B of A offers cc to people without SSN's

[buzz]

It is just plain wrong for BoA to do this.

first of all let me say that I continue to not understand this vehement anger towards illegal immigrants (undocumented workers, whatever) in this country.


but that's my problem.


back to the post...the immigrants are here. we don't have nor are we likely to get a government that is at all interested in stopping any more from coming. if they wanted to, they could tomorrow by more aggressively attacking employers - the Swift example was a nice but meaningless exercise to placate the lemmings that comprise the American electorate.


by giving those immigrants credit cards, checking accounts, etc. you open the door to allowing them to join in that all so American pastime of....debt. they can borrow money to buy cars and other durables (I don't even want to think about the circumstances of those loans) and maybe even eventually get mortgages.

it would seem to me this has the effect of circulating more of the money they are being paid back through our economy and maybe a little less going across the border.

again, going back to the point that they are here and we (as a government) have no interest in making them go back, we should take whatever steps are necessary to take advantage of their presence.

[trillium]

BoA is offering cards to already established Customers (those that have deposit accounts). In order for those accounts to be opened required ID that was acceptable according to the US Patriot Act...

What I don't see from the article is where they are targeting illegal immigrants directly...

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, the Journal said.


Section 326 of the Patriot Act Reads:
Section 326 is titled "Verification of Identification." It involves collecting and maintaining identity data on any customer opening a new financial account at participating institutions, "including name, address, and other identifying information". Since everything the government touches must have an acronym, this is called the "Customer Identification Program", or "CIP."


Unfortunately this makes the assumption that the organization issuing the forms of identication have done ITS due dilegence in order to verify the identity of the party receiving the identification.

Also from the article:
Bank of America tested the program last year at five branches in Los Angeles, and last week expanded it to 51 branches in Los Angeles County, home to the largest concentration of illegal immigrants in the U.S., the Journal said.

What you're not being given is what is the concentration of LEGAL immigrants in that area....


One last note...has anyone checked how easy it IS to get a credit card?
I've personally have gotten applications sent to me using my husbands last name (funny that, I never registered a name change), just as he has gotten applications sent to him using my last night instead of his...

I know of one case, my boss got a cc application for her cat

And if I could only find the link (it hit the news maybe a year ago) of a gentleman who went so far as tearing up the application, taping it back together, providing the information, sending in the app, and STILL getting a credit card
Link
Talk about safe and secure there!


My honest guess is that banks have been doing this already ANYWAY. The only reason BoA is getting alot of flack from it is that they are making it public that they are taking steps to include a Customer base that is being spicifially targeted for a credit card product...

just my two cents