My sister just called me enraged because she just learned, while listening to CNN, about a program offered by Bank of America (BOA)to illegal immigrants.
It seems that Bank of America will be offering a credit card with a limit of $500 to Spanish speaking persons who may not have social security numbers to encourage them to put down roots in America. The cards will carry a higher rate of interest and are designed to be the first step in helping immigrants establish a credit history, said bank spokeswoman, Alexandra C. Trower, today.
Immigrants are allowed to establish accounts by using individual taxpayer identification numbers, or ITINs, issued by the Internal Revenue Service. They also may accept an identification card issued by Mexican consulates, known as the matricula consular.
The test market for this program will be Los Angeles County, then take the program nationwide if it does well. The story was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Read the complete story in the LA Times
This upset my sister because she has been a customer of BOA for seventeen years and have unsecured credit cards from several banks except BOA because they have refused her twice. Their explanation is past credit problems. With the exception of a few people, everyone I know have had or have credit problems. It seems they prefer to have illegal immigrants because of the vast un-banked economic strength.
Critics complain that it is easy for illegal immigrants to obtain ITINs, which they then use to gain access to financial services and tax benefits to which they are not entitled.
Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said "It seems to be lending itself to possibilities of perpetrating identity theft or creating more risk for money laundering."
Does it still pay to be a legal citizen of this country? What's next??
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