Insights
How the US financial system works for people who live outside it: tax numbers, banking, payments and credit.
Where to start
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How does a company run from abroad get US banking and credit?
Why the big US banks are hard to reach from abroad, and the order that takes a founder from a US company to a first business card.
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How do I get a US account and credit in my own name?
How someone living outside the US can hold a US account, start a credit file and qualify for cards in their own name.
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Do I need an ITIN, and why does it take so long?
What an ITIN is, why the IRS issues one only for a US tax reason, and why it is often the slowest step in the whole setup.
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What comes first, and how long does it all take?
Which step depends on which, where the waiting happens, and what you are asked to do at each point, for a company and for a private client.
All insights
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The nonresident founder’s guide to US banking and credit
Why the big US banks are hard to reach from abroad, and the order that takes a founder from a US company to a first business card.
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US banking and credit in your own name
How someone living outside the US can hold a US account, start a credit file and qualify for cards in their own name.
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The ITIN, explained
What an ITIN is, why the IRS issues one only for a US tax reason, and why it is often the slowest step in the whole setup.
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How US card issuers decide
Why a business card is decided on your personal US credit, what an issuer reads in your file, and why the order of your applications matters.
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How US card rewards work
Why US cards tend to earn more on the same spending than cards issued elsewhere, and what decides what the points are worth when you use them.
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The order of the steps, and how long each one takes
Which step depends on which, where the waiting happens, and what you are asked to do at each point, for a company and for a private client.
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Building a US credit file from nothing
Credit history doesn’t cross borders. How a US file starts, what helps it grow in the first year, and what slows it down.
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The US filings to agree with your accountant
What a US company, or an ITIN, can bring with it in yearly filings, and the questions worth settling with your accountant before the first deadline.
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Why US banks close accounts, and how to keep yours open
Banks keep reviewing an account long after they open it. What tends to prompt a review, and the habits that keep an account in good standing.
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Getting your company’s EIN from abroad
Without a Social Security number or an ITIN the online form is closed to you. How the EIN is requested by fax or mail instead, and what to have ready.
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Opening a US business bank account from abroad
The documents a traditional US bank asks for, how some bankers verify you over video, and why funding the account comes before anything else.
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Opening a US personal account while living abroad
What a US bank needs before it opens an account in your own name, and how the conversation with a banker usually runs.
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Your first US card application
Which card to apply for first, when to apply, what the issuer may ask afterwards, and what to do if the answer is no.
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Moving money in and out of your US accounts
Funding the account from abroad, paying your cards, paying suppliers and getting paid by US clients, and keeping each transfer easy for a bank to follow.
The first step is a video call.
We talk about your situation, for your company or in your own name, and what we would do for you. If we’re not the right fit, we say so on the call.
Arrange a consultation