Need Personal Bank Account In Us Dollars

[simon43]

Every month I receive several small payments from internet affiliate website schemes. These payments are mailed to me in Thailand, and are cheques in US dollars, and drawn on a US bank account. The value of each cheque is typically $50.

I'm having problems banking these cheques! If I mail them to my UK sterling bank account, I have to pay fund clearance charges which are a hefty % of the cheque value.

What I need is a personal bank account in US dollars, with an ATM card. This bank account would ideally be in the US, (since the affiliate websites could then wire funds direct to this account).

But the money laundering rules seem to make it very difficult for a non-US citizen to open a personal bank account in the US. Even more difficult when I live in Thailand and have no chance to visit the US.

Any solutions?

Thanks for any advice!

Simon

[thohts]

I beleive you can open a US bank account from overseas by first forming a US corporation.

You'll need an address in the state you want to incorporate in. You can do this from a mail-drop service. (There's a US Postal Service form you'll need to fill out first, though.) This can be done on-line

As a foreign person, you can then apply for a international tax identification number from the IRS in the US, which can be used in place of the required social security number (SSN) which you'll need to open your account

See form W-7 at the IRS at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf

From there, I guess it's just a matter of find a bank that will take your deposits.

There's a lot of hassle involved, though, from the looks of it. The fees might kill off any desire to do this something that's so difficult to accomplish.

[Morgan]

You could look at the S.C.B site. They do Foreign Currency Deposit. The account would be in U.S dollars. You can withdraw in dollars or Baht. The only drawback is on a current account your min balance must be 2000 U.S at all times.

[Soi Mongrel]

SCB will be worthless to him, as they will charge a fortune to clear foreign checks. He needs an account in the US.

[haha]

have you considered an online (internet) bank account? do a google search for more info.

some banks like citibank are international. I would look into that option by researching the various international bank websites.

[Pattayatony]

Forget the banks in Thailand. Your best option is to get a account in the US. I have a similer problem and been working on this for four months. I set $400.00 to a guy in the UK to open a Swiss account and got scamed so be carefull. The name of that company was "swissgates" check them out on google but dont send them any money. I have now sent away for a account in the US and Im waiting for the papers to arrive from the bank.

I will keep you postered how I get on. The best option for you is to have your checks sent straight to the bank in the US and you can draw on the money here with an ATM card.

Edited June 7, 2005 by Pattayatony

[LivinLOS]

My offshore Barclays gives me a USD account.. Transfer charges are (like many offshore accs) above average but I dont know about cheque deposits...

Check the cheque (mouthful) rate because everything else about it is what you want.. Easy current account.. Internet access.. Barclaycard issued on it..

[thohts]

Forget the banks in Thailand. Your best option is to get a account in the US. I have a similer problem and been working on this for four months. I set $400.00 to a guy in the UK to open a Swiss account and got scamed so be carefull.   The name of that company was "swissgates" check them out on google but dont send them any money. I have now sent away for a account in the US and Im waiting for the papers to arrive from the bank.

    I will keep you postered how I get on. The best option for you is to have your checks sent straight to the bank in the US and you can draw on the money here with an ATM card.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You probably got sorta-scammed.

I was interested in opening a Swiss bank account to, only because I wanted to keep some money in euro currency (I'm from the US).

I believe most of the "we-open-Swiss-bank-account-operators" used Swisspost Finance, the Swiss Post Office entity with a bank. Until a few months ago they allowed non-swiss to open accounts over the Internet. No longer.

So, Swissgates probably just kept your money. They might have been able to do it before, but not any more.

[thohts]

I think Ayudyha Bank charges 100 or 200 baht for a US-drawn check, if you have an account there. My girlfriend did this a few months ago.

It takes about 2-3 weeks to clear.

[SeaVisionBurma]

You probably got sorta-scammed.....

.....Swissgates probably just kept your money.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if someone "probably kept my money", I'd definitely call it being scammed.

[thohts]

You probably got sorta-scammed.....

.....Swissgates probably just kept your money.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if someone "probably kept my money", I'd definitely call it being scammed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

True.

But I guess what I was trying to say is that it may not have been their original intention to scam you. It may have "become" a scam, so to speak, because they didn't give it back.

[tjo o tjim]

You can open a non interest-bearing savings account in the US with little difficulty. It's easier to do in person, but can be done remotely.

You need a Social Security Number if you are going to get any interest for tax purposes, and they also want it for credit accountability if you go for checking.

[Khun Bob]

As all ready mentioned citibank uk may be an option - you can have a usd current account and saving account - also if you use quidco.com you can get £60 cash back for depositing £1 with them and they dont seem to have charges for non usage and it pays a reasonable rate of interest too. Anyway best speak to citi bank on cheque clearance charges.

For swiss accounts see :

http://www.swissbanking.org/en/home/mitgli...htm?list=banken

All these are part of the swiss banking association so i beleive have signed up to the swiss banking code of conduct with the benefits that that brings. You can get a swiss account that hold usd very cheaply, but cheque clearance is high. Even postfinance were steep on foreign cheque clearance.

If any one has a postfinance account and has an address outside of swiss, germany or italy then they are closing all these accounts now. Apparaently there wasnt that many accounts, but I dont beleive that !

Which affilliate schemes are you a member of ?