moving to nyc from uk with bad credit - can i open an american bank account (New York: loan)

[MOVINGTOAMERICA]

Hello

I am moving to america in a few months to carry out an internship.

I am working in the UK at the moment and have been a resident here all my life. I got into a few debt problems while at college but have sorted these out now. However as a result of those problems my credit history and credit score is quite poor.

Does anyone know if this will effect my ability to open a bank account in america? I do not need any borrowing facilities (in the uk they are called overdrafts im not sure of the american term), i would simply require a bank account for money to be paid into and an atm card.

thanks in advance for your replies.

[Lillietta]

If I'm not mistaken, I think you have to have enough money to put and keep in a savings account at banks in order to open an account. Maybe New Yorkers can be more specific as to the deposit amount.

[rlrl]

Call the bank you are interested in and ask them. it may be $50 to open it initially but to avoid minumum balance fees(at least in savings accounts) you will need more

i don't think credit history affects your ability to open up a bank account

there are 2 types of overdrafts protection--one is like a loan up to a certain line of credit when you overdraw the checking acct. for this they check your credit

the other overdraft protection is the balance in your savings accts as a cushion if you overdraw your checking--you may be charged a fee like $10 everytime money comes out of your savings to cover the overdraft in the checking. i don't believe your credit affects this

[Henna]

I'm pretty sure credit history has no bearing on opening a savings/checking account. I work with many international students who don't have social security numbers and therefore no way for the bank to check their credit and none has ever had any problem opening an account - though I seem to remember certain banks wanting proof of their student status. A quick call to a bank or two should clear this up.

However, I will say that many of these students have had trouble with all sorts of other things stemming from the lack of a US social security number, and chief among them is always trouble getting a cell phone. I do think there are ways around this, because after all their complaining and being turned away, they always ended up getting one in the end.

[MOVINGTOAMERICA]

Thanks so much for all your replies.

The people I am doing the internship will open the bank account for me and doing all the paperwork.I just wanted to check if I would have any difficulties.

Once again thanks for all your help!