Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Post 9/11 and recent tightening of financial regulations, trust me, no US bank wants your business unless you have an American social security number.
US banks do not want foreign customers. It happened long before 9/11, remember BONY & Russian mafia story? US investment (brokerage) account can do the trick. Non resident accounts are welcome by most brokers (although yes, rules are getting tighter and business accounts require a lot more paperwork than ever). Many brokerages offer investment accounts linked to money market fund accounts. The later spells you may 1) deposit checks denominated in USD with zero commission, 2) you may access this cash using debit card and yes, 3) you can use this cash for hedging/gambling/investing :o)
A.
.... but welcome to ww :-)
And my Superb Bank lol(Lloydstsb) charged me £50.00 for the info.
They refunded my £50.00 after I complained as a "good will gesture" but informed me a forein cheque can bounce and is "not properly cleared for 6-months"
BS you may think, I went to task over this and demanded the 5K back into my account..no chance.
I was lucky I knew the guy who owed me the money and he quickly settled up..cash flow probs etc, the money was taken on the wrong day etc...
So then I decide on wire tranfers only, again LloydsTSB made errors (they give me wrong International wire codes)
Moral ..bank cheques asap, do not deal with Lloydstsb
It still seems pretty easy for non-US citizens to set up a company in, for example, Delaware and with it you get a US bank account and a US dollar debit card.
It still seems pretty easy for non-US citizens to set up a company in, for example, Delaware
true
and with it you get a US bank account and a US dollar debit card.
No way. All the simplified corporate account application forms require both the company EIN and SSN of owner or principal partner. Banks want to be assured the beneficiary is not a nonresident alien. Also, all corporate credit lines and cards must be secured by an individual.
The above applies to all small companies. The company must be pretty big, with physical presence and audited statements in order to be treated as an "independent" entry.
Registering an US company will not give you a key to an account with US bank, but will guarantee a liability to US federal (at least) taxes. Depending on your current tax bracket and your local tax regulations this could result in some savings. But this is definitely another issue.
Does anyone know if this figure is realistic, I know the market fluctuates but surely not to this extent.
I would take it up with the bank and get a complete breakdown of charges in this transaction, and I'd do it face to face with branch staff rather than over the phone. Then you'll know for future what the score is, or whether there's been a mistake.
Chris
With what UK bank is it easiest to set up a US Dollar account?
I've used the BOS for almost two years and they are excellent.
[google.com...]
UK here btw.
Is the HSBC the best bank to got to, I think I read this on other threads?
Halifax: Usually takes 10-14 days before it shows up in my online statement.
Anyone in Australia with a US Dollar account? Any bank recommendations, rates etc?
Most banks offer it - search for "site:.au foreign currency accounts"
e.g. HSBC requires US$1000 to open the account, US$ withdrawals $1000 max without notice, more if you give notice; AU$ withdrawals as much as you wish.
Am considering it myself.
Chris
It is hard to make plans when you are on a sliding scale every month
I feel sorry for the people living in the US of A. At the rate the dollar is going down they won't be able to afford very much anymore. I hope the US of A doesn't become a poor country ;-) or Americans (there I go again!) won't be able to visit us folk in Europe anymore.
In any case, for those of us who make a living from the global Web, every currency cloud has a silver lining. The dollars that I earn from dollar-denominated affiliate sales may not be worth as much in Europe, for example, but the euros that I earn from euro-denominated affiliate sales are worth more in the U.S. And as the dollar's fall makes AdWords/AdSense bids look cheaper to advertisers in the euro zone, they may be willing to bid higher so that things even out.
Plus, there are other ways that the market evens out disparities between currency values. For example, when travel by Americans to Europe is down, European travel vendors often respond by offering special deals and packages to American visitors. This is similar to the U.S. practice (not uncommon among hotels and resorts near the Canadian border) of accepting the Canadian dollar at par.
IMHO, changing currency values are the least of the risks that we face as Internet entrepreneurs!
W.
Smiled at lady in HSBC and got off paying a transaction fee, just a straight swap from dollar to £ - shame the yanks can't keep a strong currency =/
Hey, I can remember when the pound sterling was worth $5. What happened? :-)
Don't get too smug. :-) Currencies go up and down, and anyone who's been watching the dollar over the last 30 or more years (as I've done) will realize
shame the yanks can't keep a strong currency
(Thinking about it - Nah... what'll I do with something like that? And where would I put it!)
(Thinking about it - Nah... what'll I do with something like that? And where would I put it!)
I don't know, but if you can afford to buy Missouri, Ohio, Florida, or one of the other swing states, you could sell it to one of our presidential candidates before the next election. :-)
could sell it to one of our presidential candidates before the next election
I did not have voting relations for that man Clinton.
I did not votify Bush into presendentorial office.
There's no way I'm taking the rap for your next president!
In 1981 i can remember $2.40 to £
