Opening US Bank Account
 

Has anyone opened a US bank account within the last SIX months from the UK !
Before it used to be easy, walk in with passport and ID and you were sorted.
Now the banks are asking for US permanent address .
If you are in the process of moving from one country to another this can be difficult !

I rang BOA on FRIDAY and was told a US permanent address was required.
Can anyone help.

Re: Opening US Bank Account
 

Check out Citibank and HSBC for US currency accounts. Not quite the same thing, but will serve your purposes I think.

Re: Opening US Bank Account
 

Depends on bank policy...just ask around...

Re: Opening US Bank Account
 

I think a lot this had to do with the patriot act. I work at a bank and am so shocked by the number of accounts where we don't have the customers DOB even as they used to not require it.

You might try a credit union, I know the one I use used to post stuff to me in the UK like bank statements etc. Having said that, initially they had to use a relatives address to get me onto the "system" before changing my address to my old UK one.

If you have any family or friends in the US maybe you could approach them about using their address to just set up the account and then change it when you move?

Re: Opening US Bank Account
 

Are you moving to the US?

Re: Opening US Bank Account
 

If you're moving for work, try the bank your employer banks with. We did that with no problem, and a colleague opened an account without a permanent address.

There's nothing in the Patriot Act that requires a social security number or a permanent address, but that doesn't mean that banks will jump at the chance to have you as a customer. UK banks are the same with non-residents, so don't close your UK account...

If all else fails, you could ask yourself what you want the account for, and whether there are other ways to achieve those aims - e.g. if it's to hold dollars to hedge against exchange rate changes, a UK based dollar account would achieve this. If it's to pay people in the US, you could contemplate a service like xetrade.com.