USD bank account

[PH1]

Hi I am travelling to the US later this year. With the AUD/USD good now, is it possible to open a USD bank account ?

Thanks

 

[markis10]

Welcome to AFF, many banks offer USD accounts locally however most are for business:

Foreign Currency Account. Foreign currency banking | HSBC Australia

Foreign Currency - Citibank Australia

NAB - Foreign Currency Accounts - onshore

Business - International - Foreign currency accounts - Commonwealth Bank Group


This topic has been covered before:

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/your-questions/us-dollar-account-20546.html

I would also suggest you read up about getting the lowest cost access to your money while OS, any gains made on FOREX will be often lost by the fees to get access to the cash when you need it.

 

[levelnine]

How long are you going to be in the US? And for what purpose? Traveling, study, business?

If you are only going to be traveling to the US for a short time (eg for a holiday), your best bet would probably be to buy USD cash or convert money onto to a Travelex Cash Passport.

If you are going to be there for a long time, you have two main options:

1. Open up on an Australian bank account that holds money in US dollars (a foreign currency account). markis10 provided some links in the previous post. Beware, however, that many of them have various fees and other restrictions. Most are aimed at business customers, but I do know that the HSBC foreign currency account is suited to individuals.

2. As a general rule, you cannot open a US bank account until you are in the US because you need to be physically present to open the account. The one exception I know is that HSBC's international banking centre can open up a bank account in the US with HSBC from Australia. It costs $200 and takes about 4 weeks to open. You can contact them here: Moving Overseas - Contact | HSBC Australia

I hope that helps.

 

[cove]

When we opened a US Bank account we had to show our passports,our Social Security number from our 1984 stay in the US and then a few signatures.
The account we have includes a debit Visa and it has a bill paying service where they can mail cheques to vendors.
All fee free but you earn no interest.

 

[markis10]

When we opened a US Bank account we had to show our passports,our Social Security number from our 1984 stay in the US and then a few signatures.
The account we have includes a debit Visa and it has a bill paying service where they can mail cheques to vendors.
All fee free but you earn no interest.

OP was asking about a USD account, not a US Bank account, I understand banks in Nevada tend to be easy to work with in that regard compared to elsewhere however given the OP is wishing to build up his USD holding pretrip, a US bank account is not going to be much use given they cannot be opened without a physical visit.

 

[cove]

Cash passports in USD typically cost about 2 or 3 per cent of your capital in the set up so if you book it when the true rate is say .904 you would typically get .88 something then you get charged $3 or more each time you use an ATM to get cash.
All the major banks run these accounts as they are a very profitable banking product.
Opening an account in the US really only suits business people rather than tourist travellers as the wire transfers cost only $25 and you get .903 something.

 

[markis10]

Opening an account in the US really only suits business people rather than tourist travellers as the wire transfers cost only $25 and you get .903 something.

I bet if it was easy enough to open and hold a Citibank AA Advantage debit card there would be a few takers here, it would overcome the WW issue with Australian issued debit cards allowing you to earn both AA and QF miles.

 

[drron]

I bet if it was easy enough to open and hold a Citibank AA Advantage debit card there would be a few takers here, it would overcome the WW issue with Australian issued debit cards allowing you to earn both AA and QF miles.

First one with an AA or SPG branded card gets my business.