February 26, 2024
Members of the Tennessee General Assembly,
On behalf of the 54,000-plus Tennessee members of AMAC – the Association of Mature American Citizens, I write to urge your support of HB 2100 and SB 2148.
Access to financial services is a basic necessity for Tennessee’s citizens. The clothes on our back, the food on our tables, the roofs over our heads, the ability to support our communities through charity — these all rely on being able to access your hard-earned dollars. But ideological activists are engaging in religious and political discrimination, and their tool is denying consumers access to money and critical financial services. This practice – known as de-banking – is putting citizens’, businesses’, and non-profits’ ability to participate in the marketplace in jeopardy.
Banks are using “reputational risk” or similarly vague policies to deny service to discriminate against gun manufacturers, distributors, and sellers; fossil fuel producers; contractors for Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency; and private prisons and related services. This abuse of vague terms of service now extends to discrimination based on a client’s political or religious views. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, PayPal, Wells Fargo, and others have closed the accounts of mainstream conservative and religious groups under the guise of “reputational risk” policies or prohibitions on “misinformation” or “intolerance.”
In 2023, Bank of America closed the long-standing bank account of Tennessee-based Indigenous Advance Ministries, a Christian nonprofit that helps impoverished widows and children in Uganda. The bank also closed the accounts of a local church that donates to the ministry. The bank told the ministries it would no longer serve their “business type” and that Indigenous Advance exceeded the “bank’s risk tolerance.” It did this right before a mission trip to Uganda, so Indigenous Advance struggled to quickly change accounts. It couldn’t pay its Ugandan workers, who often live meal to meal, for several weeks. And it had to reduce aid to many of its ministry partners while there.
PayPal, too, has discriminated against numerous groups, including parental rights group Moms for Liberty, for seeming political reasons. In 2022, it tried to fine users for “misinformation” but swiftly reversed course after public backlash.
These are just some of the many victims of de-banking.
This is precisely the discrimination that HB2100 and SB2148 are designed to prevent.
No American should fear losing access to financial services because of their deeply held religious or political beliefs. Unfortunately, viewpoint-based de-banking has become a widespread issue.
Banks that are too big to fail are too big for bias. Tennessee’s bills ensure that these large banks and payment processors, who are often the worst perpetrators of de-banking, can no longer deny essential financial services to Tennesseans because of their religious or political views.
We thank you in advance for your thoughtful consideration of this bill, and welcome further conversation on this crucial issue.
Sincerely,
Bob Carlstrom
President
AMAC Action
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