Basic US banking for Digital Nomads · Cloud Residents

Basic US banking for Digital Nomads

There are was post which was there about Credit card Ultimate end game. I am doing reverse. I want to post what is basic financial ecosystem for Digal Nomads. In my opion this is basic financial ecosystem which some one shoud aim. This depends upon

Country of Identity : Normally Passport of your country.
Country of Residence : This determines your taxations. Remember taxation is normally not on Identity. it depends upon your residence address
Apply ITIN if you donot have or Apply SSN if you travel on long term visa like L1 , H1 etc .

What You should aim for :

Wise Account
Charles Schwabs Brokerage : this is excellent it gives you almost complete US banking and brokergae except Zelle and Bill Pay and credit cards. provided your country of identity is allowed without ITIN or SSN
Any major banks checking account. There are 4000+ Banks and CU. I feel Bank of America is very good basic bank for any digital nomad. Provided you are able to open in any of your visit to US (physical visit to branch). This is practically not possible online. But if you get one visit to anywhere is US you can get Checking account and CC (which never gets closed) in future. and no further visit to US is required. I know one of my friend who has BOFA account from 2000 and not in US for last 20 years. Mantain $500 in account and you are in their ecosystem practicaly for life.You can put non US address (accepts W8BEN). They can ship debit card outside US. Fantastic for any digital nomad. The interst income NEVERS gets reported as 1099 to IRS if you submitted W8BEN and no taxation. If you play smart yo get SUB for $500 and thus account is free for life.
Interactive Brokers : Account. They do provide very competetive rates for Stocks and ETF. One of the biggest advantage with IBKR is they have very good fills (un controlled liquidity for stocks and ETF). Very good linkage with wise and you can trasfer wire to place of your residence almost free.
Capital One Credit Card: Last in your basic ambitions. Bit difficult to open online or without much of credit history but possible. Very strict with ITIN holders (Credit card Almost gets closed with ITIN but not always). Also there charter donot allow Non US addres. The interst income gets reported as 1099 to IRS.

I hold CC and Checking account with BoFA , Capital One and Amex. I have IBKR account too. I am well versed with their processes and requirement for last 10 years. Happy to hear other banks (please explain their ecosystem like checking and CC both and their processes.Thats why this community is for. But in my opinion this is basic any one should aim for. But it will take time may be years.

Edit

Chase and BOFA has clear documented process for Non residents without SSN for checking account. For credit Card it require SSN or ITIN or credit history. This makes highest sense only if you have any visit plan to US and new to any US banking. I am not in Chase eco system but you can select any one of them if you make one visit to US. I have excellent feedback on BoFa Service.

If any US bank accept my non US address in profile and ship the debit card to that address it gives me highest confidence as Non resident otherwise I not willing to put large sum of money in any account thats my issue and they both are in that leaugue which gives high confidence.

https://www.chase.com/personal/banking/education/basics/us-bank-account-for-non-residents

https://info.bankofamerica.com/en/international/professional-bank-account

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