Opening a Sun Trust Account - Info for those thinking about it

[crabbie1]

The debit (or check) card fee is $5 per month the card is used. I am assuming you still draw cash for free at the ATM at the branch.

I have looked and can not find any banks that have a free checking account now

Also you can only use the fair fx card to pay your dues if you pay them in a lump sum in January. Monthly payments can only be taken from a US bank account.

Ahh thts good then so i can put dollors on faifx card every month and pay at the time dues are due. Im just thinkin of options incase i cant open this bank account. Thanks elise

 

[Lizzim]

Ahh thts good then so i can put dollors on faifx card every month and pay at the time dues are due. Im just thinkin of options incase i cant open this bank account. Thanks elise

Sorry, but you will not be able to pay dues monthly on a fairfx card - this option is only available by making direct payments from a US bank account (like a direct debit).

 

[crabbie1]

Strange. I hv been told otherwise by dvc direct. I can pay yearly by debit or credit card in one go but monthly i can pay by DD from US account. If we manage to open an account will do it all from there will b easier. Just so much conflicting info on documents needed. Cannot get a straight answer even from suntrust themselves. We will take everything from driv license to utility bill passport .

 

[Lizzim]

Strange. I hv been told otherwise

by dvc direct. I can pay yearly by debit or credit card in one go but monthly i can pay by DD from US account. If we manage to open an account will do it all from there will b easier. Just so much conflicting info on documents needed. Cannot get a straight answer even from suntrust themselves. We will take everything from driv license to utility bill passport .

Think you may have misunderstood my post - you can pay money to a fairfx card monthly and pay that to DVC in one lump sum but if you want to pay DVC monthly it will need to be from a US account. Sorry if I confused you.

 

[crabbie1]

Think you may have misunderstood my post - you can pay money to a fairfx card monthly and pay that to DVC in one lump sum but if you want to pay DVC monthly it will need to be from a US account. Sorry if I confused you.

Its ok I confused myself We are going to attempt to open an account before we attend the DVC meeting so we can give the details.If we cannot open one for some reason will dvc take the payments from our UK bank account/building society account and our yearly dues from fairfx card or will we have to pay it all from fairfx card??
sorry just want to be prepared before we go and looking at worse scenario.
Also as we are having the finance will they need a card for the payment for the deposit or will they accept cash/TC? If they need a card I will have to leave the money in the bank before we go

 

[Lizzim]

I pay my loan payments on a credit card (which I then pay off so get air miles free) automatically each month. Not sure if you can pay the loan payments front a UK account or not, I didn't ask. We paid our deposit by card but I can't see that they would refuse cash!

 

[techandy]

Just incase anyone hadn't logged into their suntrust accounts and downloaded a statement recently you will have missed the following notification at the top of the statement

"EFFECTIVE 8/24/12: MINIMUM BALANCE REQUIREMENT INCREASES FROM $500 TO $1500 DAILY COLLECTED TO WAIVE MONTHLY MAINTENANCE FEE OR WAIVE WITH DIRECT DEPOSIT. ONE TIME REDUCED RETURNED OR OVERDRAFT ITEM FEE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 877-271-5661."

However, I have just spoken to suntrust and they have advised me that they have scrapped this planned increase, you will still need to maintain $500 balance to avoid monthly fees of $7

 

[Elise79]

Yes the fees schedule on the website with an effective date of 8/24 shows the balances have remained the same.

Out of interest has anyone tried to open a deposit/savings account with SunTrust?

We build our spends up over a period of time and I wondered if I could get it to earn me some interest

 

[techandy]

I think if you gain any interest you have to have completed a W8-BEN form, and 30% is withheld by the US Govt…

Then you have to declare the income to the UK Govt in your tax return so they can tax it over here as well… (yawn) http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw8ben.pdf

So I never thought it was worth looking into a savings account :-/ I have just to send money to my account using PayPal so if that works £10 then I'll put together a document on how to do it, easier than depositing cash and PayPal conversion rates aren't that bad, ie yesterday when it was $1.59- £1 PayPal converted it at $1.55- £1. - Although the sting in the tail will be if suntrust charge me for the direct deposit from PayPal!