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Bank of America woos illegal immigrants

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Bank of America Corp. has begun offering credit cards to U.S. customers without Social Security numbers -- typically illegal immigrants -- the bank says.

"We are willing to grant credit to someone with little or no credit history," international card services Director Lance Weaver says.

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The new program is open to people who lack both a Social Security number and a credit history, as long as they have held a checking account with the bank for three months without an overdraft, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Most adults in the United States who do not have a Social Security number are undocumented immigrants, the newspaper said.

The Charlotte, N.C., bank hopes to roll out the program nationally later this year, the newspaper says. It is currently limited to Los Angeles, home to the largest concentration of illegal U.S. immigrants.

The credit cards come with a high interest rate and an upfront fee.

But the bank defends the program, saying it complies with U.S. banking and anti-terrorism laws.

"These people are coming here for quality of life, and they deserve somebody to give them a chance to achieve that quality of life," Latin American card operations Director Brian Tuite says.

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