Questions and Answers

Hi
I used to live in the U.S and have an SSN(though no card) and wanted to know what bank account will agree to open an account for me online given that I don’t have an address(can give my family’s address in DC though no bill in my name) so that I could in the future open a lucrative U.S credit card.

Thanks

If you have a SSN and a mailing address in the US, which it sounds like you do, almost any bank would be willing to take your business.

Your bigger issue will probably be having no credit history, so you’ll be forced to start off small, with some of the less lucrative cards…

There is another potential problem if your income is only in a foreign currency other than US Dollars. Your bank account will charge you fees for currency conversion in order to pay your US card accounts. Be sure you check into this before getting started.

I’m American and I lived and worked in Switzerland a few years ago (being paid in Swiss currency) and I opened a local bank account and credit card because currency conversion was expensive.

Does Europe have anything like the Schwab card? Fee free withdrawals with no forex fees?

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 61335, member: 29″]Does Europe have anything like the Schwab card? Fee free withdrawals with no forex fees?[/QUOTE]

Europe is not a country David, the types of card available is different in just about every country. So the might be some available, but I don’t know about any.

Even Amex Plat cards issued in Europe tends to have forex fees for what I have read.

[USER=268]@No Name[/USER] I know Europe isnt a country, but I was asking about the continent as a whole, given that many countries use the Euro and that citizens can live and work in any EU country.

[USER=29]@David W[/USER]

While there is 1 currency, consumer banking (at least the last time I looked into it) is done more on the national level.

Also the is no united EU credit score system which makes it very difficult for bank to offer cards outside their home markets.

Plus altitudes to cards can be very different between the countries. Netherlands as an example is very anti credit cards and only uses debit cards, being able to pay with an AMEX outside hotels can be difficult. Others countries in southern Europe is heavily cash based with little cards due to a large black economy/money.

The introduction of the Euro has of course also lessened the need for no forex cards.

Considering the work the EU has done to lower the cost of doing business across boarders, no forex cards is strangely missing. If I was feeling conspiratorial/wearing my tin foil hat I would wonder if it’s a intentional neglect to help drive the growth of the Euro. Sign up for the Euro and don’t worry about forex fee in the future while in the EU.