Good US bank for expats

October 29, 2021 1:32 PM

You live outside the US. You have a US checking account, but no US mobile phone number.* Your bank account doesn't charge maintenance fees, which is important because you're not keeping very much in it. You've been happy with its service. What is this bank?

I'm mostly running into two problems:

(1) Every few years, whatever bank I'm using starts charging monthly "maintenance" fees if your account is under some too-high-for-me number. I'm currently paying over $100 a year for the privilege of not having much money.

(2) When I try to open an account at a new bank, the ones I've tried need me to give them a US cell phone number. I would just use a family member's number, but then they want to use the number for sending SMS authentication codes. (Plus ideally I could do this without other people having to associate their information with my account.) My current bank is happy to email me instead of sending codes by text, but see issue 1. I prefer to bank online rather than with an app if at all possible, but if your experience has been that using an app solves this problem, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

* I'm considering trying to set up a Google Voice number, but can't figure out how secure that would be when it comes to SMS-based authentication. And I've read that many banks don't consider GV numbers legit for this purpose?


I wouldn't be using this account at foreign ATMs (I mean maybe one day, if I ever get to travel outside the US and my current country, but not at present) so foreign transaction fees aren't a big consideration for me.

If you've ever had cause to need customer support with this bank and were satisfied (or not) by the experience, I'd also be glad to hear about it.

Thanks!

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (10 answers total)

I can't recommend one in particular, but it's common for credit unions to offer no minimum balance, no monthly fee checking accounts. And, at least in my experience, better customer service by a mile.
posted by bricoleur at 1:49 PM on October 29, 2021 [2 favorites]

We've been very happy with USAA for years now (despite their homepage you don't have to be military for their bank accounts, only their insurance). No maintenance fees, online service (or app) and incredible customer service. Not sure about needing a US phone number I'm afraid, but I've only ever chosen to be contacted by email.
posted by atlantica at 1:52 PM on October 29, 2021 [4 favorites]

PenFed is one of those credit unions with a comically accessible membership class. It looks like the minimum balance to avoid fees in their checking accounts is $500, which may or may not meet your requirements. (I don't have a checking account with them, so I don't know if they keep moving the goalposts, either.) Their 2FA supports both text and e-mail. I mention PenFed specifically because despite having opened the membership class, they're still very military-oriented and do seem to account for the fact someone might be trying to contact them from outside the US.

Alliant also has an easily accessible membership class and has a free checking account with no minimum balance and I think their 2FA supports e-mail.
posted by hoyland at 3:12 PM on October 29, 2021

I’ve been very pleased with Fidelity. They’re not a classic bank, but they do offer many of the services you’d expect with a checking account. I use a (US) Google voice number with them, although they claim to be able to store international numbers and to be willing to call you at your international number, if that’s your preference. I gave them my Austrian number a couple of months ago, but switched back to Google voice after they were unable to contact me on the number they had saved for me.

Fidelity offers online banking and an app. I’ve dealt with their customer service several times over the years, and have always been very pleased with their professionalism and helpful, friendly attitude.
posted by syzygy at 3:13 PM on October 29, 2021

Wise, previously Transferwise, now do something like a checking account. I'm doing this the other way around, but it works as a us bank account and will convert money from other currencies to the one you're spending if (and only if) your balance on that currency hits zero. It does not seem to come with actual checks, if that's a dealbreaker (maybe there's a way to deal with that but it doesn't cause me any problems so I haven't looked).
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 4:22 PM on October 29, 2021

USAA was pretty great for me when I was outside the US, but that was back before 2FA became a big thing. I am fairly certain I haven't authenticated with them outside biometrics lately, and I do know they're very used to active duty members who are outside the US.

There are things I don't like about them, but they might work for what you need. I have never paid fees to have an account, even when they were my second bank and I kept almost no money there.
posted by liminal_shadows at 10:54 PM on October 29, 2021

I recently went through this and it was a right nightmare! That US phone number requirement is a beast to get around.

I was specifically looking for an ethical bank, and I settled on Aspiration. However, I did need a US phone number to get started, which I coordinated with someone. I haven’t needed it since. I also kick Aspiration $2 every month because it goes toward trees and other good stuff, but it’s not required.

I’m curious to see what comes out of this question because my search was fruitless on the phone number front.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:17 AM on October 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

The bigger hurdle for me with US financial services has been the US residential address, but I solved that .

If you have a US residential address, a US credit card, and an eSIM, you should in theory be able to apply for an account with a US mobile provider that supports eSIM. However, there goes your local phone number.

Dual SIM is what works for me, but I held onto the US mobile provider account I had when I left the US as well as the SIM. Roaming coverage is available almost anywhere on the US SIM, so I can get those SMS messages, but my data usage is via WiFi or the local SIM.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 7:12 PM on October 30, 2021

Charles Schwab. Totally free, no ATM fees if you want to move money around even with no balance. I don't remember what I needed to set up an account but I know I didn't have any difficulty.
posted by Literaryhero at 12:46 AM on October 31, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've had a Schwab account for years. Love it. No foreign transaction fees, no ATM fees, and they even reimburse any ATM fees charged by the other bank. You have to have a Schwab investment account (also free), but you need that to do wire transfers in foreign currency anyway (if that's helpful to you). The Schwab used to be my main account (before getting our local credit union), but now it just sits there. No fees.
posted by yggdrasil at 10:43 AM on November 4, 2021