3 ms·

Then you didn’t look. There’s some rule from the ‘1940s which says only a SEC-licensed broker can manage securities for a US tax payer. It was mostly ignored o

Then you didn’t look. There’s some rule from the ‘1940s which says only a SEC-licensed broker can manage securities for a US tax payer. It was mostly ignored outside the US until 2010 but since then, together with FATCA, is very much enforced. Most of my US expat friends are lucky in that their local banks will let them have a checking account and sometimes even a savings account, but no other services are available to them. (And no local brokers would touch them with a 10-feet pole).

jb1991 6y ago
>Most of my US expat friends are lucky in that their local banks will let them have a checking account No, it's not luck. Getting a bank account is not the chore you are making it out to be. A securities broker for trading stocks -- that I have never tried -- but when it comes to opening a regular bank account, there are no major hurdles whatsoever. Your expat friends, assuming they are living legally in another country, got bank accounts because it is easy to do, not because they were lucky. The one exception to this would be those living in another country without any formal residence permit, then in that case, it would be problematic in any country since you are technically not allowed to actually live there and many countries do not allow that for citizens of other countries (not just the U.S.). I've lived all over the world and I have never known a single person in the American expat community who was denied opening a regular bank account anywhere -- again, assuming they were legally living in the foreign country.
- beagle3 6y ago
  I have known. Totally legally residing expats. Everyone who persevered was able to get one, but some gave up after 4 months of back and forth of increasingly onerous requests. And none of them was able to get any reasonable saving rate - saving accounts pay less than local government bonds in just about every place, but the most anyone was able to get was a savings account with low interest (and in some cases, not even that). I have a friend in Israel who was born in the US, and has a US passport, but has not set foot in the US since age 6 (40 years ago). It didn’t matter in the past, but over the last 10 years he has been increasingly told to take his business elsewhere by every financial institution; big banks will do checking and saving. Nothing else is allowed.
  - jb1991 6y ago
    There is definitely more to the story than either you are telling or that you know. I am certain of that. Also, this: > And none of them was able to get any reasonable saving rate - saving accounts pay less than local government bonds in just about every place, but the most anyone was able to get was a savings account with low interest (and in some cases, not even that). Has nothing to do with whether you can open a bank account, and is an entirely different topic. In the Netherlands for example (and most European places), all regular bank account offerings are the same for all residents, regardless of their actual citizenship.
    - beagle3 6y ago
      Oh, the offering is the same. But you can get up to 0.5% more buying a government bond than the (equivalent, risk wise) bank deposit - except that due to SEC rules, the local bond purchase is unavailable to US taxpayers (even if they are also local citizens). In that sense, is taxpayers (even if they hold a local citizenship) are discriminated against. And no, at least in Israel, there isn’t any more to the story. Each of the big three Israeli banks have paid between $400m and $900m in fines for noncompliance with US law, and as a result they offer the minimal services they can without getting sued. I’ve heard similar stories about places in Europe where I am less familiar with the details, so I won’t say it’s necessarily the same in Europe - but in Israel, that’s most definitely the case - and I heard it from both customers and bank officers.

jb1991 6y ago

>Most of my US expat friends are lucky in that their local banks will let them have a checking account No, it's not luck. Getting a bank account is not the chore you are making it out to be. A securities broker for trading stocks -- that I have never tried -- but when it comes to opening a regular bank account, there are no major hurdles whatsoever. Your expat friends, assuming they are living legally in another country, got bank accounts because it is easy to do, not because they were lucky. The one exception to this would be those living in another country without any formal residence permit, then in that case, it would be problematic in any country since you are technically not allowed to actually live there and many countries do not allow that for citizens of other countries (not just the U.S.). I've lived all over the world and I have never known a single person in the American expat community who was denied opening a regular bank account anywhere -- again, assuming they were legally living in the foreign country.

beagle3 6y ago
I have known. Totally legally residing expats. Everyone who persevered was able to get one, but some gave up after 4 months of back and forth of increasingly onerous requests. And none of them was able to get any reasonable saving rate - saving accounts pay less than local government bonds in just about every place, but the most anyone was able to get was a savings account with low interest (and in some cases, not even that). I have a friend in Israel who was born in the US, and has a US passport, but has not set foot in the US since age 6 (40 years ago). It didn’t matter in the past, but over the last 10 years he has been increasingly told to take his business elsewhere by every financial institution; big banks will do checking and saving. Nothing else is allowed.
- jb1991 6y ago
  There is definitely more to the story than either you are telling or that you know. I am certain of that. Also, this: > And none of them was able to get any reasonable saving rate - saving accounts pay less than local government bonds in just about every place, but the most anyone was able to get was a savings account with low interest (and in some cases, not even that). Has nothing to do with whether you can open a bank account, and is an entirely different topic. In the Netherlands for example (and most European places), all regular bank account offerings are the same for all residents, regardless of their actual citizenship.
  - beagle3 6y ago
    Oh, the offering is the same. But you can get up to 0.5% more buying a government bond than the (equivalent, risk wise) bank deposit - except that due to SEC rules, the local bond purchase is unavailable to US taxpayers (even if they are also local citizens). In that sense, is taxpayers (even if they hold a local citizenship) are discriminated against. And no, at least in Israel, there isn’t any more to the story. Each of the big three Israeli banks have paid between $400m and $900m in fines for noncompliance with US law, and as a result they offer the minimal services they can without getting sued. I’ve heard similar stories about places in Europe where I am less familiar with the details, so I won’t say it’s necessarily the same in Europe - but in Israel, that’s most definitely the case - and I heard it from both customers and bank officers.