AthenaForever

Hi,

New member here - hi, everyone!

I've been living in N. California for 2 years now on an F1 visa (doing a PhD) and will be here for at least 3 more.

I have a US checking account for everyday use and my salary, stipends etc. go into that.

However, I now have some money saved up and it's just sitting there. All high yield online savings accounts seem to require you to be a 'US person', which as a non-resident alien I'm not.

It's not enough money to be eligible for a fancy offshore account (just a few thousand dollars) but it's making me anxious that it's just sitting there doing nothing when it could be accruing value. My normal US nationwide bank offers a savings account with an interest rate of 0.01 APY, so that's not exactly an attractive option!

Another consideration was whether it would make sense to convert it to sterling and then put it into a UK account, but obviously that can't be an ISA as I'm not a UK resident (according to substantial presence test and taxation)...and opening a new savings account in the UK (I still have a basic checking account) seems tricky and possibly legally dodgy.

My original hope had been to put some money into a couple index funds and leave it there for 5-10 years, but that now seems hopelessly complicated.

Feel pretty stuck in the middle: not a UK resident, not a US resident...and apparently not allowed to do much at all with my savings!

Any advice?

Thanks!!

robin1234

You say "my US nationwide bank.." and that may be part of your problem. Have you looked at locally based savings & loans, or credit unions? My ordinary checking account at the local S&L pays a decent rate of interest.

AthenaForever

Good to know, will have a look!

petitefrancaise

why don't you try asking on this forum?
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/

there are some very switched on people there and someone might be able to help you.

do you have a social security number?

AthenaForever

Thanks for the tip - will check it out.

And yep, I have an SSN.

Pulaski

Do you have an SSN? .... If not, obtain an ITIN, as you will need that to open an interest paying account no matter whether it's a bank, S&L, or credit onion. So long as you have ID that meets the requirements of the US PATRIOT Act, (name, address, DoB, and "a government issued ID number" - which can be a passport number), you shouldn't have any issue opening an account with any financial institution of any sort.

AthenaForever

Thanks for the tip! Will check it out.

And yep, I have an SSN. I haven't had a problem getting a bank account if going to a bank in person, it's just it seems I can't get an account from anywhere without a nearby branch (which rules out more specialist/online-only services, including Barclays US).

I've made an appointment to talk to my local credit union about savings accounts...will report back!

AthenaForever

Thanks for the advice!

I do have an SSN. I haven't had trouble opening an account in person, just with online applications. But that restricts my options a lot when looking for specialist services.

Pulaski

With an SSN you should be mostly OK, but the problem may be that you have a very small financial footprint, and virtually no credit history. There are commercial databases of all sorts of data - banks you have accounts with, loans and mortgages, addresses used, vehicles owned including boats and planes, known an likely relatives etc, so a huge amount of data. You on the other hand, may have virtually none, which some banks will likely see as a risk just because you are an unknown proposition.

malch

Or even some kind of black mark (justified or not) on his credit history. It would be prudent for the OP to pull a copy of his own credit report and check it.

Pulaski

Agreed, it is certainly possible that someone has found a little-used SSN and then run amok with it.

ellie_gbr

I was able to open an online savings account while doing graduate school on an F1 visa so it is possible. If I remember correctly I had a fill out an extra piece of paper but it was no big deal. It was with a well known online bank beginning with A! I still use the same account 10 years later.

AthenaForever

Ahh, interesting.

It's not that I've been rejected for these accounts, it's just that during the application I have to tick a box to 'declare under penalty of perjury' that I'm a 'US person'. The websites tend to say something like 'Unfortunately we do not currently offer accounts to non-US persons.' So if someone has stolen my SSN, these websites aren't helping to uncover that, haha.

In any case, if others have managed it, I will email some of the banks about my status and see what they say.

AthenaForever

This from an online chat with a major savings bank starting with A:

You must be over 18 years of age, have a permanent US address, and you must be a US citizen or Permanent Resident with a Social Security Number (SSN) to open an account with us. It is Ally's policy to only open accounts for customers who are legal U.S. residents.

Unfortunately, the requirements are listed above. I completely understand your frustrations and I'm so sorry for the inconvenience.

This is what seems to happen across the board. At the moment it seems like a local credit union might be the best (only) option.

tom169

You don't need to be cryptic about "savings bank starting with A",your copy pasted text gave it away.