Opening US account from the UK

Anyone got any experience or advice on opening an account in the U.S while still in the UK? If you saw my other thread last month in the repatriation forum, me and the wife are considering moving back to the states.

We used to hold accounts with Bank of America but closed them when we were last in the US a few years ago as at that time they did not offer any free checking option and what little was left in that account was slowly being eaten away by the monthly maintenance fee.

Now that we're thinking of moving back, we're considering opening a U.S account and transferring money periodically to it (depending on the currency exchange rate which I've started keeping an eye on).

HSBC offer a service to open an account abroad for you in a local bank (as opposed to a international account) but charge £100 to do so, plus the area we'll be moving to (D.C) only has about two branches/ATMs. Most banks it seems would not only want proof of identity (which is understandable of course) but also a physical U.S address which we do not have.

We're both U.S citizens and when I last checked a few months ago, still have excellent credit ratings/FICO scores so it's mainly the not being physically in the U.S thats making things difficult.

Any Advice?

Mods feel free to move this is you feel its better off in the repatriation forum.

Has anyone done this, or have any information about opening a US bank account while located in the UK?  I already have a US bank account, but want to transfer it to another bank (since my original bank was taken over and  I don't like the new bank).  Does anyone know if this is going to be difficult to accomplish from over here.  I would have to use a relative's address as my US address - would this be ok?

Has anyone done this, or have any information about opening a US bank account while located in the UK?  I already have a US bank account, but want to transfer it to another bank (since my original bank was taken over and  I don't like the new bank).  Does anyone know if this is going to be difficult to accomplish from over here.  I would have to use a relative's address as my US address - would this be ok?

I spoke to a few of the larger bank branches in the states and they were find with me not living there as long as I had a U.S address they could use for an account, however they would require forms be signed and returned within 30 days of the account being opened online.

I haven't attempted it, but they did say it would be fine for example for the forms to be sent to my brother-in-laws address, he forward them on to us (would probably need to do express worldwide delivery) and then me return them to the bank directly once signed.

dekks - thanks for responding.  I was hoping you would.  If it's not too much trouble, I would love to know which banks were going to let you open an account.  I tried calling Discover Bank yesterday, since they have pretty good interest rates, but they categorically refused to open an account for anyone without a legitimate (where they actually live) US address.  This is turning into a real pain, since my money now is in a terrible account, and I can't find anywhere to move it to.

I had no problems opening a Bank of America account online with my parents address so that I could transfer funds (via Paypal) to make student loan repayments. No where does it state in the application process that you have to be resident at the address.

Leah, did you do this before the introduction of the Patriot Act following 9/11?  It is this law which is causing the problems.  It states that banks need to "know their customers", but does not state that customers must have a US address.  Banks, however, have interpreted it to mean that, which is causing problems for lots of Americans living abroad.  There's a very interesting radio discussion about this and other banking problems for US expats that can be found on the website for American Citizens Abroad.  If anyone is interested, I will find the link.

Im in the process of opening one with HSBC. See the post from last week.

I dont know how to post the link but it is two subjects below this one.

JennM, I'm pretty much of an ignoramus about banking, but I'm not sure that HSBC is what I want.  I want to leave my bank account in the US, not bring it here or use it here at all, so I just want to open a new account in a US bank, and transfer my money from the awful account that it is now in.  Which is proving difficult, so far.

You could always open an account with HSBC here in the US. You can do it online. Then you could have access in the UK too.

Thanks, JennM.  I'm still not sure, but I'll look into it. 

Leah, did you do this before the introduction of the Patriot Act following 9/11?  It is this law which is causing the problems.  It states that banks need to "know their customers", but does not state that customers must have a US address.  Banks, however, have interpreted it to mean that, which is causing problems for lots of Americans living abroad.  There's a very interesting radio discussion about this and other banking problems for US expats that can be found on the website for American Citizens Abroad.  If anyone is interested, I will find the link.

I did this about 18 months ago.

I would guess some of this depends on your citizenship as well. My UK husband practically had to leave a DNA sample in order for bank of America to add him to my existing account and we were both living in the US at the time (2008). They worked well for me as a bank when I lived internationally but have been nothing but a pain in the *ss since I've repatriated....

If you have any military ties.  I've had very good experiences with my USAA banking account.  I hadn't really thought about it much in the US since it isn't one you see on the corners, but they have been very good and don't charge me for things like international use and ATMs at other banks like most banks do.  I was already a USAA car insurance customer, so they knew me, but I was able to open the bank account without signing anything.  It was easy peasy.

I noticed that Chanah mentioned the ACA web site above. If anyone is interested, I've attached two links below which discuss the issue, RE: the Patriot Act. It sounds like a real saga to go through, but if a US citizen requires a US bank account they have every right to have one.

http://www.aca.ch/joomla/images/pdfs/banka.pdf

http://www.aca.ch/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=215&Itemid=107