Hi there,
I want to have a credit card processing account with PayPal. But they don't support international customers. I'm in India. So is there any good bank in the US which allows foreigners who have never been to the US once to open a bank account for use along with an Internet credit processing company? Also I would like to transfer the funds from that bank account to my account in a bank in India periodically. Is there a reputed bank in the US that provides these services legally?

And BTW, is this type of account legal under US law?

I prefer paypal because of the best rates they offer. Though InstaBill supports International customers, their rates are far higher. I think it's the same story with ccSlide too.

Thanks,
TheWingThing

You could check out the PaySeal Service from ICICI or the service from Biznetindia at http://www.biznetindia.com.

Both are based in India :)

PaySystems at http://www.revecom.com has the best plan for non-merchant accounts that I've seen so far. Not as low as PayPal, but they will do recurring billing and handle 70 countries. PayPal does neither.

Hey Kunal,
I have an account with ICICI (a resident savings account) and the support people said that they don't have that. After reading your reply, I thought that those support people didnt know that. So I searched ICICI.com for "payseal" but the search engine doesn't even present a results page. It seems to be getting nowhere. Also, I applied for an infinity account online. The final step is to print out a MS-WORD file and mail it to them. But on clicking the download button, a new window opens (the URL is indiaworld.co.in/something/something) but nothing happens (I used IE5). Dunno what's wrong with ICICI. Are you using their service? Can you tell me the URL of the payseal service?

I'm considering biznetindia.com too. Do you know about their fee structure?

TheWingThing.

Well, I have been trying to contact ICICI for the past couple of days to, but they dun seem to be interested in having me a as a customer :) The website for the payseal service is http://www.payseal.com.

I have got no response from the Biznet guys either :( If you do please forward the email to me to. I will do the same :)

If you got ICQ, my UIN is 15099120. :)

Heya,
I haven't got the info I need badly.
ICICI response is poor.

Does anyone know of a *GOOD* bank in the US that allows foreigners to open a current/merchant account legally, without being in the US? I need it very badly.

TIA.

TheWingThing.

You could try Wells Fargo at http://www.wellsfargo.com.
I was looking into this myself about a year ago (gave up in the end!). Wells Fargo's site said back then that they would be accepting foreign residents for accounts "soon", so hopefully they actually do by now.
I just went to their online banking signup page and it has:
"If you have a foreign address, please call 1-800-956-4442 for assistance."
If you go for it, please post how you get on. Maybe I'll open an account myself if you are successful :-)

Simon

Hi,
Does anyone know if wellsfargo is a reputed, reliable and a good bank? I'm clueless. Someone who banks with them please let me know abt the bank, their customer support and quality of service.
Also, are there any other US banks that allow foreigners to open legal accounts?
Is Paypal reliable and fast for credit card processing?

TheWingThing.

Well, WellsFargo has been operating in the US since the 1850's and are stable as a banking company can be. Only problem I've seen with them is how their checks are setup, the ABA routing info is different so people have a hard time setting up direct deposit.
Don't use them personally so I don't know if thats changed.

Hmm, don't think this post helped all that much :)

Can Milkman or someone else please expain it? I don't know what's ABA and the stuff.
Anyway, thanks for the info. I haven't got enough info ant this. So BC, Akashik or anyone else living outside the US, if you have a bank account in the US, please help me out.

Thanks.

TheWingThing.

Unfortunately I don't have a US bank account. All the work I do over here in Oz involves Australian credit card processing merchants, and even then I out-source it to my local e-commerce company to fix up (thus leaving any potential messes out of my hands). Of course, the client is quite aware of that ;)

Sorry I couldn't be of assistance.

BC,

Who do you use for CC? (if you don't mind). I rang my bank (Bank of Queensland) a while ago regarding this and as soon as I said the 'I' word (Internet) they ran screaming *literally* :) Australia's not a great place to search for this sort of thing I've found.

Others,

I found an email address on the Wells Fargo site (forget where right now), and fired off an email to them regarding setting up an account in the states. As I also mentioned it would be for web related business I'm not expecting much of a reply. *shrug* Better to be up front before I spend application fees and then get told it's a no-go :)

ABA... Unless I'm mistaken it's the American Banking Association? Last time I was in the states I say a few branches of that bank... If you saw one, you'd be pretty confident of their 'bricks and mortar' status. :)

Greg Moore
http://www.akashik.net

Greg,

I usually use eMatters.com.au as a processing merchant - not the most cost-effective deal, but I haven't had too many problems with them.

Otherwise, if the clients themselves want to do the transactions themselves, they do it with a Big Four, usually NAB or Commonwealth merchant account.

Just got this from Wells Fargo. It's not much but will give you a start on what they require to open an account with them...


Thank you for your interest in Wells Fargo bank. Before we can determine
whether we can accommodate you in opening an account, we would require a
letter of introduction/reference from 2 banks.

You can initially fax us the information requested above to our fax number
at 415-975-6562. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to
contact us.

Sincerely,
Well Fargo Bank.
International Personal Banking
(415)222-2882/(415)975-6562Fax


Greg Moore
http://www.akashik.net

Somebody please help me. I want to start a reseller business but I live in Europe, and if you want to start a legal small business here, you have to pay $250/month for business taxes. That's impossible for me, I can't pay $250/month only taxes.

I need a legal *business* bank account for REVECOM.COM (CC processing), and I don't have it right now (I should pay $250/month and then get a business bank account here, but I can't). I have a personal/family bank account with a VISA card, but it's not a "business account".

I can get "good references" from 2 local banks here and then fax those references to Wells Fargo to get an account..... But... is it enough to start a webhosting-reseller business? What about required business licenses in the U.S?

I read something about DBA(???) + business fees, anyway I think it's affordable (in the U.S.)

Please help, reply to this message with some info/advice if you can, thanks in advance.

Laura
laura_yen@lycos.com


Originally posted by akashik
Thank you for your interest in Wells Fargo bank. Before we can determine whether we can accommodate you in opening an U.S.-based legal bank account, we would require a letter of introduction/reference from 2 banks.


[Edited by LY on 11-05-2000 at 06:38 PM]

Wow Laura, pulling this thread from the depths of sinking... it seems that they are indicating that that is enough for you to get an account, but this is not the same as registering a business. I'm not all that up on how you'd do a DBA (very simple self proprietor type), from another country. You can establish a corporation, so I can't see why you wouldn't be able to establish other forms as well. As for exactly how to accomplish this, errrr...