Free Bank Account for L2 Spouse?
Feb 19th 2020, 9:13 pm
#16
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 670
Re: Free Bank Account for L2 Spouse?
There are a number of possible theories and explanations, bank policy or staff ignorance, as I mentioned above, or lack of experience of opening accounts for new immigrants, a bad experience (being critized for opening an account without an SSN) after opening accounts for new immigrants, just wanting an easy life despite the bank having procedures that would allow an account to be opened, etc.
Feb 22nd 2020, 6:46 pm
#17
Austin. TX.
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 5,930
Re: Free Bank Account for L2 Spouse?
I'm getting déjà vu here.
I don't know how many times I have posted this but with Chase the issue is NOT lack of SSN, it is lack of proof of address. The Federal regulations are the lowest standard required, Chase has raised their requirements and it has nothing to do with whether the clerk /supervisor or manager is dealing with the application. It is whether they can tick the boxes on the screen in front of them and these days there is almost NO discretion permitted. Although I suspect if you turned up with a couple of million to deposit, they'd figure it out somehow.
I don't know how many times I have posted this but with Chase the issue is NOT lack of SSN, it is lack of proof of address. The Federal regulations are the lowest standard required, Chase has raised their requirements and it has nothing to do with whether the clerk /supervisor or manager is dealing with the application. It is whether they can tick the boxes on the screen in front of them and these days there is almost NO discretion permitted. Although I suspect if you turned up with a couple of million to deposit, they'd figure it out somehow.
Feb 24th 2020, 7:42 pm
#18
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 670
Re: Free Bank Account for L2 Spouse?
I'm getting déjà vu here.
I don't know how many times I have posted this but with Chase the issue is NOT lack of SSN, it is lack of proof of address. The Federal regulations are the lowest standard required, Chase has raised their requirements and it has nothing to do with whether the clerk /supervisor or manager is dealing with the application. It is whether they can tick the boxes on the screen in front of them and these days there is almost NO discretion permitted. Although I suspect if you turned up with a couple of million to deposit, they'd figure it out somehow.
I don't know how many times I have posted this but with Chase the issue is NOT lack of SSN, it is lack of proof of address. The Federal regulations are the lowest standard required, Chase has raised their requirements and it has nothing to do with whether the clerk /supervisor or manager is dealing with the application. It is whether they can tick the boxes on the screen in front of them and these days there is almost NO discretion permitted. Although I suspect if you turned up with a couple of million to deposit, they'd figure it out somehow.
However, I did NOT have trouble with address, I gave US work address and explained why, along with my Uk address. As a temporary measure that was fine. Regular account opened, no special forms, funny accounts or changes later on.
I guess the bottom line is you have to go speak to the banks. But some are better than others. For chase I have zero regrets I didn’t open an account with them, there are better banks.
Feb 28th 2020, 3:44 am
#19
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2016
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Posts: 334
Re: Free Bank Account for L2 Spouse?
HSBC Premier accounts are also free for your spouse, contact your account manager.
Feb 29th 2020, 4:54 pm
#20
BE Site Lead
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: MA, USA
Posts: 92,170
Re: Free Bank Account for L2 Spouse?
There is no law or regulation in the US that requires you to have an SSN to open a non-interest earning bank account, although some banks might set their own requirement, and obviously most people in the US do have an SSN. The only requirement, as specified in the USA PATRIOT Act, is that banks much obtain and verify four pieces of information to open an account for a new customer - name, date of birth, address, and "a government issued ID number" - while an SSN is the easiest way for most people to meet the last requirement, not only is an SSN not necessary, the "government issued" requirement does not specify that it must be the US government, in other words a non-US passport number meets the requirement, as do other government issued documents which include unique identifying numbers, such as a driving license, a Mexican Matricula Consular card, etc.
While SSN not required for checking accounts (is for savings) I actually got turned away from several banks and the big ones before TD agreed. I think it depends to a degree on the manager. Not initially having a US residential address doesn’t help either, or any other US ID, like a catch-22. But you will get one opened, just try a few and explain the situation...
As for the bank software saying no...I knew the guy who did the software for one of the large banks. It was only ever meant to be a demo for new features but once it worked to cover the basics, they binned the rest of the work, or any further testing, so things like foreign passport numbers or a lack of SSN caused the software to loop out to the start and fail. It's why some stuff has to be done manually, usually from a supervisor. The software was licensed out to several other banks, who may or may not have tried to fix it.
