<prompt> Human: My wife and I owned a joint checking account for the last 5 years at Bank of America. I recently applied for a checking account at Ally but got declined because my wife does not have debit history or credit history.My wife is full time homemaker with 3 kids under 5 and we always filed tax as joint return. We are a single income household. She does not have credit score but she has access to our BofA credit card under her name. I dont understand that you need a credit history to open a checking account: Im putting money in, not taking out. Joint account is a must otherwise it is a hassle each time wife needs to write a check and need to get me to sign.Any recommendation? We can stay with BofA though Id like to switch to a bank with an ATM close by BofA closed an ATM 0.5 mile away from work a few years back.  <response>: People do a lot of things with bank accounts, some more legitimate than others. Every adult should work to build a credit score and history, which establishes them as legitimate people. Many employers do them as well. 