US Bank Account
These days online, everyone is talking about having a bank account in the country of the United States. This is the rave of the moment. What is the need for a US bank account? What happens if I have a US Bank account as a non resident? We would try to answer this question in this article.
I the past, having a bank account in your place of abode, the city in your country was all you needed to operate your business efficiently. This is no more the case, thanks to the Internet and the communication age which has changed everything in the way we live and operate.
No more are we contented with what goes on in our country. The world has now become one big global village. Thanks to the Internet, you can be selling from your remote location to the whole world.
How to collect your payments from customers scattered around the globe now becomes a problem. In comes the credit card payment processors and the huge affiliate networks online. Over 90% of theses companies are based in the United States.
What this means is that if they are going to pay you, it has to be from their base and that is the United States of America. How to receive the payment fast becomes the problem. You need your money fast to add to your cash flow and be able to operate more. Let us look at the options to pay you from the companies in the United States.
First and the old customary way is to cut and mail a check to you. This can take anywhere from 5-8 weeks to reach you depending on your geographical location. When you get the check, you take it to your local bank to help you clear and get the funds. Your local bank will take the check and send it back to her correspondent or Agent bank in the US to help here clear the check. There are costs associated with this.
Your bank will charge you for courier service and then they are there to make profits or income.
Typically the charge is around $50 to $100 per check. For all you know the check could be for a face value of $150-$200. So how much is left for you after this?
After the check is cleared, the correspondent bank will give credit to your local bank who will in turn pass value to you. This whole thing can take up to 6-8 weeks minimum to complete. For my bank, it is 3 straight months that you have to wait before you can be sure of the fund being good.
We are assuming everything goes well. They could be some delays. Your check can even get missing in transit and so on. Then you could be looking at a very long period of wait before you can see your money.
Now let us consider someone who has a US Bank account even as a non resident. First the person will be paid by what they call the automated clearing house system (ACH) or direct deposit. This takes about 2-3 days to hit your account and you can easily take the fund from your local ATM via the card the US Bank would have given you which is linked to your account. Compare 3 days to 10 weeks and then you would realize the fuss about a US bank account.
This is a definite necessity if you are online and making money. You want to be able to lay hands on your fund as soon as possible. This is what it is all about with a US bank account.
