Thread: Heat is on at Bank of America

http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/200703 ... of-america
Heat is on at Bank of America
New program catering to illegal immigrants has many — even in the High Desert — canceling their accounts
Ryan Orr March 04, 2007
Bank of America — the nation’s second largest bank — has been caught in a political firestorm since implementing a pilot program to offer credit cards to people without Social Security numbers, the majority of which are illegal immigrants.

Ann McDaniel, a retired teacher from Apple Valley, has been a Bank of America customer since 1969. She is canceling her account.

“I would have moved banks before, but this is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said McDaniel adding that their customer service is not that great.

Last year Bank of America tested the program at five branches in Los Angeles County, home to the largest concentration of illegal immigrants in the United States. In February they expanded it to 51 branches and later this year they hope to expand the program nationwide.


Staff Photo by Ryan Orr: Ann McDaniel walks into a Bank of America where she is currently in the process of closing her accounts.
Ann’s husband, Bill McDaniel, said if a person gives an illegal immigrant money, they would be punished for aiding and abetting an illegal alien and there’s no reason banks shouldn’t be held to the same standard.

Bank of America defends the program, saying it complies with U.S. banking and antiterrorism laws.

Since news of the controversial program surfaced, Bank of America has been under tremendous scrutiny. But they are not the only, and certainly not the first business to cater to the market of an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.

Wells Fargo & Co. was one of the first to pioneer accepting metricula consular cards — an identification card that can be acquired from the Mexican consulate — in 2001.

In December 2005 they began extending mortgages to consumers with individual tax identification number or ITIN.

A coalition of over 100 anti-illegal immigration groups that are boycotting Bank of America released a broader survey of banks to help consumers know which ones cater to illegal immigrants and which ones do not.

On their Web site, www.bankofamericaboycott.com, they list 43 banks in California that accept Mexican metricula cards and only 10 that do not.

There have been 22,156 people since Feb. 16 that have signed a petition on the site supporting the boycott.

That number is nothing compared to the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., a market so large that many financial corporations can no longer afford to ignore it.

As a result most of the nation’s largest banks — including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Washington Mutual — accept metricula cards.

Wells Fargo has over 520,000 metricula accounts, representing around six percent of the bank’s total number.

Other businesses are also getting hooked on the buying power of the illegal immigrant market.

Sprint started accepting the Mexican metricula card in 2004 as part of its 14-city Hispanic marketing program.

Kraft Foods Inc. provides workbooks at English-as-secondlanguage classes that include instructions for using coupons for Kraft products like Capri Sun in U.S. grocery stores.

They also host bilingual sweepstake events in Hispanic neighborhoods.

Even the federal government — while cracking down on companies that hire illegal immigrants — has a program that makes it easier for illegal immigrants to wire money back to Mexico at little cost.

Bank of America is at the center of the controversy since expanding their program to offer credit lines.

“I am just so opposed to their policies in trying to make the almighty dollar,” said Ann McDaniel.

David Gouger, of Oak Hills, has been a Bank of America customer for over 20 years. He has decided to close his account as well.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while and when this came along, that did it for me,” he said. “I don’t care for that kind of thing for illegal people. I don’t care what brand they are. I just don’t like the fact that they’re illegal.”

A radio station in San Diego County held a Bank of America credit card shredding party outside their station.

To obtain a Bank of America credit card with a metricula card, someone has to have had a bank account there for more than three months with no bounced checks or overdraws. It requires $99 up front and has a higher interest rate of around 21 percent, higher than the average interest rate of 18.1 percent card issuers nationwide charge on unpaid balances.

Bank of America shows no signs that it will stop the program.

Bank of America actually started out serving immigrants as the Bank of Italy.

Founded in 1904 in San Francisco by Amadeo Giannini, the bank was established to serve working class citizens, especially Italians living in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.

In 1929 Giannini arranged a merger between his bank and Bank of America Los Angeles and became the chairman and expanded the bank, laying the groundwork for it to become the giant corporation that it is today.

http://www.pushhamburger.com/

Good for Ann McDaniel and good for the thousands who've signed the petition and cancelled boa accounts.

had enugh, that just awesomely fabulous . . .

had_enuf,
I can just hear John Wayne saying that too.
Great pic!