US Banking For The International Banker

[jasont 10]

I am currently looking for a way to reduce costs associated with pulling funds from my brokerage account on a regular basis. As I live in Australia and my brokerage account is in the US it is costing me $60 to transfer funds back here. This of course is not acceptable in my opinion so I am looking for a better way to do things.

 

First of all I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on the difficulty for someone outside the US to open an account in a US Bank. I.e there appears to be information spread around the net stating that it is extremely difficult since the Sept 11 disaster.

 

Secondly I was hoping to get an idea of which banks are the major trustworthy banks. I have visited the FDIC website but there literally seems to be thousands of banks listed. Here in Australia there are 4 major banks, is there a similar scenario in the US?

 

My aim is to open a bank in the US that I can transfer funds to from my brokerage account. From there I could use a debit card to pull my funds out via ATM. It will cost me roughly $5 to do so but that is much better than $60. Any advice about the US banking system is greatly appreciated.

[lordbinder 11]

You should get into an internation personal banking program, I know of two good ones the wellsfargo and the citybank, the citi has a major plus they allow (at least that is what they state on their site to make transfers costless from USA to a local account on a citi at your name), when I check them I think asutralia was on the list for this offer, and I think there is low cost atm extractions if you go to a citi atm

[MidKnight 12]

Hi Jasont,

 

It is easy IF you go there in person. I did this for one my entities about 3 years ago.

[lordbinder 11]

I didnt went to the bank and i Opened from a far from first world country. IPB programas are used to this requests they only ask for certificated documentation such as a certified copy of the passport

Another solutions that I forgot is to go to an HSBC bank an get a premiere account, then ask them to open a USA one for you, citibank will do that too; for wells fargo is in person or by airmail

[Soultrader 12]

The only US bank that I know of that will allow foreign citizens to open up accounts without physical presence is Wells Fargo. Not sure if this has changed recently but worth looking into.

 

Like MidKnight mentioned, going there would be the easiest choice. I did this a few years back as well. HSBC Premiere would be another option but minimum 100k or so.

 

Citibank will open a US account only if you have been a client for a minimum of 1 year.

[jasont 10]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm not planning a trip to the US for the moment so was hoping to arrange this without visiting the branch in person. There are a couple banks that have international sections that I will try to get in touch with via phone.

 

I thought Citibank in Australia might have been able to help me set up an account in the US simply by vouching for my details over here but thus far have been useless. I'll get in contact with their international section and see what they can do. For anyone else interested in this topic, I haven't found one that will allow a simple online application yet.

[WHY? 16]

The other option is to have a brokerage account that is connected to a visa card or check card. That way you just withdraw funds at an ATM in the country you live at.

 

Lowtrades.com offers a check card agreement for foreigners. Just2trade.com might also and their commissions at the present are only 2.50 to buy and 2.50 to sell. Both the above are connected to successtrades.com. I think they are like branches of success trades.

 

In my opinion this is the easiest way to go. The funds from stock transactions are swept into a money market account that has the card connected to it.

 

As far as I know all applications for the equities account..money market account..and the banking card can be done from a foreign country via downloading the forms..filling them out signing and fedexing them to the company.

 

Anyway, check it out under FAQ at the websites.

[jasont 10]

Thanks for the suggestion Why.

 

I consider myself a bit of a conservative so I couldn't really trust keeping the bulk of my funds with my broker. Part of keeping my funds in a US bank is spreading the risk around a bit. I have more faith in one of the big banks staying afloat in adverse market conditions such as we are seeing now rather than a broker staying afloat.

 

If I can keep some funds with my brokerage account, some with a US based bank account and some in an Australian based bank account I am reducing the chances of having my capital being wiped should things get worse. I know I am not the only one right now expecting economic conditions to get worse before they get better at this stage.

[WHY? 16]

I understand your concern. However, the funds stay in a money market not actually with the brokerage. I am not sure what money market funds lowtrades uses now but my lowtrades account was connected to The Reserve Fund. Proceeds from a stock sale are swept into the money market account. The card is connected to the money market account.

 

Historically nobody has lost any funds in a market accounts (to my knowledge) since they were instituted in the US in the 1970's. While the risk is there I suppose, nobody has ever taken a loss from monies in a money market account. That I know of, anyway.

 

It is also my understanding that the Reserve Funds is one of the oldest MM funds around. Anyway, I guess each have to decide for themselves. Personally, I think silver is one of the best investments to have during this troubled time. But only silver one personally takes delivery on.

[jasont 10]

WHY? I guess I would still rather keep my funds with a bank that the government will do its best to keep afloat but it is another option.

 

I thought I would update my progress on what I found so others might be able to use it.

 

I got in contact with Citibank's International Personal Banking (IPB) sector and they said I can open an account with them from Australia without visiting in person. They do however require a minimum balance of 25k to remain in the account to avoid a $50 monthly fee taken out.

 

I also got in contact with Wells Fargo who also said I could open an account without visiting the bank in person. They require a minimum balance of 1k to remain in the account to avoid a $5 monthly fee taken out.

 

So hopefully others find this information useful and if anyone has any other experience it might be a good idea to post it up.