The Tennessee Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti, received a consumer complaint from Indigenous Advanced Ministries in Memphis, Tennessee, alleging that Bank of America had “debanked” them and canceled their bank accounts due to discrimination based on their religion.
The nonprofit ministry utilizes several collaborations for its philanthropic activities to support orphaned children in Uganda. The organization was using its bank account for a type of company that Bank of America’s services did not permit, the bank stated in April. As a result, their account will be canceled in 30 days without providing any justification.
The firm had received a second letter from the Bank in May alerting them that their risk profile did not align with the bank’s risk tolerance.
There have reportedly been two bank accounts for the ministry since 2015. One of their accounts is related to the ministry, while the other is linked to a church in Memphis and is used to fund the ministry’s domestic and international operations.
To facilitate the operations of the Indigenous Advance Customer Center, the ministry’s for-profit counterpart, the organization opened a third account this year, which sends notices of delayed invoices on behalf of the clients.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Bill Halldin, a spokesman for Bank of America, claimed that the accounts had been canceled due to their “internal debt collection policy,” which the bank does not support. He continued by saying that the bank served nonprofit organizations with various ideologies.
However, the bank declined to give Fox News Digital a copy of the said policy.
In a statement, Halldin said they are proud to provide banking assistance to nonprofit groups associated with various religious groups throughout the United States. They further emphasized that there is no decision to close an account based on an individual’s religious belief.
He continued that the US division serving small businesses does not offer banking services to companies that provide debt collection services for various risk-related concerns and is not available to small businesses outside the United States.
