Setting up US bank account

by Aveng
6 replies
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Guys,

I am a foreigner planing to open up a HSBC USA bank account, I already decided for Basic Banking account. I would appreciate other suggestions.

And I have all the required documentation except for 2 things:

I need to find a US street address provider for submitting and billing purposes. Also, I need to setup my US phone number with ipkall + google voice. BUT I need to have my US address first in order to match both locations (area code + zip address).

I don't want to use a PO box nor any forwarding package company addresses. I need a real US street address. what do you recommend?

Note that I don't have any friend or family member living in US. :'-(
  • Profile picture of the author Big Rob
    Either you got huge balls,
    are unaware of where you are,
    what you are asking,
    If you do, and my suspicions are correct, Get lost, Terrorist.

    or maybe, just maybe, have no Mal intent.
    If that is the case, I sincerly doubt you will have anybody here willing to help.
    Try the blackhat forums.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Barboza
    There are companies that would set up a LLC and open a US bank account for you. I'd say it's your best bet.
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  • Profile picture of the author Richard Tunnah
    Not sure where you are based but HSBC will open an account in most currencies with your current personal details.
    They will also remotely open a business account in many countries with full personal info.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aveng
    @Big Rob:
    I'm not a terrorist nor trying to do any fraudulent activity. I'm just a new member who need some good advice from someone who already did.
    Open a US bank account for non citizens is 100% legal. that's why is called "US bank account for non residents" anyone can open an account even if you do not have a SSN but in order to do so you must meet certain requirements. Fortunately I already qualify unless for the US billing address part.

    @Alex Barbosa:
    Yes I already found many of them, you need to contact an attorney but their services are expensive, in many cases not trusted, and definitely it is not necessary if you have a friend or family member to receive mail and statements on behalf.
    A friend of mine actually has his account for more than a year, he had used a family member address to sign up.

    @Richard Tunnah:
    Thanks, I'm going to check out tomorrow with my regional HSBC bank, I already have an account with them.


    Again, can someone suggest a smart solution for this problem? I just want to read some good advice from somebody who successfully did it.
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  • Profile picture of the author ahlexis
    Here's a thought.

    Secretarial service, or an answering service company. It's another one of the services many of them provide...sometimes they don't always advertise that fact and you have to ask. It's like a mail forwarding service but it's not. Don't know if that will be acceptable to HSBC though so you might want to ask them first to be sure before you sign up for service. And if you are uncomfortable with them knowing it's a secretarial service you don't have to ask them "is a secretarial service OK?", you can just give them the secretarial service's address and ask them if they can check it out to see if it's OK. Some banks are picky about secretarial services, others could care less, and I do not know where HSBC fall in that regard.

    Also if you incorporate or file LLC or other entity, sometimes you can get the registered agent who sets that up to also receive mail for you...some do, some don't. But they will charge extra if they do it...usually cheaper than an attorney, though--both for receiving mail and for filing the corporation/LLC. (An attorney is not required to incorporate in USA, but if you don't use one you have to know what you're doing...unlike in Republic of Panama where attorney is actually required.) They may do mail receiving even if you don't incorporate with them, since they would charge extra for it anyway. Google "registered agent" or "incorporate registered agent" to find them and start calling them up.

    I have not personally used a secretarial service for receiving mail, but a former office partner of mine did and it worked out well for him. I have, however, personally used my registered agent who filed my corporate paperwork for me to also receive mail for me. The only problem with using a registered agent is, they file a LOT of corporations! So there might be a boatload of other businesses also using that same service from the registered agent, and sometimes depending on the type of check the bank runs it will show up and they will notice. Not many people use a secretarial service for this when it comes to banking...at least not as many as might use the registered agent...plus there are likely to be fewer customers at the secretarial service to begin with and so it likely won't pop up on the bank's radar. That's why I say ask them first, they can likely provide you with guidance as far as what is acceptable within their banking policy.

    Another option for using a registered agent is to locate a shared office space. Some registered agents actually offer this type of service, where you have your own suite number that is used for just your business. It costs extra, though...and is usually more than just using the agent's mailing address so it depends on your budget and what your balance and volume is on the account. It doesn't make sense to so such a thing for a $10,000 bank balance, but if you are talking six figures it might make sense...some of the shared office space can be had in the range of $200 or more depending on location and other services included in the price.

    As for anyone who thinks setting up bank accounts in a country other than your place of residence is only for terrorists and drug dealers, you need to listen to Nigel Farage of UKIP in the UK as he talks about the bail-in of Cyprus and what it really means.

    Nigel Farage on "wholesale, violent revolution" in Europe - YouTube

    Personally I think that you should bypass USA and look for a better jurisdiction, someplace like Singapore or Hong Kong (or China if you can...they're not always easy to get into, but if you do renminbi is strong compared to US dollar). HSBC is in both of those places and will likely take you as long as you are not American. (Hong Kong dollar is pegged to US dollar but is expected to drop the peg in the future, just nobody knows when...but when they do it's expected to take 20-25% jump compared to US dollar.)

    I say bypass USA because the FDIC is woefully underfunded. If something goes wrong and it's more than just one bank, especially if it's one of the too-big-to-fail banks, this time around it's going to be wholesale slaughter and blood in the streets! (Financially speaking at least)! At a recent point in time JPMorgan alone had over $1.78 trillion dollars on deposit. That's $1,780 billion dollars. FDIC had $11 billion to back it up with their government guarantees at the same point in time. And even if the numbers have changed, the ratios of total deposits to FDIC money backing those deposits has not likely changed...unless it's for the worse.

    But if you're determined to do it in America, you might give Wells Fargo or Chase Bank a call, as you might find them more favorable than HSBC. There might even be a way for you to work with Pentagon Federal Credit Union. All 3 off them are likely to have lower fees than HSBC.
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    • Profile picture of the author Aveng
      @ahlexis:

      Thanks buddy, I really appreciate your feedback. I would like to show up "thanks tag" but I don't know how to it.

      I want to let you know that I already contacted 2 different agents for the setup of my bank account.. they charge me $450-$700. Their services differ a lot in requirements, time, costs, services, etc. Also, I'm quite concern about reliability at this point.. I don't wanna be victim of identity theft... I need to provide them my personal and business documentations and details. I must confess this scares me a bit.

      I'm considering signing up for a forwarding company (CRMA) which provides me a street address in exchange for a monthly fee. I was researching a lot and found several of this companies that allows me doing this setup. I couldn't decide yet, I'm reviewing 27 selected companies in several states.. this is an exhaustive task considering that I don't want to pop up on the bank's radar, like you said.

      I'm also considering other banks as well. Wells Fargo and Chase are very good but their requirements are different.. I don't want to turn back at this point.. I need my US bank as soon as possible !.
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