Strategy to obtain US Amex

[DAC1]

Wouldn’t you need to find an address in eg Egypt to ‘move’ to ? I would have thought that kind of industry would be much less established than in the US ?

Has anyone had any luck with opening a US transaction account recently from Aus (and one that doesn’t make you fill in a W9 or other form to say you are a US resident) ?

Some people have had luck with SoFi. Personally I was only able to do so on US soil.

 

[N0mad]

Wouldn’t you need to find an address in eg Egypt to ‘move’ to ? I would have thought that kind of industry would be much less established than in the US ?

Has anyone had any luck with opening a US transaction account recently from Aus (and one that doesn’t make you fill in a W9 or other form to say you are a US resident) ?

are you opening the account as a non-resident as in your residential address is in Australia? never heard of anyone getting a W9 for HSBC

 

[Grrr]

never heard of anyone getting a W9 for HSBC

No HSBC local then premier to US was never an issue.

Now that we are all losing premier, I was wondering about native US banks that can be opened offshore without a W9

 

[N0mad]

No HSBC local then premier to US was never an issue.

Now that we are all losing premier, I was wondering about native US banks that can be opened offshore without a W9

i get you, i'm keen to open some new bank accounts. so will keep an eye on it, i have ITIN now so may open one or two banks.

 

[Grrr]

i'm keen to open some new bank accounts

Alliant is pretty easy to open remotely, however it's very much a 'smaller' bank - much less functionality than HSBC

From what I can see these days Amex and C1 tell you to go into a branch if you're an ITIN holder

 

[sudoer]

From what I can see these days Amex and C1 tell you to go into a branch if you're an ITIN holder

Amex tells you to go into a branch?

 

[Grrr]

Amex tells you to go into a branch

If you ask for an alternative to declaring (via the W9) that 'under penalties of perjury, I am a US citizen'

 

[QF_Flyer]

From what I can see these days Amex and C1 tell you to go into a branch if you're an ITIN holder

C1 will open accounts online with no issues, they'll then close them with no explanation other than unspecified "risk". This seems to be unique to ITIN-ers, based on recent reports (me included).

If you ask for an alternative to declaring (via the W9) that 'under penalties of perjury, I am a US citizen'

US Person, not necessarily citizen - this includes tax residents, and I doubt they'll care if you voluntarily want to become a tax resident (which confers nothing other than the need to pay tax).

 

[QF_Flyer]

It’s going to be difficult to maintain Premier status in the US now.

I don't think so, actually - $5k deposit requirement - significantly less than here, in fact, albeit with extra steps.

 

[QF_Flyer]

Slightly more info in the FAQ but still sparse. Main takeaway is ofc premier upgrades closed, no info on how long existing premier customers would be grandfathered post closure before need to find a new home market.

100k liquid or 5k DD/pm to maintain US Premier status, otherwise similar amount £75k with Expat. Or if you trust developing markets, 3m PHP (~49k USD) with Philippines, even cheaper with Egypt or Turkey but more FX risk.

https://www.hsbc.com.au/content/dam/hsbc/au/docs/help/changes-to-hsbc-australia-faqs.pdf

Is there currency risk though? If you can "hold" the currency in one of your home (or a strong, anyway) currency, then the forex risk is mitigated. That's not to say it's risk free, and there's oppo cost of having a chunk of change stuck somewhere, but it's an option (I dumped GBP cash into HK to push my TRB up, for example - it stayed GBP and I was able to move it in/out as needed).

 

[kpc]

I currently pay my US Amex card off by direct debit from my US HSBC Premier acct. Presumably I will lose this acct when my Australian HSBC Premier account is closed within 18 months as notfied today.

Can I set up a US$ account within Wise and then my US Amex acct can be paid via direct debit from this Wise account?

 

[QF_Flyer]

Wouldn’t you need to find an address in eg Egypt to ‘move’ to ? I would have thought that kind of industry would be much less established than in the US ?

Has anyone had any luck with opening a US transaction account recently from Aus (and one that doesn’t make you fill in a W9 or other form to say you are a US resident) ?

I opened an account with BoA online a few months ago. No idea what I filled in, but they have my Aussie address on file and even mailed the debit card here. I know they're supposed to be quite helpful at opening in branch, but thought I'd try it online and was successful.

I currently pay my US Amex card off by direct debit from my US HSBC Premier acct. Presumably I will lose this acct when my Australian HSBC Premier account is closed within 18 months as notfied today.

Can I set up a US$ account within Wise and then my US Amex acct can be paid via direct debit from this Wise account?

Your US account won't automatically go. You will either have a grace period after losing Premier AU status, qualify for it in the US or elsewhere or be charged the below balance fee.

But in answer to your question, yes, opening an account with Wise should give you a set of account details, some credit union account, with ACH direct debit functionality. I have mine linked to Amex as a backup.

 

[AppleJune]

I don't think so, actually - $5k deposit requirement - significantly less than here, in fact, albeit with extra steps.

Monthly recurring direct deposits (12) totaling at least $5,000 from a third party to an HSBC Premier checking account(s)

12. Qualifying direct deposits are electronic deposits of regular periodic payments (such as salary, pension, Social Security, or other regular monthly income) deposited through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network to this account by your employer or an outside agency (please check with your employer or outside agency to determine if they use the ACH network). Direct deposits that do not qualify include but are not limited to transfers from one account to another, mobile deposits, or deposits made at a Wealth Center or ATM.

Would a normal Revolut/Wise transfer meet these requirements? I know some banks in US won't recognise these as direct deposit, but not sure about HSBC