Banks banned from collecting immigration data—with a major loophole
S. 4450 — Financial Access Protection Act · Filed by Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) · Introduced Apr 30, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits banks, credit unions, and credit reporting agencies from collecting, maintaining, or sharing information about a customer's citizenship or immigration status—except where required by anti-money-laundering and sanctions laws. It also bars federal banking regulators from pressuring financial institutions to collect such data or using it in supervisory decisions.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to restrict financial institutions' ability to collect and report immigration status data, framed as a consumer privacy and access measure. It is not a deregulation or a carve-out for a specific sector, but rather a constraint on data collection practices.
What the text implies
- The Bank Secrecy Act carve-out may allow regulators and financial institutions to infer or collect immigration status indirectly through AML/sanctions screening, potentially undermining the bill's stated intent if not carefully implemented.
- Banks may face compliance uncertainty: the bill prohibits collection but does not clarify how institutions should handle immigration-status data already in their systems or obtained through third-party vendors.
- The prohibition on regulatory pressure may limit federal banking agencies' ability to enforce anti-discrimination rules if they previously relied on citizenship-status monitoring to detect discriminatory lending patterns.
- Credit reporting agencies are included as 'covered financial institutions,' which may restrict their ability to verify identity or flag fraud-related immigration inconsistencies, potentially affecting credit accuracy.
Who it affects
The bill protects financial privacy and access for immigrants and mixed-status households, reducing barriers to banking and credit services. However, the carve-out for Bank Secrecy Act compliance may still allow indirect collection of immigration-related data through AML/sanctions screening, and the practical effect depends on how regulators interpret the exceptions.
Who stands to gain
- immigrant-focused fintech and community banks
- credit unions serving immigrant communities
- consumer advocacy organizations
Named in the bill
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Bank Secrecy Act, Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Federal Credit Union Act
Where it stands
- Apr 30, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Apr 30, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 5, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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