| Dear Katy, Why is Bank of America forcing customers to verify their citizenship status? Proof of citizenship is not required to open an account or conduct business with a bank in the United States.1 But that hasn't stopped Bank of America from penalizing customers who refuse to confirm whether they are U.S. citizens. That is unacceptable. History will remember which banks stood by immigrants and which ones helped Donald Trump attack them. Speak out now to demand that Bank of America does the right thing and stops forcing customers to reveal their immigration status. Tell Bank of America: Stop asking customers about their citizenship status. Click here to sign the petition. Recently, a married couple in Kansas and a man in Georgia failed to respond to Bank of America's request for citizenship information, and the bank froze their accounts.2,3 These customers were U.S. citizens, but their experiences serve as an ominous warning to immigrants who rely on Bank of America products to support their families. Now more than ever, immigrants need access to banking products and services that can help them prepare for and survive attacks by Trump's racist administration. By forcing people to verify their citizenship status, Bank of America is restricting access and making it even harder for immigrants to save money for immigration-related emergencies, build their assets and plan for their futures. If Bank of America doesn't end this discriminatory practice, many immigrants may close their accounts to avoid submitting information that the government could use to target them in the future. Some immigrants could even lose their hard earned money if Bank of America freezes their account. Trump's Department of the Treasury has not issued new guidance to banks regarding customers' immigration status, which means that Bank of America is collecting citizenship information from customers on its own. It also means that with enough public pressure, it could choose to end this practice immediately. That's why we're teaming up with our friends at the California Reinvestment Coalition to raise a massive public outcry against Bank of America's discriminatory citizenship question and force the bank to act. Bank of America was founded in San Francisco in 1904 as the Bank of Italy to serve the needs of many immigrants settling in the United States.4 Speak out now to demand that the bank honor its history, protect immigrants' civil rights and stop collecting information about the citizenship status of its customers. Tell Bank of America: Stop asking customers about their citizenship status. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/bofa_immigrants?t=7&akid=29782%2E12967895%2Ev8vy4d Thanks for taking action, Nicole Regalado, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Susie Cagle, "Why is Bank of America Asking Clients About Their Citizenship?" The Nation, Aug. 20, 2018.
- Rick Montgomery, "Why Bank of America asked Kansas man for proof of citizenship — and may ask you, too," The Kansas City Star, Aug. 1, 2018.
- Adam Murphy, "Bank of America requests citizenship information," WGCL, Aug. 3, 2018.
- Paulina Gonzalez, "Banks are standing on the wrong side of history — with Trump," The Hill, Aug. 9, 2018.
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