carin123

Ever feel that you get palmed off with people, when they probably dont understand what u really want, or they havent got a clue, or they dont understand a scottish accent.
Half the time my own father cant understand the scottish accent and i find myself talking slower and more clearer, not that that helps much lol.

KentuckyYid

There is such a thing as an international credit report that could be used for establishing credit history.

I closed a mortgage loan for a Canadian citizen buying a property in Florida.

Didn't you have any credit at all before you left the US?

Bluegrass Lass

That's why you make sure that any bank you put your money into is FDIC insured. If the bank goes belly up, you get your money back, up to $100k, from the FDIC. Of course, if you have more than $100k in the single bank, you're screwed.

carin123

Well went to my appointment with The Royal Bank of Scotland, that was as useful as a fart in a space suit lol. After explaining the situation yet again and what i want, she didnt have a clue! she explained that she would find out relevant info and give me a call, that was one week ago today! and no call, so going to give them a call today.
Just feel i am banging my head against a brick wall here!
Will try H.S.B.C. again, and another few, here we go again lol

penguinsix

You could open a dollar account with Citibank in the UK. One option.

Under the Patriot Act, banks have to reasonably identify the person they are dealing with. In most cases, this is just a SSN and something else, but banks have leeway to add / subtract a few other things. It appears you got subject to a credit check which is pretty rare for opening a simple checking account.

I'd keep checking other banks, and if possible, credit unions (if you qualify for membership in any). A smaller local bank might have more flexibility than the big chains.

Personally, with the dollar crashing all the time, I'd put the money in the UK account until you *absolutely needed* US$. If you are talking about say £100,000, then a mere .01 change in the rate means an added $1,000. I'd also recommend keeping open your UK account if you can. Nice to have if you ever need it again.



Patriot Act:

These final regulations implement section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act, which directs that regulations be issued requiring that financial institutions implement reasonable procedures to (1) verify the identity of any person opening an account; (2) maintain records of the information used to verify the person's identity; and (3) determine whether the person appears on any list of known or suspected terrorists or terrorist organizations.

The regulations apply to banks and trust companies, savings associations, credit unions, securities brokers and dealers, mutual funds, futures commission merchants, and futures introducing brokers.

Institutions subject to the final rules will be required to establish a program for obtaining identifying information from customers opening new accounts. The regulations will require that institutions implement procedures for collecting standard information such as a customer's name, address, date of birth and a taxpayer identification number (for U.S. persons, typically a social security number and for non-U.S. persons, a similar number from a government-issued document).

A financial institution's program is also required, among other things, to contain procedures to verify the identity of customers within a reasonable period of time. Many financial institutions may rely on examining standard identification such as a driver's license or passport. However, the final rule gives financial institutions the flexibility to implement procedures to verify identity in other ways appropriate to their individual circumstances.

penguinsix

Actually you should take a look at what happened with Northern Rock.

In the US, the insurance is $100,000--it is paid the next day after a bank failure. In the Northern Rock situation the insurance was woofully inadequate, which many believe led to the run.

Very good post here on why there was a run on Northern Trust but not on some US mortgage lenders (who are probably in even worse shape).

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2007/...t-countrywide/ (Especially the penultimate paragraph in which they point out if Northern Rock had been in the US in the financial condition it was, it would have face mandatory closure LONG BEFORE the runs occurred).

Also read this:

Only £4.4 million left in UK bank deposit insurance fund (the US FDIC is at about $49 billion).

http://news.independent.co.uk/busine...cle2996169.ece

gt94sss2

With HSBC try one of their International Banking Centres rather than a branch..- the UK/London one is on 020 7991 7414 (or their US one is 1.877.850.4722 or 'Call collect worldwide +1.716.841.7542')

The UK one arranged for me to open an account with HSBC USA for me when I was in the UK and was going to live in the States for a year - all before I left..

Regards
Sunil

carin123

Well tried Citi bank, very helpful over phone gave me a U.S no. to call, phoned and told that i could'nt as i'm not in the states, he suggested applying online, which i did of course. But still no luck as i dont have a state drivers i.d no. tried various way to get round this but still no luck.
Now i will try HSBC again, can i ask u summit, did u already have a HSBC account in the U.K before opening an account in the U.S, that would probably help big time.
Cheers for all info
A big thank you.

Ray

Thru citibank .. this is what you want ...
http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/b...llar/index.htm

gt94sss2

Yes, I was an existing HSBC customer in the UK when they opened the US account for me.

Regards
Sunil