Open a US bank account

US banks offer two main account types. A checking account holds the money you spend day to day: rent, debit-card purchases, and the paycheck that arrives every two weeks. A savings account holds money you do not plan to touch, and it pays interest at a rate each bank sets for itself. Newcomers open a checking account first, because employers, landlords, and utility companies ask for the account number and routing number that come with it.

Money in either account is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Coverage is $250,000 per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank, for each account ownership category. Credit unions carry the same $250,000 of federal share insurance through the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). Coverage is automatic and you do not apply for it.

The account comes with a debit card, online banking, and two numbers. The routing number identifies the bank. The account number identifies you. Employers and billers use both to move money in and out.

You do not need US citizenship, permanent residency, or a Social Security Number (SSN) to open a US bank account. The bank has to verify your identity and your tax status, and more than one set of documents does that.

Banks ask for three things: a government-issued photo identity document, a tax identifier, and a US residential address the bank can mail a debit card to. Chase lists a driver's license with a photo, a Matricula Consular card, a passport with a photo, a student ID with a photo, and a US Employment Authorization Card as acceptable identification.

Which combination a bank accepts differs by bank. A visitor, an F-1 student, an H-1B worker, a Green Card holder, and an asylee each meet different rules at the same branch counter.

Nearly every adult transaction in the US assumes you have a bank account. Employers pay by direct deposit. Landlords set up automatic rent payments from a US account and resist wires and money orders. Utility, phone, and internet companies work the same way.

The checking account is also the usual first step toward US credit. Chase markets its Freedom Rise card to people who are new to credit and to students, at a $0 annual fee, and says that at least $250 in a Chase checking or savings account raises your chances of approval. A first card starts the credit score that later decides your mortgage rate and your car loan.

Bank statements do a second job. SettleKit's Chase data records that monthly statements work as secondary proof of address for a Real ID at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Identity checks follow a similar shape at most US banks, and the accepted documents differ by brand. Bring five things.

• A primary photo identity document. An unexpired passport, foreign or US, works at almost every bank. Green Card holders show the Permanent Resident Card. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients show the Employment Authorization Document (EAD), Form I-766.
• A second identity document, such as a student ID, an employer ID, a debit or credit card from your home country, or a consular ID.
• Your immigration status document (I-797 approval notice, I-20, DS-2019, EAD, or parole document) and your Form I-94 arrival record. Students add the I-20 (F-1/F-2) or the DS-2019 (J-1/J-2).
• A tax identifier: your Social Security Number (SSN) card, your Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) assignment notice from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or a W-8BEN you sign at the branch.
• Proof of a US address. Chase accepts a pay stub or paycheck from your employer, a letter carrying your name and address, and utility bills dated within 60 days.

Bring originals. Some branches refuse photos on a phone and some refuse photocopies. Without a permanent address of your own, a friend's lease plus a notarized letter from them can work.

No bank is best for everyone. Three groups are worth comparing.

Big branch banks are Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citi. They run large branch and ATM networks and a route into their own credit cards. Chase Total Checking costs $15 a month, or $0 in a statement period with $500 or more in qualifying electronic deposits, a $1,500 balance at the beginning of each day, or a $5,000 average beginning-day balance across linked accounts. These banks want newcomers to open in a branch.

Online banks include SoFi, Charles Schwab, Ally, and Capital One 360. Capital One 360 charges no monthly fee and gives access to more than 70,000 fee-free Capital One, MoneyPass, and Allpoint ATMs, though the owner of an out-of-network machine can still charge you. Ally charges no monthly maintenance fee, no overdraft fee, and no minimum balance, and refunds up to $10 per statement cycle in other banks' ATM fees nationwide. There is no branch for cash deposits, and the identity check is automated.

Providers built for newcomers work differently. Majority opens a US checking account on a foreign passport or national ID for $5.99 a month, and you must be physically in the US for its location check. Zolve opens an account before you fly, charges $0 a month, and may not release your routing and account numbers until after you land. Wise gives you US account details for funding from abroad. HSBC Premier carries your Premier status from your home country and requires $100,000 in deposits and investments, or $5,000 a month in direct deposits.

Four questions decide it: what you pay each month, whether you hold a Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) yet, whether you need the account open before you land, and how you will move money across borders. SettleKit scores the list against your answers and shows the top two or three.

The Chase Total Checking page lists no minimum opening deposit, and Capital One 360 has no minimum balance. What costs you money is the monthly fee, not the first deposit. Chase charges $15 a month unless one of its waiver conditions is met in that statement period: $500 or more in qualifying electronic deposits, a $1,500 balance at the beginning of each day, or a $5,000 average beginning-day balance.

Opening from abroad through Wise or Zolve means funding by international transfer. Zolve charges $0 a month with no minimum balance. Majority charges a flat $5.99 monthly membership rather than a fee you can waive, and it charges that fee whatever your balance is.

Put more than the minimum in on day one if you can. Chase says at least $250 in a Chase checking or savings account raises your chances of approval for the Freedom Rise credit card, and calls it neither a requirement nor a guarantee.

The branch is the default route at traditional banks. You book an appointment, bring original documents, and a banker checks them in front of you and opens the account in 30 to 60 minutes. You leave with your account and routing numbers, and at some banks a temporary debit card. A banker can also work around problems while you stand there: no US credit file, a foreign address, an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) instead of a Social Security Number (SSN). SettleKit's Chase data records that the online application requires an SSN or ITIN you already hold, while opening in a branch does not.

Online applications take 10 to 15 minutes when they succeed. The automated checks run your details through ChexSystems and match your address against US records, and they fail more often for people with a short US history. After an online rejection you go to a branch anyway.

Pre-arrival options sit in their own group. Wise, Zolve, and HSBC Premier verify you against your home country's records rather than US ones. HSBC states that you can open the account online from your home country before you move, and that you do not need a US credit history for it.

Know Your Customer (KYC) rules require every US bank to confirm who you are before it opens an account. Four checks make up the process.

1. The document check. The banker scans your passport and your second identity document. Digital banks use your phone camera and a selfie instead.
2. The address check. The banker reads your proof-of-address document and compares it with your lease, utility bill, or employer letter. Majority asks you to share your phone's location while you stand at your US home.
3. The tax check. You sign a W-9 if you have a Social Security Number (SSN) and are a US person for tax purposes, or a W-8BEN if you are a foreign person. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) describes the W-8BEN as the form a foreign beneficial owner gives to the withholding agent or payer, and it decides whether the bank withholds US tax on the interest your account earns.
4. The ChexSystems check. The bank looks for unpaid overdrafts at other US banks. A newcomer has no ChexSystems file, which is normal.

If a check fails, the banker tells you which one failed and what document to bring instead.

A straightforward in-branch opening runs on a short timeline. The account is open and funded on the day you sign it, and you walk out with your account and routing numbers. Online banking and the mobile app work within a day or two. SettleKit's Chase data puts the physical debit card at 5 to 7 business days by mail to your US address.

You do not have to wait for the plastic card to use the account. Your employer can pay your first direct deposit into it straight away, because the account and routing numbers work from the day you open. Banks that issue a virtual card immediately let you add it to Apple Pay or Google Pay. You can also turn on Zelle for payments to other US bank customers, and Chase notes that Zelle needs a US mobile number.

If the card has not arrived after 14 days, ask the bank to cancel it and send a new one.

Moving money from your home country into the new US account is the first real test of the setup. SettleKit compares transfer providers in its own data, and four routes cover most people.

Wise charges 0.33% to 2% plus a fixed fee, converts at the mid-market rate with no markup on top, and delivers in seconds to one day across more than 160 countries. Remitly charges $0 to $3.99 and up, adds roughly 1% to 3% on the exchange rate, and takes minutes to five days. Western Union reaches more than 200 countries and costs the most of the three: $0 to $45 and up in fees, plus a spread of roughly 1% to 5% over the mid-market rate.

A bank-to-bank wire (SWIFT) works from any bank. Each bank sets its own outgoing fee, the receiving US bank can add an incoming fee, and the exchange rate carries a markup that never appears as a fee. Your bank shows the total on its confirmation screen before you send. Zolve charges $0 on incoming wires.

Transfers inside one international bank work when you already hold an account with HSBC or Citi at home and open with the same group in the US. HSBC carries your Premier status from one country to the next.

Carrying cash has no legal ceiling. Federal law requires a report when a person transports more than $10,000 at one time into or out of the US, filed with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under 31 CFR 1010.340.

Chase Total Checking costs $15 a month, and Chase drops it to $0 in any statement period with $500 or more in qualifying electronic deposits, a balance of $1,500 or more at the beginning of each day, or a $5,000 average beginning-day balance across linked accounts. Your salary counts as a qualifying electronic deposit. At $15 a month, missing every waiver costs $180 a year, which is the signal that the account type is wrong for you. Ally charges no monthly maintenance fee and no minimum balance, and Capital One 360 charges no monthly fee.

Overdraft fees are the other cost. Chase charges a $34 overdraft fee per transaction, up to three per business day, or $102. Chase charges nothing if you are overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the business day, and it also waives the fee if you bring the balance back inside that $50 by the next business day. Setting Chase Debit Card Coverage to off is the switch that stops the fee before it happens: Chase then declines the transaction and charges no overdraft fee. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) explains how overdraft programs work at other banks.

Four things are worth doing in the first week.

Give your routing and account numbers to your employer for direct deposit. Payroll systems take a full pay cycle before they pay you this way, so hand the numbers over early. Set up automatic payments for rent, utilities, phone, and internet from inside the bank's own portal, so every recurring charge shows up in one place. Open a savings account at the same bank to hold an emergency fund, and remember that the interest rate is set by the bank, not fixed across the market. Turn on Zelle for payments to other US bank customers, which needs a US mobile number at Chase.

Ask about an entry-level credit card once your first direct deposit clears. Chase markets Freedom Rise to people new to credit and to students at a $0 annual fee, and says at least $250 in a Chase checking or savings account raises your chances of approval, while calling it neither a requirement nor a guarantee.

Scams aimed at newcomers repeat a few patterns: a caller claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a caller claiming to be an immigration officer, and a job offer that asks you to move money through your account. Three habits stop most of them.

Turn on transaction alerts for every purchase, including small ones. Major banks offer this at no cost. Never give your account number or routing number to someone who called you. If the caller claims to be your bank, hang up and call the number on the back of your card.

Never deposit a check from a stranger and wire part of the money back. The check bounces days after your wire clears, and the bank takes the full amount back from you.

Report fraud the same day you see it, on the number on the back of your debit card. Under Regulation E, your liability for unauthorized electronic transfers stops at $50 when you notify the bank within two business days, and at $500 when you notify it after that. A transfer that appears on a periodic statement has to be reported within 60 days. File a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).