![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/bank-of-america-boulder.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nChecking accounts help build your credit history in the US, and possibly more importantly, relationship with the bank. I have already opened three checking accounts (Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo) and the processes are quite similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a foreigner you’ll most likely open a Non-Resident-Alien (NRA) account. It’s still amusing to see how they use the word “alien” in such context. In general you’ll need the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Two forms of ID (passport and bank card)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- US postal address<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- US phone number<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Foreign residential address<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Then just book an appointment online with the respective bank and a customer relations manager will work with you to open an account. If you’ve already had a checking account or credit card bring the statement with you but that shouldn’t be mandatory.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/chase-boulder-2.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nOpening NRA accounts at these banks is a normal routine which the staff know well, especially in the bigger cities. You will have a lot of forms to read and sign though and it might take an hour or more to complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two things to remember:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Your must keep a certain account balance to avoid the admin fee. The requirement varies by bank and account type but for standard accounts it’s usually between $500 to $2,000<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- You’ll need to receive SMS frequently for verification purpose so a reliable US sim card is very important. I use Ultra’s PayGo<\/a> which costs ~$5 a month.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
If you are only interested in the Amex cards, checking account is probably unnecessary – just start with global transfer and apply for more in the future. If you are really committed and aiming at other cards such as Chase and Capital One, then you’ll probably need a checking account and definitely ITIN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you are a semi-enthusiast for credit card or frequent traveller programs, you should be familiar with the fact that United States has the best credit...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americas","category-credit-cards"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22841"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22994,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22841\/revisions\/22994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}