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
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
Not Harry Reid's undocumented Americans!
That's the constituency that it seems the leadership in Washington is going after. Screw the "base," you know, the legal citizens.
Mark
ping
AS a free market person, I have no problem whatsoever with their debt being uninsured and noncollectable after we deport the cardholder. Surely you agree.
Yeah, I know, that’s why I said should.
I think I might just apply for a BoA Visa, no SSN, and show my name as Jose Chavez and see what happens...
Citizenship? We don need no steenkin citizenship!!
My Bank, US Bank, has giant banner signs on the outside advertising the fact that they speak Spanish. I’m not sure how many other US Banks are using these.
Just think what the reaction would be if they had a banner that said they spoke english.
B of A sends all of my wife’s mail in Spanish. I have called and called and they can’t seem to do anything about it. I don’t like the hassle of changing banks, so I just keep complaining.
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