mellybrown

My friends are planning on a 2-3 month stay travelling the east coast - and they want to open a bank account to stash their moolah in. They tried with citibank but for some reason or another they didnt get approved. I know we opened our BOA accounts when we got here with our passports, but im guessing they would need a US address??

Any ideas? Has anyone done this or know of a bank that will let them do it? They said they can wait til they get here to do it, just dont want to carry around 3 months worth of money!

avanutria

Why not withdraw money from their UK bank using US ATMs as needed? They will be charged a small fee for each use but it probably won't be as much as they'd accrue in monthly maintenance fees for a US checking account.

mellybrown

not sure, i'll ask! Maybe they want the ease of using a debit card and online banking?!

Bob

Who uses cash these days anyway?

Just use their UK debit card to buy stuff...

Poppy girl

They can online bank and use UK debit card!

SultanOfSwing

Debit mastercard is the way to go (or a Visa debit card). My mate did a 3 month US tour a year ago and he managed that way. Most ATMs accept them as well

avanutria

Last year (year before?) my UK bank instituted an extra fee for every non pound or euro transaction. So doing one cash withdrawal would cost me less than paying for everything on the UK card as I went. Assuming, of course, no huge fluctuations in the exchange rate!

Bob

Fair enough....pretty rubbish of the bank though

avanutria

Yeah, we weren't too pleased, but most other banks at the time were charging fees for euro transactions as well as dollar, so we were still ahead of the game.

Rete

If you opened a Citibank account and used their debit card to withdraw money at say Chase, it will cost you $3.50 per transaction.

Also would take a few weeks to get the debit card in the mail. My DH uses his Canadian Scotia Bank debit card in the US all the time.

od6600

Halifax have a fee-free card (Clarity) that might work for a 3-month trip. I used it during a recent holiday for purchases and the occasional ATM trip (though how often do you really need to do that anymore?) and was pretty pleased with it. I'm planning to use it for the first few weeks when we move, if not longer.

tonrob

I opened a Citi checking account online on Tuesday and received the debit card today. Just a data point. Not that I'm advocating the OP's visitors getting a bank account as I think it would be a waste of time and effort, even if they did qualify.

Rete

But you had an address to send it to. I recall that when I needed a replacement debit card from Citibank, to ensure that I received it quickly, it was delivered to the bank and I had to pick it up.