Hello everyone!

I've received an e-mail from my Valis Savings Bank.

Dear Valis Savings clients,

The Board of Directors of Mount Morris Savings & Loan Association, parent company of our Valis Savings Division has made a decision to terminate our Valis Savings Division. After careful analysis it has been determined that the cost/risk/benefit to run this division does not justify continued operations. U.S. Banking regulations, born during the post September 11th era, have made it prohibitively difficult and expensive to provide this service. We deeply regret the inconvenience this may cause our Valis Savings clients.

Effective immediately, no new accounts will be opened for Valis Savings clients and any pending accounts, which have not been activated, due to incomplete information will not be opened, unless initial deposits enroute are received by March 11th. We encourage you to seek new banking outlets as soon as possible, as all Valis Savings accounts will be closed on July 1, 2005, with a check for the remaining balance being mailed to clients with balances on that date.

We will be issuing an annual atm card fee rebate to all Valis Savings clients, pro-rated based on the number of months remaining, since card issuance. A rebate schedule is noted below:

Annual ATM fee renewal month:

May 2005 No rebate (no annual fee will be charged in May 2005)
June 2005 No rebate (no annual fee will be charged in June 2005)
July 2005 1/12 annual fee
August 2005 2/12 annual fee
September 2005 3/12 annual fee
October 2005 4/12 annual fee
November 2005 5/12 annual fee
December 2005 6/12 annual fee
January 2006 7/12 annual fee
February 2006 8/12 annual fee
March 2006 9/12 annual fee



Also, effective immediately, during the month of March 2005, outgoing wire transfers will be limited to $10,000 / day per account and $100,000 / month per account. During the month of April and thereafter, outgoing wire transfers will be limited to $10,000/day and $50,000 per month.

Please direct questions regarding this matter to: valis@mtmorrissavings.com

Sincerely,



Michael C. Steele
President
Mt. Morris Savings
Valis Savings


So, does anyone know where a foreigner can open a US bank account? I need to find out something before June, 2005....

why you need a us bank account? you can try wellsfargo, btw.

concorde

I need a US bank account to withdraw a money from the payment systems by ACH.
Thanks, I'll try Wells Fargo...

Wells Fargo dosn't allow electronic transfers. PayPal, etc...

A few months ago, this was a real issue here in WHT forums. An old user called “paulcoin” gives us a “master class” about opening an US bank account for non residents. All the information is in http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=234915

On the other hand, it seems that Wells Fargo and Pacific National Bank do not want electronic transfer from Credit Card Payment processors.
But as “paulcoin” said, you must not tell them about credit cards. You just have to invent another use of the new account.

I am from Argentina and I contacted PNB staff in Spanish and they told me that I was able to open an US account without moving from my chair, but they warned me that they did not want money from Credit Card payments.

For the moment, 2checkout is sending my money to my account in Spain.

I hope this help.
Regards.

So, what is the solution? I need to withdraw a money from payment processors to a US bank account....

I have same problem. Searching for a solution for months.
And this is what I came up:

To open a business/checking account in US (for non-US resident aliens):

1- You must have legal business registered in US.
2- You must have a business address (not PO box) in US.
3- US phone and fax numbers helps.
4- ITIN (individual tax identification number). To acquire this, you have to be eligible to file federal tax returns in US. And you have to notarize your legal passport, and local ID card at one of the US embassies.
5- EIN (employers identification number) helps.
6- A good credit report from your current local bank, in English of course.

Even if you complete all of the above, your chances are so slim.
Basicly, to open a business/checking account in US, you have to be a US citizen with a business registered in US, social security number and US drivers licence.

You can check out worldpay.com for international 3rd party processor. Quite pricy though...

You can check out worldpay.com for international 3rd party processor. Quite pricy though... [/B]
My country is not in their list. More so I need to withdraw a money in Russia through ATM, so I need a bank account with ATM/Debit Card... :)

IF you have more than 200,000 dolars any bank will open an account for you.

Most of the banks ak 200,000 to open accounts for foreigners

Originally posted by joephill
IF you have more than 200,000 dolars any bank will open an account for you.

Most of the banks ak 200,000 to open accounts for foreigners
:eek: :eek: :eek: Going to search for $200,000... :D

I have a US dollar bank account in the US through RBC Centura (http://www.rbccentura.com/). It was easy to set up from here in Canada, but I don't know how (if) it can be done from other countries.

Lois

Lois, did you had to travel to/go to the branch of RBC Centura or did you do it online/mailed the documents by mail?

Originally posted by Paulo
Lois, did you had to travel to/go to the branch of RBC Centura or did you do it online/mailed the documents by mail?

I did it through my local RBC branch (RBC is a Canadian bank), but it's affliated somehow with a bank in 5 states in the southeast US.

See this page (http://www.rbccentura.com/help/switchmain.html) for how to open an account.

I should say that I have a personal account and not a business account. It works fine for transferring payments via PayPal, and it costs a lot less than transferring money into a Canadian account (no international or currency exchange fees).

Lois

Anybody found any solution for Business checking accounts for NON-USA residents?

writespeak
Seems RBC Centura is not for me.... :(

Any other banks?

I have my bank account opened with hsbc usa for two months now. I used Easy Corp Ltd to get this account opened and it was done within one month. Maybe it can help... this is totally free banking with HSBC.

http://www.***********************/main.php?f=banking

They also opened me a personal bank account in a private bank in New York. I got online banking, visa debit card and even a american express gold with them.

http://www.***********************/

How much did you paid to open it? Is that a business checking account?

Jedito
Just look...
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/search.php?s=&action=finduser&userid=75827

His first post on this board below:
i am a customer of them since 2002 and I am very happy with their services. I have incorproated my company in 2002 then they did provide me with my EIN. I have opened a bank account with Chase Manhattan Bank using their services and I did get what I have bought thru their website.

And read this thread and many others:
I have my bank account opened with hsbc usa for two months now. I used Easy Corp Ltd to get this account opened and it was done within one month. Maybe it can help... this is totally free banking with HSBC.

So, what is wrong with Chase? :D

chase is good but they are too much expensive for a small business. their monthly fees are quite high. sometimes I had to pay more than 150 dollars... and they do request a high balance to avoid further charges. also since they have only a few branches in Europe it is not really convenient. With HSBC it is really free banking (at least for the first two years...) and their network is very importnat so it is much better.

Yep, and all his post are about this... smells like :spam:

Anyway, they ask $600 to open the account and a minimun deposit of $5000, totally out of my league.

I just received a letter from a friend of mine who is a banker in the Cayman Islands. I thought I would ask him somethings in hopes of getting a few banks or something.

This is what he said (regarding the letter from Mount Morris):

Yes you see what the letter say it’s all about the new regulation since September 11th and the compliance with the US regardless the type of account.

So I don’t see any problems for a US bank to accept foreign clients, as long as they can provide all documentation to comply with the US rules and they won’t even have to pay taxes as long as they are not resident or citizen in/of the US. But they also stated in the letter that the cost of maintaining such account is high so this involves also the policy of each bank. I know that Bank of America is opening such account and I would definitely go with a big institution, as it would be easier and quicker for your clients to have it open. What I would do is having a meeting with an executive from B of A or any other institution and explain the situation providing the letter from Mount Morris Saving & Loan Association so they can see that those clients have already a bank account within the US this is very important then also I would instruct Mt Morris Saving & Loan Association instead of issuing a check, rather once the account is open in the new institution have the balance wire transferred, this will provide security to the new institution as for YKYC (you know your costumer) regulation. But of course the new bank will need to have all documentation from your clients to open the accounts and that’s where you will have to rush to get this documents and as your clients are in some foreign country it will takes time to get it back so July will come very soon, so get organized with all bank document to be filled in and also a check list on what your clients will have to provide as certified copy of their passport, certificate of incorporation if it’s a company for example etc…

All those online opening account are just informations that you send to a bank and it’s due on an acceptation from the bank but I wouldn’t use this way for your 40 clients you have more chances to go physically in a bank and talk to an executive officer about the situation. I think that way and also the fact that your clients already have an account in the US is very lucky.
Now anyone know of an executive of a B of A? I know of one, but I have tried a few times to set something up and he is not willing to unfortunately.