liberethos_paradigm/usa_banks.md

Blacklist part 1: notorious unethical banks

financial institution	political party	ALEC	CISPA	drug testing	finances private prisons	Tor-hostile	environmental abuses	other ethical problems
Bank of America	🐘	👌 (dropped)	🚨	🔎	🚓 (will stop)	👁 (& VPN-hostile)	fracking, fossil fuel, extreme fossil fuel, Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Dakota Access Pipeline, ultra-deepwater oil & gas projects, Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion, drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge	politically motivated denial of fund transfers; often named "most hated bank" in consumer feedback studies; xenophobic policy and hostile toward immigrants; shamed for dumb password rules; data breach; paid $1 million to the Trump inaugeration; caught snooping on customers and data sharing with the FBI.
Capital One	🐘		🚨			👁		sponsors Fox News; spent $20 million on Facebook ads (thus feeding a privacy abuser); uses privacy-abusing Amazon AWS which lead to exfiltration of 100M customer records; shamed for dumb password rules
Citibank	🐘		🚨	🔎			fossil fuel, extreme fossil fuel, ultra-deepwater oil & gas projects, Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion	member of Better Than Cash Alliance thus fights to remove the cash payment option; Citi blocked insulin to 450,000 Venezuelans; Citi blocks account holder access to money if Citibank doesn't like your address; shamed for dumb password rules; data breach in 2005; data breach in 2011; data breach in 2013
Fifth Third	🐘		🚨	🔎	🚓			cbios.53.com is CloudFlared; bank employs 17,744 workers in pro-forced-birth state (OH)
JP Morgan - Chase	🐘		🚨	🔎	🚓 (will stop)	👁+	Arctic oil and gas exploration, fracking, fossil fuel, extreme fossil fuel, Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Dakota Access Pipeline, ultra-deepwater oil & gas projects, Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion	supports Trump; financed nazis; paid $3k per engineer per day to Palantir (thus contributing to family separation at the US-Mexico border); data breach in 2007 (warning: popups, better link needed); data breach in 2014;
PNC	🐘	👌	🚨	🔎	🚓		Atlantic Coast Pipeline	caught financing the Cloakroom project; supplies banking service to Charles Schwab.
Suntrust Bank			🚨	🔎	🚓		Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion	employs 24,375 workers in pro-forced-birth state (GA)
TD Bank			🚨			👁	fossil fuel, Atlantic Coast Pipeline	Canadian ownership. Unlike TD Ameritrade, TD Bank was not acquired by Charles Schwab; data breach in 2014
US Bancorp - US Bank	🐘		🚨	🔎	🚓			employs 4000 workers in pro-forced-birth state (MS)
Wells Fargo	🐘	👌 (dropped)	🚨	🔎	🚓 (will stop)	👁	fracking, fossil fuel (source 2), Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Dakota Access Pipeline, Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion	supports Trump; sponsors Fox News; caught committing fraud; shamed for dumb password rules; only one large PPP loan given to a black-owned business; accused of charging black and latinx applicants higher rates and fees for home loans.

(🐘) Commercial banks who meddle in politics tend to give disproportionately more to republican candidates (53/43%) and credit unions tend to give disproportionately more to democrats (58/41%), although it's uncommon for credit unions to meddle in politics at all. The elephant (🐘) above indicates that it's confirmed specifically for that bank that it favors republicans. Absence of 🐘 just means I didn't check that bank.

(🚨) the problem with CISPA-- CISPA was a bill to create a system of unwarranted mass surveillance through information sharing between the government and private sector. Congress blocked the bill, but it was later reincarnated as CISA and it passed. The police light (🚨) indicates that the bank lobbied for a police surveillance state in favor of CISPA.

(🔎) the problem with drug testing-- Drug testing employees in all cases above entail control over employees lifestyle outside the workplace. And in most cases involving medicinal mj states, the drug test also harms the healthcare of employees by intervening in doctors' prescriptions. The magnifying glass (🔎) indicates that the bank mistreats employees by drug testing them.

(🚓) the problem with prison financing-- Under the Trump administration, the number of immigrants detained by the US government has skyrocketed. Nearly 75% of those detained are held in private prisons, whose stock prices have soared against the backdrop of Trump’s zero-tolerance and family separation policies. A Popular Democracy study details which banks are financing private prisons and detention centers, as well as the banks that have made commitments to stop.

(👌) the problem with ALEC-- ALEC is a huge right-wing political lobby that puts corporate interests above the interest of human beings, as it fights gun control, fights healthcare, fights immigration, fights unions, fights public education, fights womens rights, and supports the NRA. The OK hand sign (👌) indicates that the bank supports right-wing extremism through ALEC membership.

(👁) the problem with Tor hostility-- Tor is a tool that helps the privacy of consumers. Banks that block Tor or take hostile actions against customers who use Tor are indicated with an eye (👁). A plus ("+") indicates that the bank allows Tor users to attempt to login (so they can discover which of their customers use Tor), followed by a permanent account denial and locked bank account.

More metrics: to see where these banks stand on gun issues, see https://isyourbankloaded.org.

Blacklist part 2: unethical banks masquerading as ethical banks

These banks have managed to obtain endorsement from ethics-focused organizations, but they either block Tor users or they subject all their customers to the privacy and netneutrality abuses of CloudFlare or they push an hCAPTCHA:

Financial institution	Values-based network	Blocks Tor	CloudFlared login page	hCAPTCHA	Locations	Notes
Beneficial State Bank	B Corp, GABV, CDFI, UNEPFI, Just.		👁	y	California, Oregon, Washington	They claim: "we have taken definitive steps to follow Web Content and Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)," but their CloudFlared login portal imposes an hCAPTCHA which violates WCAG. BSB admits in their privacy policy that they collect your IP address to track your geoloctation. They also vaguely state that they share your sensitive information with third parties, but they do not name the third parties (thus sharing with CloudFlare, Inc. is concealed). The landing page is not CloudFlared, but the login page (xvault.beneficialstatebank.com) is, which enables CloudFlare to eavesdrop on your banking.
Clearwater Credit Union	GABV, CDFI		👁	y	?	hCAPTCHA is pushed by CloudFlare and thus triggered unpredictably. Their vague privacy policy conceals the fact that they share all web traffic with CloudFlare, Inc.
Decorah Bank & Trust Company	GABV		👁		Iowa	Their privacy policy lies. Since CloudFlare sees all traffic, these are false statements: "we will not give your data to third parties without your permission."; "you will never be required to give information to a third party supplier."
First Green Bank	B Corp, GABV		👁	y	Florida	A 3rd party site said they were B Corp listed, but they aren't listed on the B Corp site. hCAPTCHA is pushed by CloudFlare and thus triggered unpredictably. They don't even have a proper privacy policy, but their "privacy commitment" statement conceals the fact that all web traffic is shared with CloudFlare, Inc.
Mascoma Savings Bank	B Corp	👁		?	New Hampshire, Vermont
Missoula Federal Credit Union	GABV, CDFI		👁	y	Montana	A 3rd party site said they were a GABV member, but they aren't listed on the GABV site. They also don't exist in the CDFI spreadsheet
National Cooperative Bank	GABV	👁	👁	y	?	hCAPTCHA pushed to Tor users (untested for non-Tor users)

Graylisted banks

These banks are endorsed by a values-based network, but they outsource hosting to an unethical and untrustworthy tech giant. Exceptionally, New Resource Bank is also listed here because endorsements by B Corp and GABV seem to have been dropped.

Financial institution	Values-based network	Locations	Notes
Aspiration	B Corp	N/A (online only)	Amazon AWS-hosted; blog.aspiration.com is a CloudFlare site; login page previously blocked Tor, but not when checked in Jan. 2021; it will go back to the blacklist if found to block Tor in the future.
Lead Bank	GABV	Missouri	Paper statements are $5, but they say they're willing to email statements if the website stops working for a customer's browser; Amazon AWS-hosted; online reg. open to out-of-state residents; Moneypass ATMs
New Resource Bank	B Corp, GABV	California	A 3rd party site said they were both B Corp listed and a GABV member, but they aren't listed on either site. Website also harasses Tor users about having a clock that's ahead and it uses CloudFlare NS servers which means they can spontaneously start proxying through CloudFlare with ease.
Piscataqua Savings Bank	B Corp	New Hampshire	Amazon AWS-hosted; online reg. open to out-of-state residents
Southern Bancorp	B Corp, GABV, CDFI	Arkansas, Mississippi	Google Cloud-hosted; uses CloudFlare NS servers which means they can spontaneously start proxying through CloudFlare with ease.
Sunrise Banks	B Corp, GABV, CDFI	Minnesota	Google Cloud-hosted
Verity Credit Union	GABV	Washington	Amazon AWS-hosted; was MitMd by CloudFlare in the past but not when last checked on Feb.2021.

Whitelist: relatively ethical banks

These banks are endorsed by a values-based network, and are properly hosted. Superficially, there are no obvious significant anti-privacy or anti-consumer website features.

Financial institution	Values-based network	Locations	Notes
Amalgamated Bank	B Corp, GABV, UNEPFI	New York, Washington, D.C.	Previously blocked Tor, but not when checked in Jan. 2021, so it's back on the whitelist for now.
Brattleboro Savings & Loan	B Corp	Vermont
City First Bank of DC	B Corp, GABV, CDFI	Washington, D.C.	Online application available, so perhaps it's open to out-of-state clients.
First Boulevard		online-only	This bank is not yet open for business. Its focused on shrinking the racial wealth gap and has partnered with Visa to offer crypto-trading capabilities. Note that involvement with Visa is cause for concern, as Visa is the most aggressive proponent of the unethical war on cash. It also appears they may be strictly mobile, which likely means forced use of Google Playstore.
Spring Bank	B Corp, CDFI	New York	Website down as of Jan. 2021
VCC Bank	B Corp, CDFI	Virginia	Fastly-hosted; there is an online application, so perhaps it's open to out-of-state clients.
VSECU (Vermont State Employees Credit Union)	GABV	Vermont

The scope of this page is US banks. Some ethical European banks are listed by FEBEA and GABV covers the world.