Hi Mark, thanks for the reply. I did indeed receive completely irrelevant information at Citibank, from three different officers. Before insisting to speak to someone from the IPB department. They tried pushing me all sorts of account types without even listening to what I needed. But, I went as far as I could take it in terms of explaining what I needed and making sure I spoke to someone from Int'l. I was told the requirements for that local foreign currency + gold status + personal RM type of account which I have no problem meeting. Those aren't debts. More like charting, amazon, hosting, ebay, paypal etc. etc. all in US$. I was on a 3 months business visa back in 2000 which I believe gave me some sort of residence status (I had an account at Wells Fargo back then). No one asked me this before, how is it related? True, those kits aren't really that expensive. They just look like scams to me and I'm also concerned about what sort of bank they're talking about. If anyone has had specific experience with one of those kit providers I'll be happy to hear about it.
Ajax, this used to be a lot easier pre 9/11 - -now you have to run thru a lot of hoops... a lot of people just keep it in IB (good interest rate)
Have you tried ETrade? They give you a check book and an ATM card, its easy to transfer money between your Etrade and Paypal account. I also have a CitiBank account opened in PR, but I opened that from Panama. Panama is a US based currency so a lot of USA based banks are also here, HSBC is one. If you come on a extended vacation here with two letters of good standing from two of your existing banks you can get an account.
Hi Guys, You can get a US BANK account at www.etrade.com. You have to follow their directions or it takes a few months.
Check out icici bank. The process for me has been very simple. You can set up an account in your home currency then have a second account setup in USD and it is easy to transfer back and forth. They also give me a 4.25% on cash in the US account. Best and easiest I've come across. Hope that helps.
Chase bank lets you do that. But they have high requirements (I think 5K on deposit) and there are fees...
I got mine from here http://www.bankaccountusa.com/en It was quite quick and it works fine. Only for personal accounts though
Hi there, It is not easy at all. Since the ridiculous patriot act laws it has rippled through the entire banking industry worldwide. I have a bank account in the USA as one of the accounts for my trading entity but I had to go there in person and I was rejected by a couple of banks before I was able to get one. The easiest solution is don't use a USA bankaccount. Go to switzerland, panama, austria, or latvia. They will still make you jump through a few hoops but at least you can do it remotely. Lots of the banks in the above mentioned places will also reject you immediately. Try a lot of them though (all of them?) and don't be afraid to look towards the smaller banks. Best regards, MK
I'm an international student, and I absolutely had no problems in opening a checking account, and I know all of my non-US-citizen friends were easily able to do so as well. The bank's name is Washington Mutual, I can't really say anything about other banks. The only thing required is the passport with the visa. I'd be surprised if you have any problems at all. Good luck