Posted on 12/06/2005 2:58:53 AM PST by Ninian Dryhope
ONE NATION, TWO WORLDS
Whether they need credit for a new couch or a mortgage for a home, undocumented immigrants are finding it increasingly easy to go into debt here.
Gone are the days when those who lacked a Social Security card had no chance of obtaining a loan. A recent liberalization among lending institutions means that those who are undocumented need not be unbanked.
Spanish-language radio stations carry ads for furniture on credit, with "no social" necessary. Banks, including Banco Popular and now Citibank, have started programs that allow illegal immigrants to buy homes by using an identifier issued by the IRS, known as the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.
"It's kind of amazing, if you think about it," said Rob Paral, a research fellow for the Immigration Policy Center and a Chicago-based consultant. "You have banks that are explicitly marketing to illegal immigrants."
Paral completed a study for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals in which he found that 231,000 illegal immigrant households have sufficient income to buy homes, which would bring a maximum of $44 billion to the national housing market if they had easier access to mortgages. He did not estimate how many illegal immigrants own their homes, though other studies have found the number to be surprisingly high.
Grocers, fast-food chains and discount retailers long ago recognized the growth in purchasing power among Spanish-speaking consumers, but they have no need to distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.
Loans are different. Because a consumer can't open a bank account without some form of identification, banks must create specialized programs for the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.
The most common account for illegal immigrants uses a document issued by the Mexican government, known as the "matricula consular." As of last year, 29 banks in Texas allowed immigrants to open bank accounts with a matricula, a study by the Appleseed Foundation found.
But fewer banks will go so far as to offer a mortgage, and those that do usually require at least a matricula consular and an ITIN.
Even before banks offered mortgages, illegal immigrants found ways to buy homes. Some used programs such as contract-for-deed, in which a lender retains title to the property until it is paid off. Others would find a relative with a valid Social Security number and use their name, said Oscar Gonzalez, a local consultant and Realtor. Both of these strategies involved major risks.
Good statistics are hard to come by, but there is an indication that a number of illegal immigrants have managed to become homeowners. Recent interviews of Mexican immigrants at Mexican Consulates across the United States found that 10 percent of those with no valid U.S. identification own their homes, the Pew Hispanic Center said.
While some conservatives in Congress criticize banks for opening the door to illegal immigrants, the Bush administration has facilitated the process. The Treasury Department has upheld a ruling that the matricula is an acceptable identification for banking, and Treasury officials have made statements indicating they won't fault banks for loaning money to undocumented immigrants.
"It's not the job of financial institutions to enforce immigration law," Assistant Treasury Secretary Wayne Abernathy said last year at a Hispanic banking conference at which participants discussed new forms of loans that do not require a Social Security number.
Experts admit that the increase in mortgages for illegal immigrants has been possible only because the government rarely rounds up immigrants for deportation. This offers some stability.
A wave of deportations "would have a significant impact," Gonzalez said. "But I don't know if that's ever going to happen."
Paral noted that some of the immigration proposals being floated in Washington, D.C., might be worse than the status quo in terms of giving immigrants access to homes. For example, President Bush has proposed a guest-worker program that would give immigrants a three-year visa, after which they might be required to go home.
While some banks are willing to risk giving home loans to illegal immigrants, no bank is likely to offer a mortgage to a worker on a temporary visa, Paral said.
It should happen, ASAP, but we will probably offer more amnesty and get even more illegals coming into our country as a result.
It is probably high time some of these banks get sued for racial discrimination (by the white guys)
1. They should be deported.
2. The banks should be threatened with loss of their licenses to operate if they don't stop.
3. There is money to be made in this exploitation. Friend of mine says that mortgage brokers can frequently pad in an extra $10K-$15K in 'expenses' and other fees into a mortgage when the borrowers don't speak English. Disgusting.
Nice little play on words here.
No one's asking you to arrest, detain and deport them. THAT'S enforcing the immigration law. Requiring citizenship to get banking services is something else entirely. This reminds me of the pro-abortion monsters calling it "reproduction rights", as if someone is trying to prevent women from reproducing.
It's not so amazing at all.
It is part of the very reason we have so many illegal immigrants in this country.
And that is that there is money to be made from illegal immigration.
I always thought that US financial institutions had a legal requirement for an SSN for all banking purposes. Found an interesting site http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/ssnchron.html but don't have time to dig through it in depth.
ping
It's kind of illegal, if you think about it.
"You have banks that are explicitly marketing to illegal immigrants."
You have banks that are aiding and abetting illegal aliens.
Clearly using their funds for social engineering instead of profits.
BTTTT
Good post. Highlights the fact that without proper documentation, you are sometimes better off in the credit market than a " real person." You can buy, or make whatever your loan officer requires.
Part of it is the "Name Game." One's last name in hispanic culture is largely a matter of choice. Legit hispanics choose one early on and stick with it, but with the fake ID business being what it is, there are really very few restrictions.
E.G. You're an hispanic. Your father's name was "Jones." Your mother's: "Smith." You are John Jones y Smith. Or, John Jones-Smith, or John Smith de Jones, or John Smith or John Jones. But wait, there's more. Your mother's mother is a Terwilliger, who are hot stuff in the old home town. So you can be John Terwilliger de Smith, Or John Jones-Smith de Terwilliger. O wait, your dad's mother was a Kaddidlehopper ... etc. ad nauseam.
This is simply not on the American Bureaucratic radar. It's why that every once in a while, they "discover" an illegal alien with 14 different medical cards, or collecting AFDC and welfare from 5 or 6 different offices. It's simply a Latino update on the old "Welfare Queen" scam.
Unfortunately, it is not unusual to find this scam being worked in every bank loan office in the country! Many illegals work hard to keep one "clean" credit identity among a host of others.
I don't mean to single out Latinos on this either. No one can figure out what an Arab's name is! I know this sounds stupid, and it is, but it is being used to get mortgages, car loans, etc. every day. You might not qualify for a loan, but you'll pay one way or the other when these fictitious entities default
Completely disgusting. They try and shellac the rest of us as well. Of course they should be deported, but I'd give them back their money first, and throw the crooks in jail.
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