Do you have bank accounts in more than one country?

[MichaelCorfman]

Recently, with increasing difficulty paying affiliates, having a bank account in more than one country to facilitate receiving payments is being suggested with greater frequency. This is particularly true for U.S. affiliates given that affiliate programs are becoming increasingly challenged trying to find ways to pay U.S. affiliates.

Do you have a bank account in more than one country? Have you ever tried to open a bank account in a country besides the one where you live?

Share your experiences, what has worked, and what has not worked.

Michael

[TheGamblingGuru]

This should be interesting to see how many US Affiliates pony-up and post answers to those 'personal questions' honestly, with the DOJ and IRS most likely keeping tabs on this site now!

I'm actually surprised that you would even post a poll like that in the public section.

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[Smoking]

It actually is/was so simple to do !!! .maybe i will open a new one on friday to see how easy it still is hmm what country should i get a bank account in?

[baldidiot]

I'm voting literally, but I guess I'm not a normal case. I have accounts in the US and the UK, but my wife is from the US so her accounts became mine - easy peasy.

On a more relative note, my business accounts are in the UK but when I set up the company I did look into setting it up offshore for tax purposes and my investigations made it seem like it wouldn't be much effort at all to set up offshore bank accounts - I could have it done on my behalf when setting up the company.

[xecutable]

With double citizenship it's a no problem. Not sure for people with just US status. I always see in the movies people opening accounts in Switzerland, supposedly no institution can go there requesting your $$$, just you with a passport.

[ocreditor]

I take it you don't classify pay-pal accounts or other online accounts as overseas?

[boczom1]

This should be interesting to see how many US Affiliates pony-up and post answers to those 'personal questions' honestly, with the DOJ and IRS most likely keeping tabs on this site now!

I'm actually surprised that you would even post a poll like that in the public section.

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I'm also curious as to why this would be posted now. Isn't it illegal to do such ?

You'd constantly have to worry about the feds being on your ass, unless you have residence or your company is located there right ?

[MichaelCorfman]

I'm also curious as to why this would be posted now. Isn't it illegal to do such ?

You'd constantly have to worry about the feds being on your ass, unless you have residence or your company is located there right ?

There is nothing illegal about having bank accounts in more than one country. However, sometimes people who set up such accounts use them for illegal purposes. Generally it is not legal to avoid reporting revenue and paying taxes due (tax fraud), to hide or misrepresent the nature of banking transactions, or to transfer funds from illegal activities between countries (the latter activities constituting bank fraud and money laundering).

From my own research, as a U.S. citizen operating a U.S. Corporation, setting up an offshore account can be troublesome if you are completely honest about what you are doing (which I am). Over the past couple months I approached HSBC in Canada about opening up a corporate account. After fully disclosing the nature of the business and providing personal information I was told our credit record was good and that the business we were engaged with was fine, and final arrangements were being made to sign the paperwork to open the account. Then I received a subsequent call after that informing me that the bank decided that in spite of what I was told before, and that we were not an operator, the bank did not want to take on the internally perceived regulatory risk of having our firm as a client. I was told that their standards were fairly strict, so that I should not assume the same thing would happen if I applied to other banks. In the course of my research it was also pretty clear that there were a variety of Canadian Banks where I could open personal, rather than business accounts, but that I would need to travel to Canada to open the account. Not the best, but not terrible in my case, since I am about a five hour drive from Montreal. However, I am not really interested in a personal account - I want a business account, so that does not help me.

Some number of years ago I had tried to open up a business account in the UK. I visited a bank twice on two different trips to the UK for other purposes, and prepared all of the requested paperwork, including some papers that my attorney had to prepare, so I had to pay for a couple hours of my attorney's time. I was told the account was approved. However, the customer service I received from the bank representative I was dealing with in the UK was so terrible that I gave up trying to get the account open even after I had been told it was approved.

So, I'm the person that voted that I've tried to open a bank account in another country but was unsuccessful. At least so far.

And the reason I posted the poll at this time was because I was honestly interested in the experiences of others given the difficulties I have seen. And given that I have been told by at least one affiliate program that they feel this should be easy to accomplish.

Michael

[eaton2003]

One tip when setting up bank accounts overseas is to use HSBC. If you have HSBC in your home country it is much easier to setup overseas. Once this is setup you can then use this account to setup another one at a more local bank in that country.

Worth also looking at my colleagues website; http://www.trustprofessionals.com as he helps setup overseas corporations and banks.

[GamTrak]

When I moved to the Dominican Republic, I was allowed to open an account, but it was only because my neighbor took me to the bank and vouched for me.

I've also ran into obsticles with opening a business account if you are honest about what you do. Looks like until regulation is upon us we will all have to roll with the punches and hope for a better day.

[eaton2003]

It is advisable when opening a business offshore to use a local attorney who understands everything and someone who is also recommended to you. The cost of opening a business/corporation overseas varies from $500 to over $5000 depending upon where you do this. In Costa Rica for example it will cost about $300 to set one up, where as in Panama it is a set $500.

[rak]

I have an account in Singapore - but under a personal name rather then business. The tax is immensely low, but I've never used it for internet business. Lived and worked there - got an account, left the country but never closed the account. Although now that I don't have a valid work permit, I wonder if I can still access that account.

Getting paid is one thing, hiding your income is another

[eaton2003]

I have an account in Singapore - but under a personal name rather then business. The tax is immensely low, but I've never used it for internet business. Lived and worked there - got an account, left the country but never closed the account. Although now that I don't have a valid work permit, I wonder if I can still access that account.

Getting paid is one thing, hiding your income is another

You should still be able to access your account, but note some banks charge like $25 a month for inactivity. I have been hit by this many times, so make sure to do a small transaction every so often to prevent this charge. Even a $1 wire send wwill change the status of your account to active.

[diceman]

I had something "like" a offshore account in the past but never anything I would call solid IMO. At the time and even now I did not look to much into them as far as what exactly they were. I told one to put my account "on hold" and now realizing this was a mistake as Im having issues reactivating it. I am finding this very frustrating atm.

Perhaps I am wrong but I am starting to wonder if we should place some of the responsibility for not getting our payments on the programs themselves. The way I am looking at this and bare with me here... The only options we had as us affiliates from most programs was QT. This process failed and in good faith we trusted the programs decision to pay us in this manner. I feel since this process failed that those programs that left us no other options should consider some sort of compensation for the loss of our payments. Whatever that may be that would deem fair to all parties. After all, I would feel the programs did get at least their half of the earnings and left us in the cold.

I am actually suppressed no one has even entertained this idea already. We have nothing to go by here and were just simply told... "Well we sent it" but no other info. Someone could have at least found what bank it was sent to or who from QT can be contacted for a resolution. Some of us still even had funds in QT! I think its beyond just accepting this as an answer.

[the-millionaire]

I just have only one bank account in my country Portugal, and is easy to receive the money in any currency without problems.

[Renee]

I've wanted to open a bank account in another country, but so that when I visit that country I can use my bank account for money instead of paying fees etc to use Aussie cards and withdraw money from an Aussie bank account... Nothing business related.

[CasinoTom]

I've lived in quite a few countries, so have accounts open all over the shop. I didn't want to close them as you never know when you're going to go back, either on holiday or permanently in the future.

[Nandakishore]

I have currently only one bank account in Germany. I used to have an account in the UK and one in India, but I closed them because I didn't want to pay monthly fees for nothing. Of course I have several epayment accounts with Neteller, Paypal etc.

[vicon]

We have helped numerous people to set up bank accounts abroad it doesn't seem to hard in most cases.

[xecutable]

I know this is an old thread, but does anyone have a step by step guide or info on how new or growing affiliates should proceed with this matter? Do you need a company and then a bank account, or can you just open a bank account? Does it have to be offshore or is that a personal preference?

If it's offshore, can you have a debit card to draw funds from it in the States for example? Seems like everyone has some experience in that area, but no one ever says a lot about it.