|
I just walked into the CitiBank in San Francisco and tried to cash in a US dividend cheque (via CitiGroup SSBarney) for some US shares I have. I didn't want to cash it in Australia because the ANZ charges AU$15 to do it.
They told me that SSB was not really related to CitiBank and told me that i would have to open up a bank account if I wanted to deposit the cheque in there.
They sent me to the accounts teller and I quickly told him that I was not a US citizen nor working in the USA and had no green card nor SS number.
He said "oh".
He said that he can still open up an account but he would normally do this for valued clients.
I said I could put in a few grand in today if he wanted and then told him who i work for. He said that my company has a avery good relationship with CitiBank and I do not need to put any minimum amounts in the account and that he can set one up immediately.
10 minutes later I had it set up.
So anyway, you can pretty much get a US bank account even if you are not a citizen, have a green card or SS number.
I did not bother to get a CC though.
Regards
Daniel
|