Hi Streamline Investing

I opened my HSBC account in person at the Brisbane branch. This was about 16 months ago so not sure if anything has changed.

At the time it just involved paying a fee of $200 and bringing in a bunch of paperwork, ID, bank statements etc.

Didn’t need to open a premier account.

Having said that, I never used the account…[Read more]

Happy to recommend Emma on this forum…..helped me buy a place in Vegas….most importantly I bought through licensed real estate agent and not some flip or turnkey deal.Not always easy to keep up with her…. but is honest and helpful..and most importantly is there on the ground when something goes wrong.

On recent trip to US I opened a new account with Charles Schwab bank.

Couldn’t do it on line as I don’t have a US drivers license. Managed to work around it (I thought) by attending branch in person.

Opened account with $10, even got my first statement, and started to organize payments, rent etc to move from Wells Fargo account.

Now that I’m…[Read more]

Had the same problem…solved with xetrade.com, let’s you transfer from us bank account

Ok, have met with Charles schwab bank.

They have a fee free “high yield” investor checking account.

You need to be a us resident to open.

Couldnt open account from Australia but the face to face meeting seems to have done the trick.

Hopefully this will be better than wells Fargo etc

Currently in Arizona. They won’t notorise a document here for an Australian in case I’m a Mexican! Not just the banks that are backward!

I set up a us bank account from Australia through HSBC, cost $200, but can be done. Never used it though as there was no branch in Vegas. Waste of 200 big ones.

Signed up with wells Fargo when in us for a fee…[Read more]

Thanks for cleaning up the pine needles Emma!I'll be in Vegas Thursday week to buy you nice meal and good wine!

Not to labour the point but..My fee free Wells Fargo account, that doesnt provide internet banking, now costs me $13/month, and they have my money!Bit surprising to pay $25 for a new cheque (check) book too!At least I'm getting .00004% interest!Any suggestions for an alternative bank?Some have suggested Charles Scwabb…and comments?

Hi Ziv As with every other step on this adventure we solved the problem when it arose. Never had the need to transfer funds from US bank to Australia from within Australia previously.I guess you could pull small amounts via a debit card from ATM but you'd have to go every day for 3 weeks to get $10k and you'd probably lose half on bank fees, c…[Read more]

Imagine our shock when we discover that to do a wire transfer in US you need to physically go into the US bank.No problem let's use Ozforex or similar, just use internet banking to transfer funds.Crikey…no internet banking in US (where you can actually transfer funds to another person or entity)Not much help if you are in Aus trying to bring…[Read more]

From the ATO website…perhaps get an accountant familiar with OS investment property!Claiming rental deductionsRemember:Tax deductions on your rental property can include– rates– interest– insurance– real estate agent fees– depreciation– deductions for capital works.If your overseas property tax deductions are greaterthan your overseas re…[Read more]

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