How easy is it to set up a bank account?

[EmersonNZ]

Hi all,

This might seem like one of those strange questions.....

My wife will be living and working in the US for a couple of months (She's a education Professor and will be working at a US University on sabbatical..)

What's the process of getting a Bank Account in the US? She'll be staying at visiting staff quarters at the University and will actually be getting paid by the University here so won't actually be earning in the US technically. Is a painful red tape experaince or would it just be a matter of popping into a bank etc?

We could happily have her use our credit card over there and some travel cheques for cash but since it is 2 months it might be good to make one or two large deposit into account an just you that.

What do you all suggest?

Thanks all for your advice

 

[RitaE]

I don't think I'd bother for just a couple of months. ATM machines are plentiful in the US.

 

[RUDisney]

I agree with Rita. Use the ATM from your home bank.

However, if you prefer to have an account here, she will go into a bank to open an account. They will require photo id (her passport and perhaps her driver's license). She will need a social security number or some form of an alien ID. The bank will cross-reference her name against the OFAC list (to make sure she's not on the terrorist watch list) and they will contact a system such as Check Systems to make sure other banks have not reported that she likes to bounce checks.

When she gets the account established, she may have to wait longer for the first 30-days for checks that she deposits to clear. That is a safety net built into Regulation CC that protects banks from new depositors. She will also receive checks that are numbered starting with #101. While utilities and other payments that are made through the mail will accept these, she may have a hard time using them in stores. Stores don't like to accept checks that are in the starter range.

I worked in banking for 25 years and these are the current procedures for most US banks. Some banks even check credit reports to ensure that she pays her bills. This point is moot for a foreigner who has just arrived in the country, but some bank employees like to follow the letter of the policy without realizing that some things just aren't going to be updated.

In reality, she can obtain money orders in many grocery stores or from the post office.

Oh, something else I just thought about that might be better/easier for her... if the university has a credit union, she may be better off using its services instead of a banks. They act in basically the same way, but credit unions are owned by the depositors and often times have easier entry procedures and lower service charges.

I hope your wife enjoys her time in the US and that you can visit her while she's here.

 

[minnie56]

My daughter attends school in NYC for the next 2 years..so we had to open her a bank acct. It was a tedious endeavour! We even opened it with an affiliated Canadian Bank (TD) and it was still a lot of grief.

She req'd her Passport, her SSN & Driver Lic as ID. We deposited a significant amount in the form of a Bank Draft and they STILL held the funds for 8 business days. After a week or so she went to use her bank card to buy a coffee and it was declined. She called her branch..they had lost her ID and needed her to comie in again to provide copies again. In these times of Identity theft the BANK lost her ID??? Great. So she went in..I called them and they aplogized and gave her $50 for her grief. Pleaseeee.....

Everything is so complicated that we have now opened her an acct with RBC here in Canada...but her home branch is with RBC Centura in Florida of all places. It's a USD account and much easier to manage and monitor. The TD one is used only for her utility bills etc now. I found the entire experiece frustrating and complicated.

As much as you can...keep your banking homebased. JMO.