Non-US Bank

[ResIpsa]

I figure its time that I set up a foreign bank account as a backup way to get my money if there are any problems transferring things out. Anyone have any suggestions for any foreign banks that I can set up an account with online? I assume a Canadian bank would probably be best, but another option is to set up an account at a bank in London when I am there for CAP Euro next week. Anyone have any suggestions?

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to sound like I am in the sky is falling camp, I just want to have a backup in place in the unlikely event it is needed.

[Nick0r]

Oh if you're coming to London, definitely setup an account in a UK bank. Bring driving license, passport and a utility bill or two.

You'll probably need to contact them beforehand and find out what branch deals with international accounts, because I don't think a standard branch would be able to sort it out for you.

Check out either HSBC or Bank of Scotland. Those two would probably be able to accomodate you best (at a guess, if not there are numerous others).


P.S where are you staying again?

[ResIpsa]

Originally Posted by Nick0r

Oh if you're coming to London, definitely setup an account in a UK bank. Bring driving license, passport and a utility bill or two.

You'll probably need to contact them beforehand and find out what branch deals with international accounts, because I don't think a standard branch would be able to sort it out for you.

Check out either HSBC or Bank of Scotland. Those two would probably be able to accomodate you best (at a guess, if not there are numerous others).


P.S where are you staying again?

I'm at the Kensington Close, I'll have to look around for an HSBC or RBS nearby and try to contact them ahead of time, thanks for the suggestion.

[PokerMaster]

Oh if you're coming to London, definitely setup an account in a UK bank

Not so easy as you may think, at my work, we have a lot of workers from different european countries, even with perminent work permits, proof of perminant jobs in the uk, and eu passports, there are only a few who will offer them accounts, even at that none offer them even ATM cards, it's a simple checking account. This is for standard accounts.
I used to have a UK international account when I worked in the USA, it was in US $ wiith barclays, I don't know how the law stands with these international accounts, but I know I had to have my statements sent to my mums address in the UK.

[ucladave]

I know there are lots of countries that specialize in offshore accounts for lots of various countries. Obviously Switzerland and the cayman islands come to mind, but does anyone know if you can set up an account without actually visiting that country?

If so how? Im very interested.

[PokerProp]

It is hard for US citizens to set up an account just about everywhere now, except Canada.
Even swiss and Panama account require residency now for US citizens to set up an account.

[evilbilly]

Thought I'd come back to this since I've done some research on my own. Like others have mentioned, I'd been looking at Canadian and European banks, thinking they would be my best bet, but I hadn't found anything. In fact, most of the foreign banks that allowed international accounts actually did their U.S. banking under a U.S. charter, so you were actually just getting a U.S. bank with a foreign name. None of those were of any use to me. Today, though, I decided to start looking again and this time stumbled onto offshore accounts in the Caymans. Most of these weren't of use to me, since the minimum deposit was $500,000. However, I did find one, Cayman National, where the minimum deposit to open a personal account is $1,000. You can't set up the account online, but you can download the forms and mail them in. I'm thinking I could get paid by bank wire to one of those accounts, then use the debit card to access my money.

Does anyone here have any experience with this bank? If so, are they legit?

[joeker]

Whats the problem with a Canadian bank?

Canadians seem to have no trouble moving money around.

[Dave]

You have to show up in person to open a bank account in Canada and it wont be easy.

http://www.cba.ca/en/viewDocument.as...docid=242&pg=1

They are cracking down here to.

My bank reported me to the feds for "suspicious activity" because I've had NeTeller direct deposits that total over 10k the past few years.

[joeker]

Originally Posted by Dave

My bank reported me to the feds for "suspicious activity" because I've had NeTeller direct deposits that total over 10k the past few years.

What happened with that?