Credit cards for illegal immigrants

Local, National, Politics 1 Minute

Bank card illustrationIn an interesting WSJ article reprinted in today’s Virginian-Pilot, we learn that Bank of America is issuing credit cards to illegal immigrants.

The new Bank of America program 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. Most adults in the United States who don’t have a Social Security number are undocumented immigrants.

[…]

Bank of America defends the program, saying it complies with U.S. banking and antiterrorism laws. Company executives say that the initiative isn’t about politics, but rather about meeting the needs of an untapped group of potential customers.

A couple of things came to mind when I read this:

  • How is Bank of America opening checking accounts without a Social Security number? I didn’t think that was allowed at all, especially after 9/11.
  • If they are opening accounts without Social Security numbers, how are they determining that the person opening the account is not a terrorist?
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13 thoughts on “Credit cards for illegal immigrants”

  1. How does your phone company know you’re not a terrorist? How does your ISP know you’re not a terrorist?

    Wait. Perhaps we shouldn’t be in the business of putting these businesses in charge of protecting us from terrorists.

    In any event, I’m sure that BofA is just doing this out of the goodness of its heart, and not the 21% rate that it’s charging these customers . . .

  3. What’s the difference? If you’re talking about tools of terrorism, I’d say that communication is at least as important as money, no? And it’s not all that hard to move money anonymously (troublesome, perhaps, but not hard.)

  4. I saw a report on this, Vivian, and to answer your first question, apparently, it is possible to open a bank account with a “Taxpayer ID” number, which can be issued to illegals (and is issued to businesses, for example) who don’t have a Social Security number. That is how BofA will be avoiding the restrictions instituted after 9/11.

  5. Businesses get EINs. According to the ITIN info:

    IRS issues ITINs to individuals who are required to have a U.S. taxpayer identification number but who do not have, and are not eligible to obtain a Social Security Number (SSN) from the Social Security Administration (SSA).
    ITINs are issued regardless of immigration status because both resident and nonresident aliens may have U.S. tax return and payment responsibilities under the Internal Revenue Code.
    Individuals must have a filing requirement and file a valid federal income tax return to receive an ITIN, unless they meet an exception.

    A list of acceptable proof of ID is provided in the link. I guess an illegal could get an ITIN.

    MB – I think money is more important.

  6. Now that I’m finally getting some meager payback of my hard earned tax dollars, wasted on illegals, through my BofA stock, you guys want to put an end to it.

    Will you guys ever get out of my pocket?

    Viva la capitalism!

  7. Post over at Blonde Sagacity http://mobyrebuttal.blogspot.com/2007/02/murder-clean-up-kit-for-sale.html

    (hope it’s ok to link to anothers blog on this topic)

    this is from the Comment section………………….

    Hmmm. I’m pretty sure I left a comment. Anyways, let’s try this again.

    It’s hard to defend oneself here when 5 links that could provide more information on this story are too many links for the comments.

    1. BOA checking accounts are required for the card to be issued.
    2. BOA checking accounts are in full accordance with all Patriot Act provisions.
    3. The credit cards are not JUST being issued to immigrants.
    4. The cards are $500 secured-by-deposit cards. In other words, they can default all they want – the deposit they leave will cover the card. No jack in your interest rates….
    5. The cards are being issued not with social security numbers, but with IRS issued tax ID numbers.

    You might not like it, but it’s legal and is in accordance with all financial, banking, terrorism, criminal, and Patriot Act provisions.

    Did Fox News forget to point that out in their article?

  8. The other big point here is:

    They (illegals) have jobs, without SS#

    They buy and rent housing without SS#

    They get paid without SS#

    They wire home billions without SS# (without which the Mexican economy would collapse, which is the real reason they are allowed to stay and work here.

    So what if they can now carry and spend their money with plastic? Kind of a moot point isn’t it?

  10. It’s hard to defend oneself here when 5 links that could provide more information on this story are too many links for the comments.

    Not changing that anytime soon. That is one of the anti-spam measures I use. And with 60,000+ spam comments blocked so far, it’s worth it.

  11. VJP- sorry I didn’t use quotes for the comment you are quoting. I did link to the comment though.

    Anyway, I wasn’t the one saying that. It was from the commenter on Blonde Sagacity. Sorry for the confusion.

  13. That doesn’t seem to be neither a smart step, not a dull step. Well, the illegals used to live just like us, so why not? At least, they are people like us, really… And haning no SSN is not a crime, is it?

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