Going to NY - do we NEED bank statements??

Having finally figured out where we stand with our situation (thank you everybody for your help) We have decided to go to NY and apply for our spousal visa in person. We have got most of the documents, statements, pics, letters etc that we will need, but there is one thing we are lacking.
My husband (who is in the USA) doesn't have a bank account. He wrote some bad cheques when he was younger (though he is only 22 now) but that was a few years ago now. From reading a previous thread we have seen that your credit record doesn't follow you to the UK, but it says that we both need to provide bank statements with our application. When he was working his wages were paid into his brothers account (they no longer speak due to an incident) and before that his wages were paid into his ex girlfriend account (im not even going there  )
He will have a couple of thousand dollars but it will be in cash.

Will his lack of bank statements affect our application ?? If so, what could we do about it ??

We are hopefully going at the beginning of March (depending when we can get an appointment)
I am extremely nervous and stressed 
 
On the subject of the appointment, a couple of questions

Do we phone the consulate in NY to get and appointment and what is the average waiting time ??

Do we have to do anything before hand or do we just take our VAF2 and all the stuff on that loooooong list with us??


I have never been to NY before and for that im so excited (Our wedding gift from my mother...i love my mum  )
I just wanna get all our ducks in a row before hand so we can enjoy our belated honeymoon. 

Will his lack of bank statements affect our application ?? If so, what could we do about it ??

Your DH is American, right?  And you're the UK sponsor?

If so, the burden of proof is really on you to prove that you can support your DH until he gets a job.  If you don't make enough to support him, it'll be really important to show his savings.  Therefore, he'll need some proof.

All your husband should need to open a checking or savings account is proof of identity (passport or drivers license), proof of address (payslip, utility bill, etc.), and his SSN.  If he's got a big wad of cash in hand, well, that would certainly help!   

There might not be enough turnaround time for your DH to get a bank statement.  He can just print out his account details online -- that's what I did (because I lost all of my bank statements in a move!), and they didn't bat an eyelash.

We are hopefully going at the beginning of March (depending when we can get an appointment)
I am extremely nervous and stressed

Awww!  Don't be stressed -- it's a surprisingly simple process and we worried WAY too much about it.  As long as you have your little folder of documents, you'll be fine.
 

Do we phone the consulate in NY to get and appointment and what is the average waiting time ??

You'll need to make an appointment on the consulate's website.  You can make your appointment two weeks ahead of time.

Do we have to do anything before hand or do we just take our VAF2 and all the stuff on that loooooong list with us??

If you're going in person, you'll need your VAF2 and the stuff on the list.  Click on the link under my response to see the list of what my DH and I took with us.