Bank of America Under Fire for Reportedly Freezing Customers Accounts over their Citizenship Status

Bank of America is under fire for reportedly freezing customer accounts after they failed to answer questions about their citizenship status.

This comes after a report published by the Miami Herald on Thursday where several Bank of America customers said their accounts had been locked over their citizenship status.

Bank of America normally asks clients to reveal their citizenship before opening accounts with them citing compliance with country-specific sanctions. It also carries out routine outreach to customers to ensure the information they provided about their citizenship is up to date. 

Saeed Moshfegh, an Iranian studying at the University of Miami was quoted on Miami Herald saying he could not access his account after a local Bank of America outlet declined to take documentation he supplied to prove his status as a student.

“This bank doesn’t know how the immigration system works, so they didn’t accept my document,” Moshfegh told the Herald.

Dan Hernandez, a television writer of Cuban origin said his account was disabled in December 2016 after suspicion he was doing business with Cuba. The bank activated the account after he made a complaint on its social media page.

“It was extremely scary,” Hernandez told the Herald. “I knew I didn’t do anything wrong, but it puts doubt in your mind. A bank can crush your life for arbitrary reasons and never tell you why.”

Similar cases were reported by Kansas City Star last month after a customer identified as Kansan Josh Collins said he received an unusual letter from Bank of America inquiring about his citizenship status. His account was frozen after he ignored it and was unfrozen after he presented his driver’s license at a local branch.

In a statement on July 28th, the bank said it “may periodically request information, including country of citizenship and proof of U.S. residency, from customers. A number of other major banks, including Wells Fargo and Citibank, ask customers questions about citizenship.”

California Bankers Association spokesperson Beth Mills said federal law requires that banks only verify account holders’ name, date of birth, residential address and Social Security number.