UK citizen wants a US dollar account in Argentina!

[French jurist]

And if you have a bank account in Uruguay, you can go there every three months (2h00 boat ride to Montevideo) and bring back 10K in cash with you.
Multicurrency account is what you need!

 

[malthus101]

Thanks everyone, this is very helpful;

Nikad - I can walk into a US bank and open an account even though I am a UK citizen without residence in the US?

French Jurist - a multi-currency account eh? Do you have one? What are the benefits? I think I just read last night that Citibank does these and they have quite a large presence in BA right?

Thanks folks.

 

[igor]

Some big US banks do open accounts for foreigners: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, USBank etc. You do have to visit the bank personally to open an account. However, these banks have high ATM transaction fees. Something like 5 USD + 1-3% currency exchange fee.

In addition, local ATMs in general charge 4 USD and have 1000 pesos maximum per transaction. Are you still thinking about money loss on double conversion?

Since you are a trader, your best option may be to open a US brokerage account with ATM privileges. E-Trade , for example, has 1% foreign transaction fee, reimburses ATM fees and accepts international customers.

 

[malthus101]

Hey Igor

Interesting - I was wondering if any of the brokers might act a bit like a bank too! I will contact my current brokers to see if thy offer anything similar.

If not, maybe I could open an eTrade account, then each month just transfer money from my other trading accounts into the eTrade account and withdraw cash in BA from that! Do you think those privileges only apply to US citizens though? I'll look into it.

Where there's a will there's a way..!

Thanks.

 

[nikad]

Thanks everyone, this is very helpful;

Nikad - I can walk into a US bank and open an account even though I am a UK citizen without residence in the US?

French Jurist - a multi-currency account eh? Do you have one? What are the benefits? I think I just read last night that Citibank does these and they have quite a large presence in BA right?

Thanks folks.

Yes, the big Us banks will open an account for you even if you are a non resident or foreigner ( the bigger banks such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, etc. ) if you request it in person

 

[citygirl]

Nikad - a non-resident or foreigner does need to have a US address however. It's not as easy as it used to be for foreigners to open up bank accounts in the US. And yes, it has to be done in person.

 

[nikad]

Nikad - a non-resident or foreigner does need to have a US address however. It's not as easy as it used to be for foreigners to open up bank accounts in the US. And yes, it has to be done in person.

In my experience that was not needed. I also know of others that have opened accounts with no trouble. It is good to know and double check though as things might have changed.

 

[tangobob]

I am no expert on this, but I have a brokerage account in the States.
I opened it through my company from the UK, all the details of how and why it was opened I don't really understand but I can assure you it is possible. (I have shares in my company, that is American)

 

[malthus101]

Hi Tangobob

Yeah, I have US brokerage accounts already - they are easy enough to get, however a bank account isn't!

Citibank looks like it could be a winner, also the other suggestion of getting a trading account that also has ATM privileges and into which I can put the money from my other US$ trading accounts, these seems like the best ideas so far.

If I could afford it, I'd just get an HSBC offshore account and it would be a piece of cake!

Oh well, one day!

Thanks.

 

[ben]

Somewhat related Q:

If I have a US citibank account, could I deposit dollars into that account from here?
If not, is there a comparable method of getting dollars over from here?