Foster Swiss will help you with opening a bank account in the US. Without an SSN or ITIN. You can even open accounts remotely at real banks without having to visit the United States.
We are not talking about fintech, EMI or payment platforms. What we're talking about is opening personal accounts, business accounts, and even top-tier bank accounts at some of the major traditional U.S. banks.
What is an SSN and an ITIN?
Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). These are numbers issued by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Naturally, you won't have any of these numbers if you're not a U.S. citizen, haven't spent considerable time in the jurisdiction, or never had a reason to get one of them before.
Banks often use these numbers to check creditworthiness and verify your identity for compliance purposes.
Foster Swiss knows which banks, branches and bankers suit each specific client's profile, knows how to communicate with them (or how to get a direct presentation), knows their account opening policies and uses the right account opening strategies, can open accounts in a wide range of banks and situations. Of course, it's critical to find the right contacts and know which banks have compliance protocols and onboarding procedures that allow them to accept customers without SSN or ITIN.
In fact, banking policies are constantly changing. While a bank might be willing to open a bank account without an SSN or ITIN at any given time, they may not allow it in six months. That's why our team constantly analyzes account opening procedures and compliance practices, and tax identification requirements at banks around the world.
As a financial consultant we keep track of bank account opening practices, compliance quirks, maintain a constant dialogue with banks, and track account opening successes around the world.
Today, a select number of U.S. banks allow certain foreigners to open bank accounts.
Like all account opening situations, different banks have different deposit requirements. Although generally speaking, when opening without an SSN or ITIN remotely, you are generally expected to make a larger deposit.
In some cases, you can open accounts with only US$500 or less as an individual. Alternatively, if you are opening a business, you should expect to deposit at least US$1,500 to avoid monthly fees. But the amount to avoid monthly fees will vary from bank to bank.
Mercury, Transferwise y Payoneer
There's nothing wrong with using services like Mercury, Transferwise, or Payoneer. However, they should be used as a complement to your traditional bank accounts. That's because these platforms are better suited to transactional banking.
These platforms are increasingly focused on serving customers with a presence in the United States, with operations within the jurisdiction and who are classified as U.S. businesses.
Some will even ask for proof that your company is operating in the United States before opening an account. It's also important to remember that many financial technology providers aren't banks, at least not yet. While certain platforms, such as Revolut have acquired real banking licenses, this is an exception, not the rule.
Instead, most U.S. platforms will simply partner with a licensed bank (usually in some dark corner of the U.S.) And they will essentially offer a nice interface with some additional services tailored to a certain niche market.
If you want to open a bank account in the United States, Foster Swiss can advise you. We help you in practically everything, we provide personalized advice from the moment of choosing the bank that best benefits you, until the opening of your offshore account.
For more information on this topic or any requirement related to our services, you can contact us directly through info@fosterswiss.com