Opening A Us Bank Account Online

[uk_falang]

Hi

Does anyone have any idea if its possible to open a bank account in th USA online. I am british and live in Thialand. House in my wifes name so technically NFA. I dont have any ID apart from a driving licence and passport. I need to open a bank account in the US for transferring money from panama.

Thanks

[daleyboy]

Dont reckon so, its hard enough trying to open an account in the U.K with stacks of id and an address

[jdinasia]

Hi

Does anyone have any idea if its possible to open a bank account in th USA online. I am british and live in Thialand. House in my wifes name so technically NFA. I dont have any ID apart from a driving licence and passport. I need to open a bank account in the US for transferring money from panama.

Thanks

You May be able to using the services of lawyers that are both here and there ... send up a flag to Sunbelt and see

[Carmine6]

It isn't possible to do online without a US tax id number and a US address. It is supossed to be possible to do by mail. It's been discussed in the forum before and a search should turn up answers. Like seeing the Loch Ness Monster, some people have done it, and some know someone who's done it, but proof is hard to find.

There are services that will do this and I think charge $100 or $200 for it. Names of some are also in prior threads.

[tjo o tjim]

Even as a US citizen, it is hard to open an account, unless you already have a relationship with a bank.

Non interest bearing accounts do not require a SSN. I have never personnally seen a brick-and-mortar bank accept applications online, but brokerage accounts will (although you need a SSN).

One way to deal with the address issues is to hire a mail forwarding company. Pretty straightforward...

[Carmine6]

Even as a US citizen, it is hard to open an account, unless you already have a relationship with a bank.

Non interest bearing accounts do not require a SSN. I have never personnally seen a brick-and-mortar bank accept applications online, but brokerage accounts will (although you need a SSN).

One way to deal with the address issues is to hire a mail forwarding company. Pretty straightforward...

Do you mean hard if you're in Thailand? Because with a US address, it's never been easier. I opened my Citibank account online and haven't so much as stepped into a branch. They did call me to verify my phone number, but other than that, everything was based on a credit report.

Check bank websites. All the ones I've looked at allow online opening of accounts. Wells Fargo, Bank of America, WAMU, Wachovia, etc. If you hunt around, there's a "open an account online" link for most products.

[susah_sih]

http://www.netbank.com/

convenient with 24 hours customer service, no need to call at odd hours.

use skype freephone to access its toll free number

http://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/3/international-services

HSBC offers account opening in the US through mail (and even provides call collect) or use skype freephone to call HSBC toll free

[Thaiquila]

Does Netbank do online SWIFT transfers from US to Thailand? If not, how do you do transfers using Netbank?

[susah_sih]

Does Netbank do online SWIFT transfers from US to Thailand? If not, how do you do transfers using Netbank?

Yes, you can give instruction for Netbank to transfer USD from US to Thailand online. It costs $40/transfer and no limit.

http://www.netbank.com/sb/mgmt_wires.htm

Citibank does too. It costs $30/transfer but a limit of USD50,000/day.

If you are a customer of Citibank Privatebank; it costs nothing to transfer and accept wire and no limit as well. Citigold customer pays $20/transfer with a limit of USD100,000/day.

Citibank wire transfer

Edited May 19, 2006 by susah_sih

[ding]

Dang the limits!

j/k

Edited May 19, 2006 by ding

[Thaiquila]

Sorry, off topic a bit, but the Netbank wire transfer info is on their business account section of the site, and there is nothing about wire transfers on the personal banking section of the site.

http://www.netbank.com/sitemap.htm

So this kind of indicates that you need to have a business account there to do wire transfers.

[susah_sih]

Sorry, off topic a bit, but the Netbank wire transfer info is on their business account section of the site, and there is nothing about wire transfers on the personal banking section of the site.

http://www.netbank.com/sitemap.htm

So this kind of indicates that you need to have a business account there to do wire transfers.

You can also wire internationally out of personal accounts.

[thaihome]

I opened an account at First Internet Bank online. I did have to provide a scanned copy of credit card bill or bank statement with a US address. I also had to provide a SSN, but no a cppy of actual SS card. You could probably get around the address issue fairly easliy using a mail forwarding company, but I do think it would be difficult to get around the SSN as I note SSN is the second question on the online application form

TH

Edited May 20, 2006 by thaihome

[thohts]

note that for the first 1 or 2 outgoing wires, they may call you to verify, especially if it's a new account.

incoming wires are no problem for personal accounts.

I've used them for about 1 year without a single problem.

Are you sure you really NEED a US account to transfer money from Panama? Seems like any bank in Thailand could accept the transfer for you.

Also, in some cases it may be easier to incorporate in the US, then open an account with the federal tax ID number (employment number) for the corporation.

[susah_sih]

For people without SSN (i.e. foreign nationals), they can apply for ITIN

instead so that the bank can report interest earnings to the IRS.

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,...87,00.html#what

and for foreign nationals who are not permanent residence of the US (i.e. greencard holder, need to submit W8 to the bank to avoid withholding of interest and to alleviate filing income tax return for the interest income. (No tax for foreigners on interest income from banks/brokerage).

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf