<prompt> Human: First off, if youre lending an ear or an eye I want to sincerely thank you. Ive told this story so many times when asked about the last 7 years of my life; anything that has had to do with school, loans for school and building my creditsavings. April 2009 I started a job at a local Chilis Bar and Grill as a busser. I was 17 years old It was just a side job on the weekends during high school. I was making 2.13h with added tips from the waiters and waitresses. A big thing my dad has always preached to me was to save money, so I decided to open a bank account with Bank of America solely because the check that I received from my job came from that bank. I remember, very clearly, being brought into an office to set up a student account with them. The representative made sure to explain all the benefits of the account being that I was a student. However, the ironic part about the whole experience was her putting an emphasis on overdraft protection that came with the account, to protect students from incurring fees that they could not afford. Fair enough. That sold me. It seemed as though it was a solid decision at the time so I went through with it. About a week in, I used the debit card that came with the checking account I set up to buy something on the net. I cant remember exactly what it was buy I DO remember this company double charging me and... Low and behold... Over-drafting my account by 5 dollars. I was only my making so much while working at this job, and it had been apparent to me, at the time, that I was either lied to by this bank representative about overdraft protection or something fell through the cracks. I didnt want any more trouble so I decided to pay the overdraft fee and then close the account. Then something horrid happens that effects the next 5-6 years of my life, and this is mainly what Im posting here for:As it turns out BoA had placed something of a credit lock on my social security- Preventing me from taking out loans for myself to go to school when it was time.- Opening up any bank accounts at any bank in the country.- Opening any credit cards to establish and grow my credit.- Flagged me as an identity thief on my own name.Besides the slimy legal crap, it looks like I have to go through, Im here posting this because Id like to know how do I get out of this rut BOA has put my in. I was able to attend school for two years because my grandfather cosigned for me for two years.. but his passing has forced me to leave school and attend community college where I can only go if I pay out of pocket. For years Ive been working and trying my best to pay these loans, all while putting food in my mouth.. paying my parents who I live with rent, and living expenses. But I can only do so much with the 9-10 dollar an hour jobs and I dont know what to do any more.TL;DR: Bank of America places a sketchy ban on my credit because I closed my bank account after a over-drafting and it has crippled my finances so much, I couldnt finish school and Im struggling to get by among other things.Any help is greatly appreciated... Thank you!!EDIT A big thanks to uAmara313 for posting information about something called ChexSystems This is the exact same thing that has happened and plagued me for the last 7 years of my life. I hope this serves as some help by some bizarre consequence it happens to you too!EDIT2Update I wanted to make this in response to all the support and added discussion. I did NOT expect this post to gain all the traction that it did. Some of you even messaged me personally. I seriously could not be more thankful of all of you chiming in. It means a lot and makes me love this site even more. I have to go to the proper steps to reactivate my case against BoA. Not officially, but it was only up until today I had some time of substantial update to my dilemma. Like, I have actual answers to some things. Thats so relieving, so I will pursue this. I will update this post with substantial updates so that it may actually serve as help to people who have had similar problems and didnt know how to go about fixing it.Assistant: I wonder if it wasnt your credit report they screwed up so much as it was chexsystems sp. The clearing house they all use for clearing transactions. Try reading this: Edit: wow. Thank you to whoever guilded me. Glad this helped, OP Human: Oh my god.. I think you may have found exactly what Ive been looking for.. Although, this is a piece and I will read up more on it.. Youve essentially given me something of an answer to a question Ive been asking for years now.. Seriously though, I could cry. Thank you so much.  <response>: I work at a smallish regional bank. ChexSystems, while we use it as a guide, is not set in stone. If you go to a smaller bankCU and explain what happened, they may open an account for you anyways. 