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.
How does a company owned from abroad get to its first US business card?
In a fixed order: the company and its EIN, an ITIN if you have a US tax reason, a traditional business account, some months of real use, then the first card. The issuer decides that card on your personal US credit, not on the company, so your own file has to start early. Most of the first year is waiting on the IRS, the bank and the credit bureaus, and the order starts the slow steps first.
US banks start from no.
A traditional US bank has to know who its customers are, where their money comes from and why they want to bank in the US. For someone who lives in the country, most of that is answered by a Social Security number, a home address and a credit file. For someone abroad, each of those answers has to be documented by hand, and a banker has to be willing to read it. That review takes time the branch is not paid for, so many branches turn remote applicants away by default.
It is rarely a final refusal. It is usually a question nobody has answered yet, and each step below answers one of them.
A bank wants a real company, a tax number and a reason to bank in the US.
Before a banker opens an account, they usually ask for the following, and they read the answers together rather than one at a time.
- The company’s formation documents and its EIN
- Your passport and proof of where you live
- What the company sells, and to whom
- Where the opening deposit comes from
- Why the company needs a US account
Describe the business exactly as it is.
A banker first needs to understand what the company does, so the description you give matters more than any single document. A plain, accurate description is read once and filed. A vague one gets questions, and often a second review.
Fintech accounts are useful, but they stop short of US credit.
An online business account can often be opened in days, from anywhere, with a passport and the company’s papers. For receiving payments from US clients and paying US suppliers, it does the job well.
What it rarely does is lead anywhere. The large card issuers lend to people they already know, and a fintech account doesn’t build that relationship. A traditional bank account takes longer to open, but it is the one an issuer can see later.
More in How US card issuers decide.
The two kinds of account lead to different places.
Here are the two side by side, for a company owned from abroad. Most founders end up holding both, each for its own job.
| Question | Fintech account | Traditional bank |
|---|---|---|
| How it opens | Online, in a few days | Through a banker, after review |
| Who it suits | Payments in and out | Owners who want US credit |
| What it leads to | Payments, rarely more | A relationship issuers see |
The company’s EIN says nothing about your own credit.
Two numbers do two different jobs. The EIN is the company’s tax number: the bank needs it to open the business account, and the IRS uses it for the company’s yearly US filings. It belongs to the company, it carries no credit history, and no issuer reads it when deciding on you.
Your own credit file is tied to you, through a Social Security number or, for most people abroad, an ITIN. Since the IRS issues an ITIN only for a US tax reason, check that you have one before planning around it.
The order matters more than any single step.
Each step gives the next one something to stand on, so they run in this order. Skipping ahead rarely saves time. It usually means doing a step twice.
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Getting your company’s EIN from abroad
Form the company, then the EIN
If you already own a US company, we check that its records and registered details are complete and current. If not, the company is formed first, and its EIN is requested on paper, since the online form needs a number you don’t have.
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The ITIN, explained
Apply for an ITIN, if needed
Only people with a US tax reason need one, and many founders don’t. When you do, it is usually the slowest step, so it starts early and runs alongside the others.
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Opening a US business bank account from abroad
Open the business account
A banker reviews the company and its owners and verifies you, sometimes over video. The account opens when the review is done, and the decision is always the bank’s, never ours.
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Moving money in and out of your US accounts
Fund it and use it
Move the company’s real income and spending through it. The bank wants to see the account used for what you said it was for, at the level you said, for some months before it lends.
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Your first US card application
Apply for the first card
Only once the account has some months of history and your personal file has started reporting. The issuer decides on your personal credit, in its own time.
Your personal credit decides the business cards.
A US business card is issued to the company, but the issuer decides on the owner who signs for it. It reads your personal US credit file first, and a founder with no US file is someone it knows nothing about, however large the business is at home and however long it has traded.
Your US credit file starts with the first US account that reports to the credit bureaus, and it grows slowly. That is why the order puts your own file early, even though the cards you want are for the company.
The first year is mostly waiting, and you can plan around it.
Most of the first year is spent waiting on other people: the IRS for the tax numbers, the bank for its review, the credit bureaus for the first months of history. None of that can be hurried, but it can be overlapped. The order of the steps starts the slow ones first, documents are ready before anyone asks for them, and the account is funded and used while your file builds.
What you see in that year is quieter than the result: a few letters from the IRS, a video call with a banker, a card that arrives once your file can carry it. Plan for that pace from the start, and nothing in the year comes as a surprise.
A bank keeps reviewing an account after it opens it.
Opening the account is the start of the bank’s review, not the end of it. The bank watches how the account is used and compares it with what you told it at the start. Large transfers it didn’t expect, activity that doesn’t match the business you described, or a change of address it hears about late can all prompt questions. Answer them quickly and completely, keep the documents you opened with up to date, and tell your banker before anything unusual happens.
More in Why US banks close accounts, and how to keep yours open.
What changes once you are banked.
Once the company has a traditional US account and you have a file of your own, the rest follows in a steadier order. Payments come first: US clients pay a US account, suppliers are paid from it, and money moves home when you choose. Cards come next, one at a time, as your file allows, starting with the bank that already knows you. Rewards come last, as the spending the company already does starts to earn US card rewards. They never set the order.
We can help you be more efficient.
It reads like a lot from the outside. We set up the company and its tax numbers, introduce you to the right people at the banks and plan the cards in order, so you always know what comes next.
