Bank of America questions customer’s citizenship, freezes accounts

Bank of America has begun asking some of their account holders questions about their citizenship status, even freezing accounts with no warning.

says one of their photographers, Josh Collins, received a mailer claiming to be sent by Bank of America that asked for personal information and citizenship information.

He initially thought it was a scam since he had been a Bank of America customer for 20 years and was born a U.S. citizen. The next thing he knew, his accounts were frozen without notice.

“The first question is, ‘Oh, we sent you something in the mail a few weeks ago,’” he recalled. “I said, ‘Yeah, I remember getting something that didn’t look real.’ And they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, we need to know if you’re a citizen.’ You know, I was born and raised in Kansas like Superman. I said, ‘How much more American can you get?’”

The bank representative told Collins he would have access to his accounts the next day.

“So, we get up in the morning,” he said. “Card doesn’t work again. So, my wife -- being the patient one -- calls and they said, ‘Well, your cards have been lost or stolen.’”

That was not true, so Collin says he went to the bank in person to talk with a representative.

" The first question they asked me was, ‘Are you a citizen?’” he said. “Again? ‘Yes.’ And then they wanted to know if I had dual citizenship.”

The bank eventually unfroze Collins’ accounts, but not before sending an email notifying him all of his automatic bill payment accounts were wiped out.

Collins said the bank explained that, eventually, they would be asking this of all their customers.

Bank of America released the following statement Friday: