US bank accounts?

[DeepThought]

Anybody know the cheapest way of opening a US banck account. I do a lot of business in the states and having a US account would be great.

[Flibb]

Could be wrong but somebody i dealt with had a citybank account. He could shift money internationally with it. Could be worth a look.

[Saracen]

As in the UK, the costs and requirements of a US bank account vary with the bank and with the account type.

The cheapest way will be to find a bank with an account type that fulfils your needs and has no charges at all (providing you stay within the account criteria). That generally means maintaining a minimum balance.

You should be able to find a bank that has a zero-charge checking (current) account with a minimum balance requirement of $1000, maybe $1500, but it'll probably be non-interest bearing. If you want interest, and no fee's, you'll probably have to deposit a decent sum to open the account (maybe $10,000) and maintain a reasonable balance level.

Normally, IIRC, the bank notify the US tax authorities when an account is opened, but there is a form you can get as a non-resident that exempts you from the IRS implications of a US account. If you really need it, I'll dig out the form number, but it'll take some finding now. You MIGHT also find that they want a US contact address, which I have, but I had no trouble getting statements sent here (UK).

I also suspect it'll be far easier to open in person, while you're there, than to do it at a distance.

[DeepThought]

I'm going over in few months so I'll check it out then, thanks for the ideas. I have found out a little bit more about this via google, and have identifed the form you talk about - cheers.

[Stoo]

Slightly OT, but I did read about a service that acted like a post office box over in the states, which essentially gave you a mailing address on US soil for an annual fee, anything being sent gets couriered over to your UK address. Might be useful in conjunction with the Bank Account?