Opening a U.S. bank account from here

[woohoo]

Does anyone know any bank in America where one can open without physically being there- by fax or writing to them?

Much appreciated

[Aceyducey]

http://www.netbank.com (http://www.netbank.com/)

Look up internet bank in a good search engine & you'll find another 10 or so.

Of course you'll need a valid US social security number.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

[quiggles]

In a word, no. They are in the dark ages as it refers to banking and no-one would open a US bank account for me, not even supposedly international banks like HSBC. In fact HSBC wouldn't open one for me in Australia without me being physically present, nor would Citibank. And they don't have offices in Canberra.

Even if I had opened one with them here that would have counted for diddley squat in opeinng a US account.

[LearningMan]

As Acey mentions ... you need a Social Security Number.

I was sponsored by a company a few years ago to go and work in the US. This meant obtaining a social security number & paying taxes :mad:

Once I had my social security number it was a breeze to open up a bank account.

Wooho - Can I ask ... why would you want a US bank account ? :confused:

[quiggles]

If you do turn up in person, all you need is a passport.

But yes, I'm curious too. Or perhaps just nosy.

[woohoo]

cos, i get checks regularly from a US company for providing service to them, and they only pay thru their automatic computer system. So I dont want to be paying $10 to National bank every month when I give them a foreign check which they have to convert the currency...
:(

[dtraeger2k]

Woohoo,

In that case, it sounds like it's something online. In that case, why dont you deposit it into paypal and then get the payments out once theres a few there and you'll be the conversion fee less often?

[mmerlin]

cos, i get checks regularly from a US company for providing service to them, and they only pay thru their automatic computer system. So I dont want to be paying $10 to National bank every month when I give them a foreign check which they have to convert the currency...
:(
If you can afford to hold onto the cheques and save a few up to bank them in one go, the NAB only charges you a single $10 fee for any number of cheques banked at the same time, so long as it is from the same USA bank (so they tell me), and this definitely applies if the cheques are from the same company. I do this with the monthly cheques received from Google (approx US$150 to $200 a month) for the google-ads on my wife's makeup websites www.maq.com and www.faceart.com

If you save three cheques and bank them quarterly instead of monthly, this effectively reduces the NAB fee to $3.33 per cheque. Of course the caveat is, if the exchange rate is heading the wrong way, you may be better off banking them sooner rather than later, depending on the size of the cheque :D

[quiggles]

Another alternative is to see if an Australian bank will allow you to set up a $US denominated account, at which stage you can get some minimal interest and withdraw in significant amounts, but have banked the 'check' immediately.

Or, if you want to get fancy, see if you can set up a $US denominated loan which accepts $US payments. Borrow the money all at once (having caluclated the amount by your likely cashflow) and repay it over time. :)

[Aceyducey]

Or form a US corporate with a bank account....

Costs between US$500 & $1,000 for most corporations & a couple of extra bucks to get the account set up.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

[quiggles]

Or form a US corporate with a bank account....

Costs between US$500 & $1,000 for most corporations & a couple of extra bucks to get the account set up.

Cheers,

Aceyducey
I ran into trouble trying that one. "Yes sir, BankAbuse would love to set up your account in your company's name. No sir, you don't need personal ID, you only need an Employer Identification Number [like an ABN]. [ 10 minutes later] Now, what is YOUR social security number? You don't have one? Then I can't fill in the form. Have a nice day. (Click)" Repeat x 1000 times. :mad: :( :mad: :( :mad:

[Aceyducey]

Quiggles,

I guess it depends on which state you incorporate in.

We've had no problems in Texas.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

[woohoo]

what are the compulsary things or expenses per year for holding a US company? Do we need to pay some $ every year or file the tax thru an accountant?

[Aceyducey]

Woohoo,

It varies enormously by state. As do the properties and abilities of corporations.

Look at some of the online reg sites which explain fees by state...

ie: http://www.companiesinc.com/ (which explains filing fees).

You might find the best approach is to call a lawyer over there & talk to them about it (which is how we've done it).

Cheers,

Aceyducey

[woohoo]

:(

Hey i thought Lance Spicer said it can be done. hmmm, wonder if singapore is a good place to open a bank account