Opening US bank account for non-residents

[descente]

When did you open your account? Did you have a credit card with them?

I opened the account in September 2019. I didn't have any credit card yet.


Was your business US based?
Yes

Was the account inactive maybe? I know some US banks like to close accounts when they are not actively used (money going in/out).

Personal : It was not my main account, but I would say top 3 of the account I use on a daily basis
Business : It was my main business account

 

[LegitBananas]

I opened the account in September 2019. I didn't have any credit card yet.


Was your business US based?
Yes


Personal : It was not my main account, but I would say top 3 of the account I use on a daily basis
Business : It was my main business account

It would probably help if you could give more details about your industry/business affairs and what kind of activity you would use the account for. Banks don't tend to close/refuse accounts unless they're seen as high risk in some way.

 

[descente]

It would probably help if you could give more details about your industry/business affairs and what kind of activity you would use the account for. Banks don't tend to close/refuse accounts unless they're seen as high risk in some way.

Well they didn't directly close my business account.
They closed my personal account and my business account was closed as a result of my personal account being shutdown.
But to answer your question, I am doing Amazon FBA.

 

[daxbr]

Well they didn't directly close my business account.
They closed my personal account and my business account was closed as a result of my personal account being shutdown.
But to answer your question, I am doing Amazon FBA.

Opening accounts that may be needed in the future is a permanent part time job now.

 

[clemens]

It's going to be more and more difficult to get bank accounts, I agree it may be a part time job now and in the future!

 

[Spinat]

TD Bank is known to open bank accounts for non-residents as well.
You should have used the BofA account statements as proof of address - then other banks with stricter requirements would probably have accepted you as a client as well. Maybe you can still do that if you have recent BofA account statements.

Can you please tell me some details on how you open an account with TD Bank in the US, am I correct we speak this bank TD Personal Banking, Loans, Cards & More | TD Bank

And you guys say it is possible to walk into the bank and open an account there without to be resident in anyway in the USA? We don't speak remote account opening right?

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Yes, TD Bank. They only have branches on the East coast though. I don’t have personal experience with them, but I’ve heard they are happy to open accounts for non-residents.

You will always have to go into a branch in person to open an account for KYC. Maybe a lawyer could do it for you with power of attorney, but it’s definitely easier to just go there yourself.

 

[daxbr]

Can you please tell me some details on how you open an account with TD Bank in the US, am I correct we speak this bank TD Personal Banking, Loans, Cards & More | TD Bank

And you guys say it is possible to walk into the bank and open an account there without to be resident in anyway in the USA? We don't speak remote account opening right?

Well, depends. If you have presence established, then yes. First they do is to run https://www.chexsystems.com on you.

 

[nicotine]

Can I open a bank account in the USA remotely through an intermediary now?

 

[dvm]

for US banks in general and WF specific: using VOIP numbers wont work for e.g. the Zelle transfer system. Banks in US are blocking since a few years the use of VOIP numbers for verification etc. Own experience with WellsFargo. So you need to get a US sim card.

Wells Fargo is one of very few US banks, which don't work with Google Voice numbers. Most banks do work with Google Voice numbers perfectly. Speaking from personal experience.

 

[Davis123]

Wells Fargo is one of very few US banks, which don't work with Google Voice numbers. Most banks do work with Google Voice numbers perfectly. Speaking from personal experience.

I have 2 US bank accounts that used to work fine until last year with all kinds of VOIP including google voice but this year they are not working anymore. Even using my account is a problem as some of private VPNs don't work with the banks. On a voice call with them they told me to turn off my VPN as they are not allowing VPNs to be used anymore to check your account balances. Logging in from foreign IP is not possible. I fumbled with many private VPNs having a US IP address and one finally worked. One of my accounts is in Bank of America and no longer working with VOIP.

 

[dvm]

I have 2 US bank accounts that used to work fine until last year with all kinds of VOIP including google voice but this year they are not working anymore. Even using my account is a problem as some of private VPNs don't work with the banks. On a voice call with them they told me to turn off my VPN as they are not allowing VPNs to be used anymore to check your account balances. Logging in from foreign IP is not possible. I fumbled with many private VPNs having a US IP address and one finally worked. One of my accounts is in Bank of America and no longer working with VOIP.

BoA is 100% working with Google Voice. Just used it a couple of days ago.

 

[Davis123]

BoA is 100% working with Google Voice. Just used it a couple of days ago.

Congrats you are one of the few lucky ones.
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-get-...Americas-Safepass-text-messages-from-overseas.
The problem is searchable on google search as many of us are having issues with US banks lately. Yes I registered for Google voice when I was in USA with a US number but for past 2 years people are having issues. Mine was targeted this year as I had no problems until last year.

 

[Milky Moon]

You can call WF customer service and they will include your non US phone# in the backend to receive txt's.

 

[lostguy]

You can call WF customer service and they will include your non US phone# in the backend to receive txt's.

Do you believe it is still possible to do so?

IS anyone still around and can help to open real street bank account ins the USA for foreigners not resident in the US ?

 

[BillBong]

Speaking from experience. You can walk into chase or boa and open personal accounts with a passport, it's fairly straight forward, many smaller banks and CiTi are not interested, recommend doing this in NYC or LA as they have large.. illegal populations that they cater to ( People gotta get paid ).

 

[Tr0nad0r]

Speaking from experience. You can walk into chase or boa and open personal accounts with a passport, it's fairly straight forward, many smaller banks and CiTi are not interested, recommend doing this in NYC or LA as they have large.. illegal populations that they cater to ( People gotta get paid ).

I think It depends on the city, in Miami is easier to get it opened with Citi and smaller (state chartered) banks (e.g Apollo, PNB, Ocean, ...)