Would a bank close your account just because they don’t like your Christian religious beliefs or conservative political beliefs? I try to choose my banks by looking at their political donations. On that score, Bank of America, J. P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and US Bancorp are all bad banks. But is there any evidence that banks discriminate against Christians and conservatives?

Here’s an interesting article written by Reagan Reese, over at the Daily Caller:

One of the left’s biggest political targets recently found himself “de-banked” with no warning and little avenue for recourse, the Daily Caller has learned.

John Eastman, once an attorney for former President Donald Trump, was de-banked twice in the span of several months by two prominent financial institutions, Bank of America and USAA, he told the Daily Caller. His accounts were closed as he faced substantial backlash for his work advising Trump around the time of the 2020 election.

Eastman said he had switched most of his banking from Bank of America to USAA, a company that provides financial services exclusively to military veterans as well as their families, due to the former’s “wokeness.” Both corporations are federally insured, and Bank of America was bailed out with billions of dollars in taxpayer funds during the global financial crisis.

Bank of America alerted Eastman in September of 2023 that it would be closing his accounts, a letter obtained by the Daily Caller shows. Shortly thereafter, USAA notified Eastman in November that his two bank accounts with the company would be closed, a separate letter shows.

“And then two months later, we get a similar letter from USAA saying that they’ve decided that they’re going to close your account and they did like three weeks later,” Eastman told the Daily Caller. “And so that was where all of our automatic payments were coming out of, all our automatic deposits. So it was a real pain to shift everything. We had to get a new bank account opened and shift everything over.”

Republican leaders are concerned about Americans being de-banked for their political views:

A number of red state attorneys general — including from Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and Montana — voiced their opposition to the de-banking trend after the Daily Caller laid out Eastman’s situation. Many of the state AGs pointed to politics as a potential reason Eastman’s accounts were closed.

And it’s not just talk. According to the left-leaning UK Daily Mail (archived), Republican leaders are holding the leftist banks accountable:

A dozen Republican-led states plan to send a letter to Bank of America demanding an explanation for why it allegedly de-banked Christian and other conservative groups.

The letter obtained first by DailyMail.com, led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, demands that the financial institution turn over documents related to its account cancellation policies and requested that the bank update its terms of services to not discriminate against clients with certain political or religious beliefs.

The notice comes after it was revealed that Bank of America sent the FBI and U.S. Treasury private consumer financial data to help the agencies investigate crimes related to the January 6 Capitol protest.

‘Unfortunately, Bank of America appears to be conditioning access to its services on customers having the bank’s preferred religious or political views,’ Kobach writes in the letter to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan obtained by DailyMail.com.

‘Your discriminatory behavior is a serious threat to free speech and religious freedom, is potentially illegal, and is causing political and regulatory backlash.’

‘Your bank needs to be transparent with and assure us, its shareholders, and others that it will not continue to de-bank customers for their speech or religious exercise.’

[…][T]he memo details several instances of apparent discrimination against Christian groups where Bank of America canceled their accounts.

Here are the Republican governors who signed it:

The letter is co-signed by officials from Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

If you are looking for a bank that donates to the Republican Party, you should check out opensecrets.org. I think it’s important for Christians and conservatives to choose wisely when they choose what state to live in, what company to work for, and which bank to bank at. It really is important to choose wisely.