PASADENA, Calif. – Wescom Credit Union believes that consumers should be given a second chance to prove they can manage a checking account even if their track record is blemished. The $1.9 billion-credit union is participating in e-Funds' pilot of the company's "Get Checking" program because, says Jane Wood, senior vice president of member services, "We recognize that many people who have had difficulties managing a checking account relationship with a credit union or a bank are rejected by the ChexSystems tracking network, and this precludes them from getting a checking account. "We want to provide these consumers an alternative when they come to us to open a checking account and not simply say `no'. We want to give them another chance," said Wood. e-Funds is sponsoring the program in association with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. For a $45 fee, consumers whose checking accounts have been closed for misuse and repaid their outstanding debts can get a chance to open a checking account at a credit union or bank by attending a six-hour class offered by Consumer Counseling of Los Angeles. e-Funds' "Get Checking" program premiered in the Milwaukee area in 1998. It's scheduled to kick off in Los Angeles Aug. 22. Three Milwaukee-area credit unions participated in the premier – Guardian Credit Union and Appletree Credit Union, both in West Allis, and Alliance Credit Union in Pewaukee (CU Times, June 13). [email protected]