Posted on 06/11/2007 3:06:10 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Bank of America has begun quietly offering credit cards to customers in the Los Angeles are who don't have a Social Security number, The Wall Street Journal reports. Such persons are usually undocumented immigrants.
The newspaper said that Bank of America, the country's second-largest bank, is offering credit cards to consumers who have had an account at the bank for three months or more, even if they do not have a credit history or Social Security number.
It's the latest indication that American financial institutions are serious about doing business with the millions of undocumented immigrants who until recently have had no access to such routine services as checking accounts, credit cards, home mortgages and personal loans.
The newspaper said that Bank of America tested the program at five branches in Los Angeles last year and has now expanded it to 51 additonal branches in Los Angeles County, thought to have the largest concentration of undocumented workers and illegal immigrants in the U.S.
It said the bank hopes to roll the program out nationally later this year.
The credit cards won't be cheap. They carry a high interest rate, typically about 21 percent, and an annual fee, but they do offer a way for non-citizens to build a credit history so that they can purchase cars, homes and other big ticket items on credit.
There is nothing illegal about the practice, Bank of America said. But critics say a major bank should not be helping people who violate immigration laws.
"They are clearly crossing the line; they are actually aiding and abetting people who broke the law," said a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
To review applicants, Bank of America is using a procedure called "judgmental lending," pioneered by MBNA Corp., the credit card giant acquired by the Charlotte-based Bank of America last year. Instead of using credit reports, bank employees make subjective judgments based on their personal observation of the customer
It’s absolutely riotous how fast free-market loving “conservatives” can turn into virtual communists when their pet cause is tweaked.
Well, that tears it. i won’t do business with the Bank of Amigo.
So you think it is fine for Bank of America to reward criminals with credit? And what in the world did I write that could possibly be construed as “virtually” communistic, pray tell?
As Rush call it
‘Bank of Amigo’.
I have changed my payment amounts to favor getting rid of my BOA credit card very rapidly... It’s going to take me about four more months, but then it will be cancelled.
I wonder if B of A would loan me money for a big drug transaction...after all, dealing in illicit drugs is only illegal if you agree with the laws on the books.
Capitalists need to draw a line, making money is all well and good, but what’s right is right.
Maybe the banks’ customers can make their displeasure known...
Ping!
The money BoA makes off those who are solid makes up for the one lost on the bad ones? Gott in Himmel!, if that's the case what kind of fine print comes with these cards?
Where did I indicate this? Let's go over it again:
People who espouse "free markets" will embrace communism when their pet cause is tweaked.
Now, as far as I know, you wrote nothing -- certainly nothing that I noticed. You cited an article. I therefore don't see how I could be implying that you said anything.
However, the very posting of the article carried a clear implication, which you did finally state in your response to me: that BofA is supplying credit cards to "criminals."
Again, a free market, which everyone loves when it is benefitting them, has no intelligence to distinguish between a "criminal" and a "non-criminal." That is not its job. It is only a mechanism of exchange.
However, the people who love it when it is good for them will vociferously argue against it when it threatens their most cherished prejudices. Now, all of a sudden, it's "giving credit cards to criminals," which is intolerable to you.
But it's still the same free market it was when it decided to give credit cards to you. It's just pissed you off, that's all.
Oh, I'm sure these bank employees are highly trained to recognize a bad risk just by looking at them. I bet that works well. I wonder how long it will take those turned down to sue based upon "lookism?"
"They didn't like the way I looked to they turned me down! Discrimination!"
Haste makes waste when it comes to your credit score. If you don't care about it, cancel it. You might be better off just not using it until you establish some time with another CC.
So if Bank of America loaned money to Osama bin Laden to buy a nuclear weapon on the “black market” and that weapon killed you & your family; that would just be the “free market” at work, is that what you are saying?
21% is NOT a terribly high interest rate. High, but not unusually so.
Maybe the credit issued could be used for OTHER illegal activities? Drug importation comes to mind. It seems the Minutemen are always finding bales of MJ. I understand they no longer worry about shipments of LESS THAN 500 pounds!
Another small business oppertunity for the industrious.
Just say NO to Amnesty!! Keep calling!! It’s NOT OVER!!
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
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From their website:
"World-class solutions and service
Our Global Corporate and Investment Banking group serves the needs of growing companies with annual revenue over $2.5 million; middle-market and large corporations; institutional investors; financial institutions; and government entities worldwide. Explore the unparalleled innovative and integrated financial solutions we have to offer."
B of A don't care what nationality a person is, only that they pay MONEY.
Perhaps this will help you to understand why this is happening. It will be up to their customers whether or not they do business in America or not.
Actually, there’s a way to find out.
Open an account without a SSN at BofA. If they refuse, demand to know why and toss the press clippings at them. If the reason they do is that you “look American”, then get a lawyer and sue them for discrimination on basis of national origin.
If they do open an account for you without a SSN, then deposit some money into the account. Get $19,000 in cash. Divide it into two bundles of $9,500.00 each. Make two transactions, one right after the other. They’re required by law to report these transactions that appear to be structured to avoid the $10K reporting limit, as well as any transaction that goes over $10K.
When they report your transactions without a SSN, then they have a problem.
http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/article/0,,id=113003,00.html
I do, and I’m about to cancel it.
I’ve got a hot scoop for you, smart guy...all of us who had accounts with BofA had to provide them with our legal social security numbers to establish those accounts.
BofA is specifically creating this account to profit by supporting the activities of illegal aliens. That’s the entire reason they’re establishing this line of credit accounts.
There are provisions to penalise employers for hiring these people with no documents,but no provisions for a bank that makes them loans?
I wish I could actually get a BofA CC without a SSN, so I could rack up the balance and dissappear, to get another one...
I could live high on the hog then...No job, just go buy more Playstation games, and tacos from my favorite taqueria across town via public transportation, I probably wouldn’t have to pay for...
Sure does beat workin’...Odele! Woo Hoo!!!
See post 12..
Ah, but you need to work and pay taxes so that our “undocumented Americans” (as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid so fondly calls them) can have: free hospital visits, RX, food stamps, Section 8 housing, WIC, TANF, free laptops w/Internet access, gas cards, childcare, training, and all the other goodies that encompass our welfare state. So, you see, this is not a deal that you can take advantage of, I’m afraid.
Just say NO to Amnesty!! Keep calling!! It’s NOT OVER!!
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water! Christmas in the USA, i went with a Mexican businessman who got into the country legally, visa, and wanted to open up a bank account. Because he didn’t have a S.S number, they sent us to BANK OF AMERICA. Bank of America needs to be commendd for their willingnes to do business with foreigners, there just needs to be legal code about giving bank accounts to people who are in the counry legally.
Any bank dealing with illegals which are utilizing false identies is participating in FRAUD and should be dealt with accordingly.
Someone brought up a good point. Since the illegals don’t have to pay taxes they get tax free interest on their savings.
If a 5-year-old needs an SSN so the parents can deduct the child on a federal tax return, how and why does BOA open a checking or savings accounts without one?
did you hear Reid call them ‘undocumented Americans’? Even my normally placid wife blew a gasket over that one.
I do, and I’m about to cancel it.
I did, and I cancelled it.
Gosh, I’m in a bit of a conundrum here. On one hand, I’m unhappy when a company singles out a group of lawbreakers as a potential underserved market.
On the other, I’m sick and tired of a Social Security number being proof of citizenship when in fact it proves nothing. If the government wants employers and places of business to validate the legal status of it’s employees and/or customers, then it ought to provide the means to do so.
Words matter, and the democrats especially know that. Which sounds better: undocumented American or illegal alien?
“Mr. George Orwell, pick up the courtesy phone.”
This saves our “undocumented Americans” the expense of buying a bogus social security card on a street corner in Van Nuys. That’s $150 more they can send home through Western Union back to Mexico. Win/win, as they say in the Bank of America boardroom!!
Or stealing one like they did mine.
You can bet your bottom dollar if this "gringo" was spotted carrying ANY amount of MJ back across the border, they would expend enormous resources taking me down. 499 lbs would be front page news. That's not a theory I want to put to the test. Blackbird.
One word: RICO
B of A is offering services to legal residents with no social security number. That includes toothless backwood constitutionalists who refuse to be documented by the government.
Huh? Please test that theory for me by traipsing down to the local branch office of Bank of America and signing up for one of these “undocumented American” credit cards, will you? I want to hear back on your success.
It isn’t RICO when you’ve got Congress on your payroll. It’s just “good business practices” and to hell with those “racist bigot nativists” who disagree!!
Maybe someone can help me out here... I was under the assumption that when you opened an account at a bank, you had to give a SSN by LAW. I know that when I opened an account, I had to present both a drivers license AND a second form of ID, along with my SSN. I was told that it was part of anti-money laundering laws AND "Homeland Security." So, how does that square with BoA allowing illegal immigrants to open accounts?
And isn't what BoA doing known as "money laundering?" I was under the impression that's what you call a financial institution taking money that's known to be earned illegally.
Mark
See #39
Why didn't he have a SSN? If he is a legal resident he can get one. Or are you saying he came in on a visa and overstayed his visa?
We can get all of that too!!! Where do I sign up!
Holy Cow!!!
Happy days are here again, the skies above are clear again!!! la la la lala la laaaa laaaa laaaa...(I forgit the rest of it...hehehe)
Once word gets on the street that if you get a BOA Visa the INS will find you and deport you, that’ll stop people from apply for the cards.
I’m wondering about this, too. I work for a bank and I can assure you we need a social # or passport, visa # for all new customers. We also are required to check their names on the OFAC list. I don’t understand this at all, but there must be a loop hole somewhere. I hope someone can give us an answer.
Hm-m-m. Let's see, now. He looks like a duck, he walks like a duck, he quacks like a duck ... He's an eagle!
One credit card, coming up!
(Can we supersize that?)
Do you live in the same United States of America that I inhabit? Nothing is going to happen to these fine, upstanding “undocumented Americans” that have accounts with BOA. Now, if you or I have so much as a hiccup, our account will be frozen and the FBI or Secret Service will be over for a friendly chat. Not so with our guests from the South. They are the wave of the future, according to the dems and RINOs, and will be shown every courtesy.
Hey Congress - draft some legislation making this crap illegal. The American people would support such a bi-partisan effort.
Just say NO to Amnesty and fake bank accounts!! Keep calling!! It’s NOT OVER!!
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
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