How Hard Is It To Open A Chekcing Account In Another Country?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was reading the Financial Times and it said a lot of Spanish people are flying to London for one day (they even have special cheap flights from Spain) so they can open a checking account.

Apparently they want to convert Euros to Pounds and store them in the UK in case of a collapse. I guess the one requirement is you can’t do it online, you have to be physically present.

So just how hard is it to open an account if you’re a foreigner in the USA

And on the flip, is is hard for an American to open one overseas?

Don’t most banks do credit checks and/or checks with a service to see if you have a history of bouncing checks?

2

I’m from the US adn I’ve opened bank accounts in other countries, mostly for my employer, but I’ve also opened private accounts. It takes a visit to a bank, some ID and then usually a wire transfer to set up the account. Different countries have different levels of hoops you have to jump through, but you often can do it in one visit.

I would imagine that between two EU countries it woud be quite common and easy to set up an account in another country.

3

For US citizens: does OFAC cover opening an account or just transactions. I want to say it does. List here.

4

No. What does the bank care if you bounce a check? They didn’t lose anything, in fact they gain something they love - a gigantic fee, applied each time the depositor resubmits the deposit (up to three times, if memory serves).

My bank allows you to open accounts online (TD Bank). When you open an account in person, you need some photo ID and your Social Security number and some money.

5

Opening accounts in the US at a bank affiliated with my Canadian bank is fairly easy, they’ll accept my passport as ID.

My daughter recently tried to open an account in Italy and there is a crazy amount of paperwork required. She needs to apply for a SIN (6 week process) and then they’ll open the account for her.

6

Yeah, I have etrade and Ally accounts that I opened only online (some mail correspondence IIRC). Most banks allow you to at least start the process online, although some might need a visit to finish up.

Banks like fees, but not when they can’t collect on them.

7

When I was leaving Russia, I had to open an account on a local bank to be able to receive a refund from the university. The most difficult part about it was having to get my passport translated into Russian. No big deal otherwise.

8

How Hard Is It To Open A Chekcing Account In Another Country?

Pretty easy in Chekcaslovakia.

9

If you want to open an Australian bank account from overseas it’s very easy - all of the 4 big banks will let you do this online, transfer money, earn interest and access Internet banking. However if you want to be able to access the funds (i.e. withdraw) you have to show up in person and do the ‘100 point check’ which is an ID check (passport and boarding pass in first 6 weeks, more ID require after that). So in practical terms really handy if you are moving here but pretty much useless if you have no plans to visit.

10

Also easy to open one in New Zealand - here’s an article about an outfit that does just that. No personal visit required to open, it doesn’t mention withdrawals though.

I wouldn’t recommend it though - the NZ dollar is at near record highs against the US dollar at the moment and you’d face an enormous exchange rate risk.

11

No, the OFAC LIST were made to specifically address what the USA considered “bad guys” parking their money in US Financial Institutions. It is a list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN’s), that is, persons or entities that US FI’s are prohibited from handling their assets.

Link is here : http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/SDN-List/Pages/default.aspx

On the link you can download the list.

Banks scrub new account info through the list.

12

Sigh. Just because you discovered a function for a group does not mean that is all that they do. SDNs are only a small part of it.

Like: “FINANCIAL DEALINGS WITH IRAN - New investments by U.S. persons, including commitments of funds or other assets, loans or any other extensions of credit, in Iran or in property (including entities) owned or controlled by the Government of Iran are prohibited.”

Or: “U.S. depository institutions, including foreign branches, are prohibited from servicing accounts of the Government of Iran, including banks owned or controlled by the Government of Iran (as in Appendix A) or persons in Iran.”

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/iran.pdf

13

To open a Cayman Islands account it is a bit complicated.

You’ll need your passport; driver’s license; a letter of reference from a bank, employer, or financial institution; proof of physical address, and proof of source of funds amongst other things. A letter of reference from an attorney or accountant may be required. Copies of documents must be certified, notarized, or perhaps originals.

14

Well, in many countries there isn’t even “a checking account”. Spain is one of them, you can get a checkbook for your c/c but if you ask for one the cashier will look at you funny, confirm that yes, you want a checkbook and then ask the branch manager to help him find the procedure to get one…

The account I have in the UK (having lived there and not closed it) isn’t called a checking account. In order to open it I needed to walk into a bank and give them my money and a local address, showing picture ID and proof that I did live in that address (they could have accepted an overseas address too, in fact, the address now linked to it is in Spain); much simpler than opening an account in the US. Years ago I opened an account in Germany: they were a bit bothersome but still, it took minutes, ID, my money and a local address. Switzerland: my money, ID and a local address.

In the US, my first account was a mass-opening, part of an event organized by the Uni I was attending, so it’s not the standard procedure. Opening other accounts later required credit checks, my SSN, a local address and my money. In one glorious event, I went through the following conversation:

me: yes, I’d like to open a checking account, please.
her: I need your Pennsylvania driver’s license.
me: Oh, I don’t have one, but here, have my passport and my SS Card.
her: You’re a foreigner, you can’t open an account since you need an SSN.
me: Yes I can, I do have an SSN, here point at SS Card.
her: Foreigners don’t have SSNs.
me: Yes we do, here you have it, why don’t you type it into the computer and see what it says?
her: Then you’re not a foreigner.
me: I am, see, passport from Spain.
her: Then you can’t open an account, you can’t have an SSN…

Five iterations later:
me: listen, why don’t you just try typing the SSN into the computer and seeing what does it say?
her: types
computer: spits up the information from the c/a and investment I closed five years before
me: hey, look, that address on the screen is the same one as in my Florida driver’s license! Isn’t it amazing?

That’s also one of the bank branches where nobody knew what an IBAN was… :smack:

15

We have an account at Banco de Poupança e Crédito ( BPC ) that we keep a few thousand Kwanza in. They are pretty easy for an expat to set up, assuming you speak Portuguese, and require only a passport and a minimum balance. Since much of the economy is based on cash only transactions, we use the bank so we can exchange dollars more easily.

16

American in Britain here – just opened a current account (checking), and it was pretty easy despite the immediate attempt of the clerk to upsell me on loans, savings accounts, ISAs, and wanting me to pop back in after a week because the manager loves meeting new customers.

Anyway, to open the account, I had to provide my passport and visa; I had my driver’s license just in case as some banks here like an additional photo ID. I also had several things that had come to me in the post with my name and UK address on them, a couple of a letters, a statement from my US bank sent to me at this address, the cover letter for my NIN, etc.

On the other hand, acquiring those documents can be time consuming and tedious, though.

17

Immigrants who pay taxes usually get an ITIN. It is the same format as SSN except it starts with 9.

You don’t need checks with checking accounts. I pay everything online and only write a check every year or so, which is good because I just put a checkbook thru the wash. In the US, checking accounts can do many more things than savings, although are less likely to give interest. Savings have more restrictions, like only 6 withdrawals/debits per month. Annoying when I was in banking…

Customer: “WTF did you charge me a fee for withdrawing”
Us: “Well, we didn’t. The government makes us for every savings transaction above 6 each month.”
Them: “Why did you bastards charge me!?!?”
Us: “We don’t have a choice.”
And back and forth…

18

I opened an account - checking with an associated debit card - with a US bank in the 1990s. It wasn’t easy, but the most experienced staff member and I sat down with this HUGE “branch practices” manual and worked through it. The hardest thing with this (and almost everything else official or financial I’ve done in the US) was my lack of a SS number. We worked out I could put my passport number in that field and all was well. I still have that account, although the bank has been taken over by Wells Fargo.

19

With very few exceptions, Peace Corps volunteers get paid with local currency in a local bank account. Peace Corps is in a lot of countries, so I imagine it’s pretty easy to do. I can’t recall the exact process of getting my accounts in China and Cameroon, but I’d guess it involved showing my passport and residency documentation.

One thing that can be an issue is that some countries (especially less stable countries) have strict currency controls on taking money out of the country. Volunteers in Cameroon would often finish service with several hundred dollars in their bank account, and most donated it to their projects rather than risking smuggling or worrying about getting that much money changed on the black market.

20

I’ve opened bank accounts in Thailand but certainly not checking accounts. People generally don’t write checks here. Although they do exist, in my decades here I personally have received only two (2) that I can think of, although really I may only be thinking of the same one twice. Really. It’s a cash society and increasingly a debit-card society.

Technically, you need to be employed or on a retirement visa to open an account, but some banks are less strict than others, even among branches of the same institute. The one constant seems to be you definitely have to show your passport. Otherwise, easy-peasy.