide which one they are, but I really am intrigued by them.

6:54Sean Pyles:But looking at all of my expenses about everything that I just outlined around my travel and my wedding and everything else with my business, I just can't afford to make that$150 splurge, which is a little pricey. But in previous months, I probably would have felt okay doing that. But I'm trying to keep my head down, stay focused on what I need to spend money on and save what I can. Well, Sean, I do want to talk about your upcoming expenses. But since we're having a little vent session here, I'm just going to tell you the last two things that I spent money on in August. Summer camps cost me around$3 ,000.

7:28So for anyone out there who is thinking about having kids, just want to put that out there.

7:32Sean Pyles:$3 ,000 for summer camp? So it's like$1 ,000 each summer month to put your kid in camp? Around about, yeah. And I just could not have him home while I'm working because, you know, this just doesn't work. So I just had to shell out that money and it's pricey. I hope it was enriching for your son because that's a lot of money. He had a blast. He had a blast and he's asking me when he can go back next. Next time you have$3 ,000. I know, right? I also paid about$2 ,000 in private school re-registration fees before I decided to change to a public school. And unfortunately, those fees were non-refundable.

8:07So that's gone down the drain.

8:09Sean Pyles:So how did you think about that trade-off? You just really didn't want your kid to go back to that private school, even though you dropped that$2 ,000 to reserve the spot? Well, I had to cut my losses. It was$2K or$14K for the year. Okay. That's smart. Yeah. All right. Well, tell us about your upcoming expenses now, Sean. Well, you might be shocked to learn that I have even more wedding expenses coming up. My partner and I need to get our rings and gold recently hit a new record high. So that's going to be fun to pay for. I imagine it'll be at least$1 ,000 per ring. I haven't fully looked into it because I am kind of afraid to.

8:44Sean Pyles:I also need to finish paying for the harpist for the wedding. And my partner and I are getting prenuptial agreements, which I know is kind of controversial, but we're going to talk about that in another episode. I think that's going to be at least$1 ,000. And then we need to get our lodging for our wedding and for our honeymoon. So that's all to say I'm spending money on big things and keeping my discretionary UGG clog boot expenses to a minimum. Wow, you do have a lot of upcoming expenses. So I'm assuming that you're going to pay for all these expenses from the money that you've saved for the wedding, correct?

9:18Sean Pyles:Yes. I had around$20 ,000 in that account earlier this year, and now it is less than that because I've been spending all this money. But hey, that's what it's there for. I'm going to be a little nosy. I'm sure the listeners might care to know too, but where did you put that money? Oh, in a high-yield savings account, obviously. One of my million high-yield savings accounts. That's the only right answer. Okay. Yeah. What about you, Elizabeth? with what do you have coming up financially? Well, I'm going to be putting aside money for holiday spending because, you know, I'm excited about Christmas and the holidays are coming.

9:48And I can't believe we only have about four months left in the year. I also am going to London with my son in October and we're going to be spending pounds. It will be fun. We haven't gone in about two years, so it's going to be good catching up with family and friends. And then also the most exciting thing, of course, is my son's birthday and my birthday are coming up in November and December. Oh. And birthdays are splurge times for me. Yeah.

10:11Sean Pyles:So what I'm hearing is that you have an expensive rest of the year. I have an expensive rest of the year. You are absolutely correct. So that's what's coming up for me. Well, as we've just outlined, we're coming out of an expensive season and we're going into another expensive season. I'm really not convinced that there's a non-expensive season at this point. So, Elizabeth, what lessons are you taking from your August spending that you want to carry with you as we go into another time of dropping a bunch of cash on things? Well, to not be surprised by a$3 ,000 Summit Camp bill next year. There you go.

10:40Sean Pyles:You're prepared now. Yeah. Thankfully, I was able to pull from savings to pay for it. But I think it was just a reminder to me like, hey, girl, you need to be budgeting for that throughout the year because it is a large expense. So I am putting that into practice with budgeting for my upcoming holiday spending. Oh, I love that. Yeah. I mean, think about$3 ,000 that you'll want to have saved up by what next June may be. break that out into how much you can save each month. It'll be a lot more manageable if you do it gradually. Exactly. And a lot less painful too. For me, what I'm thinking about is that for everything, there is a season, of course.

11:15Sean Pyles:And I'm excited to get into the next season of fall because summer is a bit too hot for me at this point. But in terms of my finances, I was in the season of saving and saving and saving for quite a long time. And I need to be okay with spending the money and not get too emotionally hung up on it because it's there to be spent. I put it aside to be spent on all of these various things. And I will understand that after this next busy few months, then I'll be back to saving again. And it'll take time to gradually build up my savings so I feel better about where I am with my savings account balance.

11:49Sean Pyles:But I'll get there and that's fine. I just need to get through this moment and enjoy it and not worry too much about the bottom line while being, of course, responsible with things. I empathize with that so much, Sean. But before we go, I want you to tell me how you're doing that. How are you emotionally dealing with watching your savings account balance go down? I'm processing it in real time on this podcast, Elizabeth. But otherwise, it's hard. I have to talk through it. And I have to think, okay, if I get that pang of anxiety, recognizing it for what it is, and sometimes just saying out loud, oh, I'm feeling kind of anxious right now because I spent a bunch of money and that doesn't feel great, but it'll pass.

12:26Sean Pyles:That actually helps the feeling pass and realizing that it's just temporary. So engaging with it, but not letting it take over my life is how I try to handle that. I love that. That's helpful. All right. We hope you're ready to hear about banking blacklists and when intro offers on accounts are worthwhile. But first, listener, you know what's up. Send us your money questions because this show runs on them. Think about where you might need some guidance with your finances and how we nerds can help you. Maybe you're feeling stressed about how you're going to afford upcoming holiday spending, or you can't seem to get a handle on your cash flow.

12:59Whatever your money question is, we nerds are here to help you. So leave us a voicemail or text us on the nerd hotline at 901-730-6373. Again, in case you missed it, that's 901-730-NERD.

13:13Sean Pyles:You can also email us at podcast at nerdwallet.com. And a special shout out to anyone who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona or thereabouts. We Smart Money folks are going to be there next week for a fun team gathering and we're hoping to meet with a couple listeners and maybe record a podcast episode or two with you. So if you live in that area, you have a money question for us, let us know. Again, send us an email to podcast at nerdwallet.com. Alright, let's get to this episode's money question segment. That's up next. Stay with us.

13:45This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome? That's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks.

14:30Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required. Compatibility and availability varies 18+.

14:42Sean Pyles:We're back and answering your money questions to help you make smarter financial decisions. This episode's question comes from a listener named Isaac who sent us an email. Here it is. Hi nerds, I wanted to open a new checking account to have part of my paycheck deposited into it specifically for rent. After going through the reviews on the NerdWallet website, I picked one that I felt would work well for this and applied. Once I submitted my application, it said they were unable to verify my identity. I double, then triple checked the application and made sure it matched my driver's license, social security number, etc.

15:12Sean Pyles:Still no luck. Determined to get an account, I decided to go ahead with my second choice bank and had the same issue. I was able to make an appointment at a branch where things went much smoother. But why did I have this issue in the first place? Are there places to see what information they're verifying based on and update something that's incorrect? Thanks so much, Isaac. To help us answer Isaac's question on this episode of the podcast, we're joined by banking nerd, Margaret Burnett. Hey, Margaret. Hey, Elizabeth. Thanks for having me on the show. We're happy to have you here. So we're going to answer this listener's question, but also pivot into related banking topics like getting blocked by banks and signup bonuses.

15:51I personally have encountered a similar issue to the listener, but I was trying to open up a new credit card. So is this a common issue, Margaret? It can be an issue if you don't have a lot of easily identifiable online info out there.

16:05Sean Pyles:So why might the listener have had issues getting their identity verified online while trying to open this account? What might have been going on? What's happening behind the scenes is that banks use automated systems from third parties, usually to verify your identity. These systems try to match up details like your name, address, social security number, maybe your driver's license with info from public databases and other online records. So maybe if you've never opened an account before, or if you haven't used a bank service in a while, maybe if you just turned 18 and you want to finally open an account on your own, or it could be other reasons too.

16:46Like maybe you just moved and your new address hasn't fully updated everywhere across all these systems yet. If your info doesn't line up perfectly with some of these automated systems, then those systems might not be confident that they're able to tell the bank that they can verify who you are. And so the bank may just ask you to visit them in person so they can be sure.

17:06Sean Pyles:So it could be a mismatch of information there. So the listener wants to know how they can check what info banks are pulling when applying for an account, Margaret. So could checking the checks system, which provides information on your banking history and overall financial responsibility, be a good place to start? And what are some other ways that folks can check what information banks are pulling? These other verification companies, they're different from check systems. They're performing a different service. Those are kind of check systems. It's like a check reporting bureau. So the bureau may know who you are, but they could deny your bank application because of your past banking history.

17:44But the listener, they were able to open an account at their local branch. So that wasn't the issue. So when it comes to figuring out why the online process didn't work, your bank really may not give out specifics because that's all part of their fraud prevention efforts. So they might kind of keep that close to the best. But fortunately for the listener, they had other ways to be able to successfully prove who they were and successfully have their ID verified.

18:10Sean Pyles:And that was because they could go in in person. But there are so many online banks, the ones that offer high yield savings accounts that we love so much at NerdWallet. If someone's trying to go that route, they can't really go in person because there's nowhere to go in person. What would you recommend someone do in that case? Even with online banks, some of them are owned by banks that do have branches. So that could be an option if you're able to go in there. But honestly, some, if they're not able to open the account, you might have to choose another financial institution just so that your name and the ability to verify your identity can kind of go through the system.

18:48And then you may have better luck next time in getting your ID verified.