I'm posting here in this forum as I hope that some of you might have been in a similar situation. Mods, if this isn't appropriate, please feel free to move or delete it.

I'm in Australia whereas my partner's in Canada. Our new web hosting/design business has been registered in Canada. At the moment, we plan to have our design clients send payments(checks) over to Canada while I make payments for hosting services and such with my cc. Upon receiving the checks, he would then use Paypal to transfer funds to me.

I'm looking for an online banking solution as it would be best if both of us could check the balances daily and it would provide a proper statement in regards to expenses and such. It would preferably allow the following :
1) Allow clients to make deposits directly into our bank account.
2) Allow us to transfer funds to our respective accounts
3) Low deposit requirement to start an account
4) Provide a cc so that payments for hosting services and such can be paid with a 'company cc'.(Nice, but not a must)

Would appreciate it if anyone can make any recommendations. :)

Hmm....I know of only US internet banks. The biggest one on the 'net is netbank.com.

Thanks for the reply. :)

A US bank that open accounts for non-residents would work as most of our clients are in the US. Any other recommendations please?

Maybe many will do this, but I'm almost certain WellsFargo offers this at least. Try the bigger ones to start (chase, Citibank, Bank of America), or ask a incorporation service if they know of any that will.

I can't make recommendations about specific banks, but I do believe that there is a listing of US banks at www.fdic.gov. This might help point you in the right direction ...

wellsfargo can open a us bank acct for you if you are in another country. they just have certain requirements.

just called wells fargo.

Grr.!
They only offering bank accounts to Non-US Residents, IF, you have a US Social Security Number. (or whatever you guys call it.)

In other words, they only offer to US Citizens.

Bleh.

Actually, you don't have to be a US citizen to have a social security number (my wife has one and she isn't a citizen). Not sure if that helps, but...

Chicken, How do you get One?

I would imagine you need to be a resident of the US to get a SSN at least. I know Wells Fargo does give accounts for non-US people, you probably have to dig a little. I know Bank of America does as well, again, you'd have to dig a lot to find out how they do it.

I think your best shot would be to look at a joint bank account from either of the above two sources. Your partner gets the account and adds you as a secondary.

As far as shifting funds to a bank locally in Australia you could probably have funds wired from one account to the other, though wire transfers usually nail you a $40 fee regardless of the bank involved. It's one of those international transfer things...

the US is quite insular when it comes to banking. They provide some sweet deals if you're in the same country, but beyond that it's a hard slog. While Canada may be different, I doubt it's all that disimilar. In short, you PayPal option may prove to the most cost effective.

Greg Moore

nope
i spoke to wells fargo, and chase bank, and netbank
you need a SSN to open a bank account.

You can get an SSN if you are not in the USA.

Still dont know how though.

And thats the extent of my knowledge regarding that.

Would apppreciate any help.

:D

Ok, I don't think you'd want a Social Security number. Although my wife has one, she is a resident, and this is not what you are trying to accomplish. What I think you'd want to do instead, is to incorporate or LLC your company in a U.S. state, which would give you an EIN number (similar to a personal social security number). You would be able to open a business bank account with this.

A lawyer, or incorporation service would be able to give you more info on registering a business in the U.S.