Good bank for foreigners?

[mattinvestor]

Hello everyone! I am from Australia. What is a good bank in the United States for foreigners to go through? I have heard Wells Fargo is probably my best bet, but are there any other options for me?

[Dissindat]

There are hundreds of banks here matt. It depends on what you want the bank to do for you. I would choose a larger bank like Wells Fargo or Bank of America but you will get a lot more flexibility by going with a local bank. Just make sure they are going to be in business for the long haul as many banks here are basically small privately owned businesses.

[speedy gonzales]

Hi mattinvestor,

I am from Australia as well & Wells Fargo is about the worst bank to go through from a foreign national's perspective. From experience you cannot do wire transfers unless you attend a branch which is pretty difficult when your in another country. Bank of America is also difficult to deal with from a distance. I have a personal account with Patriot Bank which is a smaller bank located in Houston TX. They are pretty easy to deal with from a distance. I met the person face to face and continually deal with the one person. I email signed instructions to her whenever I want to transfer funds back to my Australian bank account. I send an email at 9-30pm and by lunchtime the next day the funds are in my account. For my LLC...likewise it's with a smaller bank in Texas and I do EVERYTHING online with them including wire transfers and sending funds back to Oz.
All in all I suggest smaller local banks rather then dealing with the faceless national banks.

[mattinvestor]

speedy - that was great info! yes I suppose these are the risks of foreign investing.
Can I ask though, since your LLC and bank seem to be based in Texas, are you limited to only investing in properties in Texas? Or does yoru bank account allow you to purchase properties in other US states?

[charleswalker366]

Patriot Bank is a very good bank for foreigners.

[Voyles]

Wells Fargo is about the worst bank to go through from a foreign national's perspective. From experience you cannot do wire transfers unless you attend a branch which is pretty difficult when your in another country.

Couldn't agree with you more! They are not easy to work with, even for us Americans.

[Maccachic]

xe.com is good for money transfer, generally cheaper than bank transfers.

[speedy gonzales]

Patriot Bank is a very good bank for foreigners.

You sound like you have some experience with Patriot Bank......do you have an investment property in Texas ?

[ChrisEdwards]

Well there are many banks. It would be hard to point out one particular bank since most of the banks provide same kind of services.

[Alliee]

One of my friend also very interested and told me about Patriot Bank.

[mikehussy]

Yes, Patriot Bank is very good.

[Moses Opondo]

I would go with Patriot bank

[mattinvestor]

I would not go with any big banks like Wells Fargo or especially Bank of America (one of the worst bank to deal with on nay level). Try to find a good local bank in a state of your preference.

[Damap]

Depends on your end game Matt. If you want to eventually borrow from American banks Wells Fargo is in fact the only bank that will lend to foreign Nationals. I would avoid small banks completely. Many of them fail and even though they are FDIC insured who wants to wait on an insurance company to get your own cash back.
Chase, Citibank and BOA are all hopeless but Wells Fargo is best for foreigners.

[Property4Prosperity]

We have a really good connection with Wells Fargo downtown Los Angeles branch and always refer our clients to them.