Posted on 02/12/2007 10:24:24 PM PST by rayvd
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp. has begun offering credit cards to customers without Social Security numbers, typically illegal immigrants, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
Then I will pay no taxes until the BORDERS ARE SEALED
love to join you in the switch..let me know which national banks aren't kissing up to the illegal cash stream :(
How can they do that? You and me can`t get a CC without a SS#. Is our legs being pulled sports fans?
American taxpayers, the providers of the world.
Just claim your from Honduras...
...and have the bill sent there, too.
What a joke! Our local BoA won't even cash paychecks drawn on their own bank, one reason I quit using them for my business account. This still seems wrong to me.
Oooops.
I started another thread on this after looking.
I am also a BofA member but this is the final straw for me. It angers me everytime I have to select english to withdraw my money from the ATM.
Definitely would be interesting to ask BofA why they are doing this.
I've been with them a long time though... I wonder how many other Brick and Mortars are doing this? Guess I could switch to using USAA for everything.
If true and nothing is done about it, then I will leave them.
My mortgage and insurance are all through USAA and I have never had a bad experience with them.
I think they are going to get all of my banking business now.
Bye Bye Alaskan Airlines credit card (through B of A)
Bye Bye savings account
Bye Bye checking account
Bye Bye CD
I am sure they can find enough illegals here in eastern Washington to make up for my business.
Alternatively this means that BoA has waived the requirement for a US bank account; which means that 8 months from now they will find themselves inadvertantly funding the Albanian mafia as they get scammed and scammed again.
So what happenes when these illegals w/o SSN's begin to NOT pay their CC Bills? How will BoA go after them on an unsecured loan, they can't trash their credit history/rating which is built upon a SSN.
Too many people can have the same name or close to it and even the same name and date of birth.
I don't know. I am going to ask the manager at my branch office and if (probably when) I am not satisfied with the answer I am going to withdraw my money and close my accounts over the next few weeks.
We just sold our old home and made good money on it so I suppose I could deposit that with USAA to get started.
This will be a pain in the butt but I believe in principle!
What's the big deal? This sounds like the old "secured credit card" deal - you get a credit card as long as you have a checking account, you have a minimum balance to maintain, and if you miss a payment they charge you $$$ and take your account. This sounds more like BoA screwing poor people - ALL poor people. Maybe they're extending more credit than the collateral account is worth, but I bet they're making it up in fees and interest. Snore. Drudge will throw anything/everything at the wall and see what sticks.
And what's so bad about BoA keeping $$$ in America instead of letting it get shipped back to Mexico? Sign 'em up!!!
I'll be watching there Stock Value. I expect it to take a hit.
I'll be checking my Mutual fund holdings, too. I don't want to be an unintentional owner.
From the article...
""The new Bank of America card is open to people who lack both a Social Security number and a credit history, as long as they have held a checking account with the bank for three months without an overdraft""
--This does not say anything about secured.
Check this out if you think your SSN is trustworthy for credit ratings. This is a Bank of America customer as well.
______________________
""For years, Margaret Harrison believed she had an impostor. There were signs her Social Security number was living a double life. Four years ago, an unemployment office in West Virginia almost denied her claim, saying she already had a job at a horse farm in Chelan, Wash. Three years ago, a teller at Bank of America looked up her account number by her Social Security number and then asked, Is your name Pablo?
And yet, her credit report was squeaky clean. When she ordered her report, nothing was amiss -- and Pablo remained a mystery.
Harrison spent years trying to find out more about him. She called the credit bureaus and asked for more information. She got none. She called Bank of America's fraud department. Same answer. She purchased credit monitoring. Month after month, there was no indication anything was wrong. She even added her picture to her credit card and debit card for extra security.
And yet, her impostor was nowhere to be found - at least until last week, when Harrison says she ended up face to face with Pablo in her San Diego home. Bank of America had sent Pablo right to her. Harrisons ATM card had expired and the bank automatically mailed a replacement card to her home. But where Harrisons security photo was supposed to be -- there was a mans picture.
Harrison says the bank later told her that, yes, her new ATM card had been accidentally printed with Pablos picture on it.
"When I saw this guy on my card, I freaked out, Harrison said. Now that I have this picture on my card, someone's got to be held liable for this. He can't just keep using my Social. Its not OK."
Pablo apparently holds several Bank of America accounts. And yet, Harrison still is not entitled to know what those accounts are. Telling her would violate Pablos privacy, the bank told her.
___________________________
This is an MSNBC article and it's pretty lengthy. Here is the link -
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/02/her_atm_card_bu.html
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