BofA's credit card offer to illegal immigrants spurs backlash

Tampa Bay Business Journal
12:08 PM EST Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Bank of America found itself at the center of the nation's immigration controversy following reports it's offering credit cards to illegal immigrants in Los Angeles.

In the wake of the media firestorm, the nation's second-largest and Tampa Bay's largest bank, told the Los Angeles Times it complies fully with all banking and antiterrorism laws governing customer identification, which permit the use of individual taxpayer identification numbers, or ITINs, issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

Critics say that it's too easy for undocumented immigrants to receive ITINs.

"At face value the program seems to be problematic," Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Times. "It seems to be lending itself to possibilities of perpetrating identity theft or creating more risk for money laundering."

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GOP Lawmakers Peeved at New Bank of America Credit Card Program

Thursday , February 15, 2007

WASHINGTON —

Lawmakers are lashing out at Bank of America Corp. over its new program to offer credit cards to customers without Social Security numbers, saying it creates a dangerous loophole for terrorists and illegal immigrants.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., called for a federal investigation of the program on Wednesday, sending Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff a letter requesting a review of the program.

"After September 11, we were told that money was the lifeblood of terrorists, and that we should do everything possible to block their access to financial resources," Tancredo said in a statement. "Today we are hearing a far different message: Bank of America, it's everywhere terrorists want to be."