US Bank Account For Foreigners?

[AthlonInside]

Any foreigners has any luck on opening a bank account with a US Bank? Is it possible?

[encyclo]

Depends where you are based. There are branches of US banks in many non-US cities (Citibank in particular are everywhere). Going to one of those branches is going to be much easier than trying to set up something with a US-based branch if you are non-US resident.

Also, there are some non-US banks with US subsidiaries - so your local bank may be able to help you too.

[AthlonInside]

what's "non-US cities"?

[encyclo]

London, Frankfurt, Paris, Brussels, Toronto, as well as smaller cities in those countries and many others. As I said, there are branches all over the place.

[moneymancn]

No problem.
Walk in,show your passport,give them some money and its done.

MM

[Greg27]

In smaller cities such as Calgary and Edmonton I am not aware of a US bank. However, one can open a US dollars bank account with Royal Bank.

[Troppo]

If you are trying this to get around the problem of outfits like Paypal who reject a whole lot of countries for Credit Card trabsactions, be aware that a US Bank account won't fix it. You need an address in an approved country. I have both credit card and bank accounts with US Banks in major financial centers but, because my address is in one of "those" countries, Paypal et al still won't touch me.

[lgn1]

Troppo, if you are looking to become a virtual american citizen, then you can get a US mail forwarding address. Some of these companies now offer prepaid credit cards, and telephone forwarding.

Kind of expensive, if you are just trying to buy music legally, but if you are running a business and want to get around the 'we deal with americans only mentality',this is a great way around it.

[trillianjedi]

opening a bank account with a US Bank?

Is there a benefit over opening a US$ account at one of your national banks?

[bbadour]

One advantage I can think of is many smaller US banks lack the competence to clear a check drawn on any bank that is not a member of the federal reserve.

Checks drawn on my US$ account at TD Canada Trust will not clear at every bank in the US, but checks drawn on my TD Waterhouse account will. Unfortunately, TD Waterhouse does not offer any sort of cross-border account to corporations.