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
I think its great...Every poor person in L.A. should sign up...And I mean EVERY poor person...Now that would get BofA attention....If they don’t give you the same treatment as they do [undocumented workers]...SUE!!!!!!!
Please note: This is from back in February 13! It’s old news so I’m puzzled as to why it’s just been posted with a sidebar and all??? What’s up with that???
Because: (a) it was under the radar until I found it (had you ever read about it?) (b) February wasn’t THAT long ago and (c) illegal immigration is the most important national issue, right now, IMHO.
Just say NO to Amnesty!! Keep calling!! Its 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
Any bank that does that should be put out of business.
I've never done business with 'em since! That's too bad because they were really nice to me when I arrived here from NE in 1964 with not-so-hot credit!!! I thought about going back in about 1990, but they kept putting that stupid "don't bungle the jungle" display up in their lobby and that disgusted me all over again!!!
BofA has a long track recored of $crewing its customers for at least 3 decades. Their problem is with customers, who can read and write. They can cause problems.
Give credit cards to illegal aliens, and they will not know that they are being $crewed. If they do realize that the BofA is $crewing them, they will be afraid to do anything about it.
A younger relative used to live in Portland and for some weird reason he banked with BofA. He said he missed being abused by his older brother and BofA was a surrogate abuser.
About once a quarter, BofA would try to $crew him. He would go into the Bank with his mountain bike and slam his safety chain on the manager’s desk and have a loud discussion with him to get the $crewing charge removed.
He moved back to N California last summer, and the $crewing attempts by BofA increased in frequency. He got tired of the game. He went to another bank opened up checking, savings, debit and credit cards, and he closed his accounts and credit cards.
Shortly after he closed his BofA accts, he got a call from the local manager wondering if anything was wrong. He told the manager that a decade plus of abuse and attempted $crewing by BofA was enough. They could now focus on doing that to illegal aliens, and then he hung up.
We know a manm who was stolen by BofA a couple of years ago to be their local mortgage lead guy from a similiar job with another major bank. He got a big raise and bonus to go to BofA.
In May, he left BofA and went to a similiar job with a major mortgage company.
When questioned about why as he just turned 60, he said it was time to move on.
At a recent party, after he had a couple of glasses of wine, I brought up the story about the illegal strawberry picker in the mid coastal area getting a mortgage for a home with an income of 14k.
Normally, this guy is very unexcitable. He blurted out that the mortgage man, his manager and the bank people should go to jail for that planned crime. Someone picked up on it and asked if that was why he left BofA. He ignored the question and went over to talk to the women.
GOOD!!!
SOMEBODY NEEDS TO KEEP DIGGING!!!
wasn’t it originally Bank of Italy?
If a person is not legally in the USA, that person may skip out and not pay the credit card bill. Elementary common sense. So there will be more defaults from illegals. Therefore LEGALS will be left holding the bill.
This is another way that the left takes money from those who “have” and gives it to those who “don’t have”.
Don’t really know.
Why don't you try telling that to my dad, who grew up under Communism in Romania?
We found out this morning that Bank of America increased his interest rate from 8.25% to 22.99%, without warning. In addition, they assessed other fees. Of course, this is an account opened at Wachovia in 1985, sold to MBNA, which was then bought by Bank of America. Twenty-two years of no missed payments and low interest rates and...BAM!
According to a Bank of America CSR, the increase was to cover the "cost" of the loan, i.e., they are taking losses somewhere else. Hmm...I wonder what sort of losses they are taken, given their significant exposure in California, Texas, and other States in the Southwest, where the bulk of the nation's illegal population resides.
All you need are SSNs/TINs that are either valid (as in, there is or was a person behind that number) or algorithmically valid (meaning not real but the computer verifies them as valid). If they are only algorithmically valid, the fraudster can just apply for a college card, since many college students don't have a credit history. Punch in "reasonable" numbers for income (many issuers don't check), and bingo, a credit card gets mailed.
Hell, we get credit card offers for our pet rabbit (deceased), my mom (deceased), and my sister (almost no income)...including from Bank of America, which has been very insistent lately on $10k+ unsecured (non-student) loans for my sister.
The current monster is actually the old NationsBank and whatever it absorbed in North Carolina, branded with the friendly "Bank of America" logo.
as untouchable as the subject matter (an immigrant parent) may be, your logic is still...bewildering.
You imply your poor father is a victim of the "illegal population."
It's not riotous. But it hyper-astounding, this stretch of logic. It makes Gumby look as if he's made of blown glass.
I think you are wrong. If he is legal (or illegal), he can get a tax payer id #. I think only a citizen can have ss #.
I run credit checks on rental applications. I can process the application with a tax payer id number. If the person applying has a tax payer id number they must also have documentation proving they are here legally. We also screen all applicants against the known terrorist list.
My bank is also US Bank. I opened my checking account there several months ago without a social security card. I lost it and was waiting to receive a new card. All I had was my drivers license.
I don’t see how any of it could be real. The parameters of these credit cards are that someone must have had an account at BoA for three months already. YOU try getting a bank account (there or anywhere else) without a TIN, in any state in this country. I think it’s all red herring pandering b.s., but I doubt BoA created anything specifically to cater to illegal aliens.
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