Bank of America officially took sides in America’s gun debate Tuesday, announcing it would no longer make loans to companies that make “military-style” weapons.
The second-biggest U.S. bank announced Tuesday that it would drop current loan-customers Vista Outdoors, Remington and Sturm Ruger, and blackball any other manufacturer of assault weapons.
I hope Bank of America cuts off any company that manufacturers knives. And alcohol. Alcohol kills tens of thousands each year.
I have never banked with BoA for 2 reasons: (1) their over the top effort to finance mortgages for illegal aliens, and (2) their lousy customer service. My now deceased father-in-law banked with them out of convenience. It took my wife 6 months to close his accounts when he passed. She got the runaround at the nearest branch office and was stonewalled by the national customer service office. She was treated rudely and with disdain for actually wanting to close his accounts. I find it difficult to understand why anyone would bank with them when there are much better options available.
I completely respect BoA’s right to choose with whom it does business and the application of its concern for public safety to its business decisions.
As concern for public safety is clearly the motivating factor in this decision, I’m sure we can expect announcements from BoA any minute now confirming it will no longer “underwrite or finance” the production of:
• tobacco products in any form because the CDC refers to tobacco use as “the leading preventable cause of death in the US” with “more than 480,000 deaths annually”
• opioids (including production, packaging, and distribution) because CDC data (via CNN report) show that in 2017 opioids killed more people (63,600) than breast cancer
• alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, spirits, malt liquor) because CDC data show that excessive alcohol use accounted for 88,000 deaths from 2006-2010 and “2.5 million years of potential life lost” and that alcohol abuse shortens lives on average by 30 years
• any automobile (and all components of auto production) than can be driven faster than 55 mph because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) confirmed 10,111 deaths (27% of all fatalities resulting from accidents) in 2016 were due to excessive speed and declares 55 mph as the optimum safe highway speed.
I look forward with great anticipation to BoA’s public announcement declining to lend money to any business involved in the manufacture of these products that kill far more people every year than “military-style” firearms.
This is your moment to shine BoA – stop lending to all these dangerous industries ! Yeah – that’s what I thought.
Closing my BoA accounts ASAP after 23+ years with them. I can’t in good conscience support a bank that hides behind a façade of public safety concerns in order to discriminate against some businesses rather than applying objective decision-making criteria to all business decisions.
Sources (don’t argue the data with me – argue it with the source if you like): https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/…/tobacco_related…/index.htm…
://www.cnn.com/…/drug-overdoses-2016-final…/index.html
http://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding
I just closed my account with them after 29 years. They are the scum of the earth in the way they treat their customers… Closing branches that have been open for years, LONG hold times (as in over an hour) to get to speak to a person on the phone, no matter the time of day. The drive-up closed at 5 even on Friday’s. I went to open an account a few weeks ago, and was told I had to make an apt because the only person that could open it for me was busy with another customer and that he would be leaving after he was done. She also told me that their branch, because of their clientele, didn’t warrant more staff. Their clientele is almost all illegals. The customers with an account have to wait in long lines to do business because they cater to the illegals in the same lines… I went down the road an opened an account with a bank that had multiple people that handled this sort of business, no waiting, no appt.. Should have switched long ago.