A US bank account solution for US expats

If you need a US bank account geared towards US citizen expats American Citizens Abroad and the State Department Federal Credit Union have got together to offer an account that can be opened from outside the USA, provides inexpensive international transfers through Wise, and says it give easy online access from overseas. This could be a very useful tool at a time when some US banks and brokerages are making it difficult for their expatriate customers,

https://www.americansabroad.org/sdfcu-account/

Nice.

It's been in the back of my mind to open one of those state department accounts, but I've been lazy.  My account with Bank of America, opened ages ago (early 1990s?), is still serving me well though.  And I use Wise for US to UK transfers.

It's been in the back of my mind to open one of those state department accounts, but I've been lazy.  My account with Bank of America, opened ages ago (early 1990s?), is still serving me well though.  And I use Wise for US to UK transfers.

I'm in the same boat with BoA and I've been assured by them that online access will be easy from the UK as long as I have a physical security key for 2FA.
If my move to the UK becomes a reality I'll probably close my local Savings Bank account that I use for business transactions and open up a SDFCU account so I have an option if BoA ever gets difficult.

I'm in the same boat with BoA and I've been assured by them that online access will be easy from the UK as long as I have a physical security key for 2FA.
If my move to the UK becomes a reality I'll probably close my local Savings Bank account that I use for business transactions and open up a SDFCU account so I have an option if BoA ever gets difficult.

Always good to have options I think.

Always good to have options I think.

And the best feature of the SDFCU account is that you can open one from outside the USA...as long as you join ACA first.

Always good to have options I think.

Agree. You never know what will happen. WFB were happy  to support overseas customers, until they weren’t!

I'm in the same boat with BoA and I've been assured by them that online access will be easy from the UK as long as I have a physical security key for 2FA.
If my move to the UK becomes a reality I'll probably close my local Savings Bank account that I use for business transactions and open up a SDFCU account so I have an option if BoA ever gets difficult.

Using BoA hasn't been seamless for me.  I don't need online access to my account very often, but each time I do I have to go through the hassle of phoning them (usually using my work Teams account) to get an authorisation code to login.  (If you have a US phone number you could get an authorisation code via text message, but I don't maintain such a number and they don't accept non-US phone numbers.)

Using BoA hasn't been seamless for me.  I don't need online access to my account very often, but each time I do I have to go through the hassle of phoning them (usually using my work Teams account) to get an authorisation code to login.  (If you have a US phone number you could get an authorisation code via text message, but I don't maintain such a number and they don't accept non-US phone numbers.)

I've got around the 2fA/non US phone number by using a physicalUSB security key. BoA swear blind that there will be no problem, but I plan to visit UK before I move for good and try it out. SDFCU don't offer a physical 2FA option, but will send the code to email and they do use authenticator software.

If you need a US bank account geared towards US citizen expats American Citizens Abroad and the State Department Federal Credit Union have got together to offer an account that can be opened from outside the USA, provides inexpensive international transfers through Wise, and says it give easy online access from overseas. This could be a very useful tool at a time when some US banks and brokerages are making it difficult for their expatriate customers,

https://www.americansabroad.org/sdfcu-account/

I contacted them about sending and receiving wires and incoming wires are free so I forwarded this link and info to my daughter who receives a monthly wire into her Chase account and is charged $15 each time.

State Department Federal Credit Union does not charge a fee to receive incoming wire transfers from domestic or international banks. There are only fees for outgoing wire requests and they are as followed: Domestic Wires - $25.00 and International Wires - $35.00.

I will have to look into this.  Have been having nothing but frustration with US Chase, either on-line or the app. Yesterday, was talking to a customer service person to see about opening a CD. Whilst on the phone with her, I got locked out of my account! She transferred to someone who said their Security Review Team was "looking into things" and that I could call that team back in 24-48 hours time.
I'd like to keep a small amount in a US bank, not sure that Wise will fulfil certain needs.

I will have to look into this.  Have been having nothing but frustration with US Chase, either on-line or the app. Yesterday, was talking to a customer service person to see about opening a CD. Whilst on the phone with her, I got locked out of my account! She transferred to someone who said their Security Review Team was "looking into things" and that I could call that team back in 24-48 hours time.
I'd like to keep a small amount in a US bank, not sure that Wise will fulfil certain needs.

My daughter in England opened an account with them yesterday and sent me her account details today. I wire money to her every month so this should save her a bunch in fees receiving wires. (Chase charges $15 for every wire received). Of the 2

Has anyone used an International HSBC account?

Has anyone used an International HSBC account?

I have an HSBC USA and an HSBC UK account, as does my son.

I've got around the 2fA/non US phone number by using a physicalUSB security key. BoA swear blind that there will be no problem, but I plan to visit UK before I move for good and try it out. SDFCU don't offer a physical 2FA option, but will send the code to email and they do use authenticator software.

I tried last week registering a USB security key (a YubiKey, in my case) with BoA from the UK as a means of 2FA, but without success so far.  On logging-in to my account online (and having to phone BoA for an authroisation code just to login), the process of trying to register a USB security key called for me to enter (again) an authorisation code from BoA, and the BoA person on the phone seemed confused herself and wasn't able to help me with that step.  But she did say that such that 2FA via USB security key could only be used for authorising wire transfers, and not for logging-in to the BoA website.  I.e. I'd still need a US phone number for 2FA to login.

It's not clear to me if the BoA person actually knew what they were talking about.  Using a USB security key for 2FA is far from becoming mainstream, and BoA's people may or may not be fully abreast of what can and can't be done with one, or from what country.

As a short term means of 2FA, I'm temporarily paying for a US phone number from Talkatone. I've successfully registered that number with BoA, but the BoA person has told me that it can take a few weeks for numbers to become used by their system.  Assuming the phone number does start working for 2FA, I'll retry registering my USB security key.