I am American and have lived overseas for more than 7 years. Today my bank informed me that they are no longer want American clients, and I must close my account. Bummer.
Not sure where I can move it to as other banks here are saying the same thing. The US Government is making it difficult for them so rather than risk their US business in places like New York, it is easier to just deny local American expats access to banking here.
Makes it tough to pay the power bill if I can’t have a bank account!
:mad:
It makes no difference to them that I’ve declared my account on my US taxes and I have all the proper paperwork. Anyone want to trade passports?
I see you’re located in Europe/MidEast. Are there no western bank branch offices in Europe/MidEast? Even when I was in Saigon, Citibank and HSBC were everywhere.
Are you saying you have no means to get your money from the US? Not even via whatever local banks are in Europe/MidEast and taking the 3% hit on cash advance/conversion fees? Wire transfer? Carrier pigeon?
No, I have money overseas, but am being asked to move it to another bank because my original bank no longer wants American clients. HSBC may be an option but IMHO, having had accounts with them in the past, I’d have a tough time deciding between HSBC and a coffee can in the closet.
Dunno - I think the paperwork and bureaucracy involved in complying with US law/IRS rules make it easier for banks with few American customers to just say they don’t want the hassle.
Are there any Internet only banks? I know of some like Bank Direct that are online but they are really just divisons of banks based in a state and they make it easy to sign up for an account online.
what bank are you with? that’s quite curious. are you using a bank domiciled in a tax haven? The only banks I am aware of that are doing this are the Swiss. If you can’t say the name of your bank, how about the country?
HSBC and Citi are both banks that are pretty much everywhere and I’m being asked to change either of those accounts (even though I think both banks kinda suck). My Chinese banks are not closing me down either.
Your second paragraph is confusing. Are you missing a “not” (as in “HSBC and Citi are both banks that are pretty much everywhere and I’m not being asked to change either of those accounts (even though I think both banks kinda suck).”)?
The US gov’t likes making things a pain in the nuts for everyone. When I was living in Beirut, TIAA-CREF quit taking contributions from everyone living outside the US because it was simply too much of a hassle for TIAA-CREF to comply with the government’s regulations on investments from overseas investors. It didn’t matter that our university was a US institution, chartered in the state of New York.
