Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 00:48:42 -0500 From: "G. Adam Stanislav" <adam@whizkidtech.net> To: Jamie Bowden <ragnar@sysabend.org>, Mark Murray <mark@grondar.za> Cc: dan@langille.org, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: US checking accounts for non-US residents Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20010627004842.008dadc0@mail85.pair.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10106261316310.51845-100000@moo.sysabend.org > References: <200106261012.f5QACQ154197@arb.arb.za.net>
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At 13:16 2001-06-26 -0700, Jamie Bowden wrote: >On Tue, 26 Jun 2001, Mark Murray wrote: > >:> Has anyone been able to open a US checking account while not >:> residing in the USA? How did you do it? From what I can tell, you >:> need a SSN in order to open an account. >: >:Get a US drivers license. That gets you a SSN. > >No, it does not. Not by itself. But some states (not all) use SSN for the driver's license number. You can apply for a SSN explaining you need it to get a driver's license, and they will assign you one. Though you may need to keep reminding them. I got my SSN that way back when I was in the US on a student visa: I needed a DC driver's license, and DC uses (or used back then) the SSN. I applied for the SSN in Western New York (I went to St. Bonaventure's) and told them I needed it for a DC license, and they gave it to me. It said "not valid for employment" on the SS card. When I became a resident alien two years later, they gave me a new card (without those extra words), but it had the same SSN. All that said, I opened the bank account before I got the SSN: it was not required when I explained I was here on a student visa. By the way, one should be careful about choosing the right bank: Some charge you fees for keeping your money. Sheesh! The bank I opened my account when I was here on the student visa was the only bank near St. Bonaventure's that did not charge such fees--that is why they got my business. Years later they instated fees--that was when I closed the account. Some of them lie, so you have to really read the fine print and ask a lot of questions. Even PayPal, which is technically not a bank, lies: Their web site claims you can get a free ATM card from them, but when you try to apply for one, it tells you must upgrade to a non-free type of account. At any rate, USAA has never charged any fees for any of their accounts, and was one of the first banks to offer online access to your account. I do all my banking through them: I only use my local bank to deposit checks in, then go to usaa.com and transfer the money to USAA. I have an ATM card from them with the MasterCard logo on it. It is accepted anywhere where credit cards are accepted, but it is not a credit card (it is a debit card that pretends to be a credit card). Because it looks like a credit card, merchants have to pay transaction fees. but because it is a debit card, USAA is not loaning me any money when I use it. To encourage me to use it (and let them get their transaction fees), they give a percentage of the transaction fees back to me. So, effectively, I get a discount on everything I buy with it. They are located in Texas, but as long as you are not a Pennsylvania resident, just about anyone can open an account there (it is against PA law, not against USAA policy). Cheers, Adam --- http://phonecowboy.com/registrar/twist/ finds a good domain for you and checks for its existence. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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