This announcement is from the FDIC (Kansas City, I'm guessing):

Festival of Finances!
Saturday, October 18, 2003, 10am - 3pm
El Centro Johnson County
Inside Metcalf South Shopping Center
3rd Floor, beside the Jones Store
9525 Metcalf Avenue, Overland Park, KS 66212
Telephone: 913.381.2861
An opportunity to:

$$ Open bank accounts and find out about money transfer options to relatives abroad

$$ Get applications for the Mexican Matrícula Consular

$$ Get information from the Guatemalan Consulate and the Salvadoran Consulate

$$ Request your Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) from the Internal Revenue Service. Bring your birth certificate and those of your family members, plus another official photo ID. Children may bring school records or school immunization cards.

$$ Obtain information regarding your federal and state taxes

$$ Attend Spanish Money Smart financial education classes

To open a bank account: Bring two photo IDs and your Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). Photo IDs can be the Matrícula Consular, drivers license, Mexican voter registration card, or passport. We will provide information on how to obtain the Matrícula Consular.

Offered by
· El Centro, Inc. · Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation · Bank of America · Central Bank of Kansas City
· Commerce Bank · Consulate of El Salvador · Douglass National Bank · Guatemalan Consulate · Internal Revenue Service · Kansas City KS Tax Coalition · Klamann & Hubbard P. A. · Metcalf Bank · The First National Bank of Olathe · U. S. Bank ·

Maybe it's a plot to round up undocumented aliens.....

Personally, I have strong mixed emotions on this issue. However, nothing in my training or experience explains to me why the FDIC, or any of the other regulatory agencies, is for it. I get even more confused on the issue when people with the agencies tell me the active support varies dramatically among "the regions." Are they fiefdoms or part of a single organization?

I used to work for the FDIC, they're definitely fiefdoms!

Some of our people attended a seminar by FDIC geared to getting the unbanked banked. What the FDIC said was directly opposite of what the homeland security people said when it was their turn to speak at the same seminar. That left a lot of people confused.

The FDIC is going to save the unbanked from the check cashing shops. (Maybe they also hope to shift the responsibility for keeping track of them from the government to the banks but that's speculation.) IMO Homeland Security is trying to keep us safe from ourselves and everyone else. Sometimes it seems like each department is it's own "government" so instead of one huge federal government we have lots of them.

Quote:

---

The FDIC is going to save the unbanked from the check cashing shops.

---

That's the part I can't figure, the social worker mentality. They are not a consumer protection agency, they are an insurance company. (Not to single out the FDIC, the Fed sings the same songs and their job description does not include welcoming immigrants to the financial system.)

I'm not a conspiracy buff, but getting illegals to use an ITIN (a number that begins with that conspicuous "9") and requiring a physical address as a condition of opening an account would certainly make it easy to locate them with a 314(a) search wouldn't it? Of course, some people might think that a tad unconsitutional. On the other hand, nobody is complaining about 314(a) searches now, are they? There is far more public concern over library records than financial records. Go figure.

Rather than suffer the "creep" of regulatory authority in encouraging illegals to open bank accounts, it would seem more appropriate that other agencies such as Homeland Security or the FTC address the issue. Of course, the choice between them would reflect some conscious analysis of what our country's position is on those who are in the U.S. illegally - something we have been unable to accomplish so far.

That sound you just heard was of Ken hitting the nail squarely on the head!

Why is the dept. of Homeland Security allowing the FDIC to aid and abett illegal aliens??? I am really confused how the FDIC can act in contravention to the BICE and the Border Patrol.

The big question is how long before the FDIC is sponsoring banks in accepting the Al-Quaeda Matricula card??? How can you accept one if you don't accept all???

I understand that Congress is working on these issues, but it is strange that they would have to, and I wouldn't hold my breath that they'll ever find a solution! If anyone is interested, I found two web sites that wants to help address these issues: www.numbersusa.com and www.projectusa.org.

Perhaps this will be discussed at this meeting.