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Number of FDIC-insured banks in the US in 2024: 4500
Number of federally-insured credit unions in the US in 2024: 4600

• Banking (Retail, Commercial, Investment)
• Investment Services (Asset Management, Brokerage, Venture Capital)
• Insurance (Life, Health, Property, Casualty, Reinsurance)
• Risk Management (Derivatives, Forex)
• Financial Planning and Advisory
• Payment and Transaction Services
• Specialized Services like Microfinance, Crowdfunding, and Cryptocurrency
• Regulatory and Compliance Services
• FinTech innovations

• Retail Bank
  • checking, savings
  • debit cards, credit cards
  • for individuals
• Commercial Bank
  • includes retail banking, plus
  • Lending: Providing loans to individuals (mortgages, personal loans) and businesses (commercial loans)
  • Payment Services: handling transactions, wire transfers
  • for individuals and businesses
• Investment Bank
  • raising capital
  • advising on complex financial transactions
  • trading securities
  • for corporations, large organizations and rich people.
• Global Bank
  • a commercial bank that operates in multiple countries and can therefore offer payment and transaction services across national borders.
• Universal Bank
  • provides all of the financial services listed above under one roof

https://www.us.hsbc.com/
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business links to East Asia and a multinational footprint.

3 checking accounts

• Basic
  • minimum balance: 0
  • foreign trx fee: 3%
• Choice:
  • minimum balance: $1500
  • foreign trx fee: 3%
• Premiere:
  • minimum balance: $100,000
  • foreign trx fee: 0%

Investor Checking account, must be linked to a Schwab One Brokerage account:

• Refunds on all ATM fees worldwide.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Account earns interest.
• No minimum balance requirement and no monthly fee.

The “One” brand is used inconsistently. Invented 20 years ago, it may have originally meant one statement for all accounts. No one on Reddit knows what it means now.

Note: Schwab acquired TD Ameritrade in 2020, complete in May 2024.

from Morgan Stanley Private Bank
No minimum deposit
No fees.
ATM refunds nationwide
No transaction fee for online wire transfer.

Examples:

• Revolut
• WorldRemit
• Xoom
• Azimo

Started as TransferWise by two guys from Estonia.
In 2021 they changed the name to Wise.
“An account & routing number to receive an occasional transfer”.
Debit card
multi-currency accounts

Wise offers three products:

• Wise Account - let customers open accounts to hold, send, receive, and spend money.
• Wise Business - allows businesses to perform cross-border money transfers.
• Wise Platform - a platform allowing “banks and businesses to offer their customers fast, cheap and transparent ways to manage their money across borders”.

Wise Account is the interesting one.
A customer may open an account to hold money while sending, receiving, and spending. Customers may:

• opt-in to earn interest on the account, and
• gain FDIC insurance on up to $250,000 of their deposit.

Wise Account is not a bank.
They rely on partnerships with banks.
As of 2023, Wise partners with BlackRock for its interest bearing accounts.

Transfer money into your Wise account via:

• Bank Transfer
• Debit Card
• Credit Card
• Simple Bank Transfer
• iDEAL - from your online banking
• Trustly - for Finland and Estonia
• Your Balance - instant

Example

• Mercury

per James Baker, CPA, youtube.com/James Baker & Associates
though he works with entrepreneurs, not retirees

Examples

• Ally
• Chime

But, what bank account is NOT online?
These banks are NOT global. They require a US address.

https://www.usdirectexpress.com/index.html
Sort of like a US bank, but only access is via debit card.
I think it requires a US address

The foreign exchange rate is a function of the network (Visa or Mastercard), not the bank.

The Chase Sapphire “unpreferred” version is no longer available to new applicants.

• annual fee: $95
• no foreign transaction fees

Previously Citi Premiere, the “Strata” was added in mid 2024.

• annual fee: $95
• no foreign transaction fees

[Editor: this info does not belong on this page. This page is about American banking. This section is about foreign bank holdings.]

Two different requirements for taxpayers to report foreign holdings.

1. must file IRS form 8938 if he has more than $200,000 of foreign assets.
   • per Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of 2010
   • for taxpayers living in the US, the threshold is $50,000
2. must file FBAR form 114 if he has more than $10,000 in a foreign bank account.
   • per Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) of 1970
   • Foreign Bank Accounts Report (FBAR)
   • Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
   • Department of the Treasury

Note. The Thai retirement visa requires 25,000 in a Thai bank.
If an expat living in Thailand keeps between $25K and 200K in Thai banks, he must file an FBAR but not IRS 8938 (FATCA).

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/corporations/summary-of-fatca-reporting-for-us-taxpayers

You must file a Form 8938 if:

• taxpayer living abroad
• must file an income tax return
• not married filing jointly
• more than $200,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than 300,000 at any time during the year

The rules are different for taxpayers living in the US and for non-citizens.

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/comparison-of-form-8938-and-fbar-requirements
Both reports are due on April 15.
FBAR Form 114 is filed online thru FinCEN, even if you don’t have to file a tax return.
IRS Form 8938 is filed along with tax return.
Thresholds: FBAR $10K, FATCA 200K.

FATCA and BSA both put requirements on financial institutions to investigate and report customers who have foreign holdings.

This has made US brokerage companies jumpy about customers with foreign holdings.
See more about this in the document titled Investing:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NAmA9vb0P-JlxdZhW3F2KAVQieHilOmaeQ_6UMf0cSw/edit?tab=t.0

Summary

• Wire transfer is international, and costs $45 per transaction.
• Paypal is international.
• ACH is USA only, and usually requires an external account setup with micro-deposit verification.
• P2P systems are unique to specific national markets, and the USA ones have security and privacy faults.

National ACH association (NACHA)
“National” means USA only, though each country has an equivalent institution.

Also known as

• direct debit,
• EFT,
• electronic bank transfer and
• eCheck.

These types of payments move on the ACH Network – a payment system that reaches all U.S. bank and credit union accounts.

ACH payments can be processed

• in a matter of hours
• on the same business day, or
• scheduled the following day
• or two business days away.

Same Day ACH went live in 2016.
A $1 million per payment limit.

The ACH Network

• is open for processing payments 23¼ hours every business day.
• settles payments four times a day
  • when the Federal Reserve’s settlement service is open:
    • 7:30am to 6:30pm ET M-F
    • closed on federal holidays

At Chase Bank, and at CalCoast, the customer first creates an “external account”, which is presumed to be an account at another bank, owned by that same customer. The bank makes two deposits, each under one dollar, and the customer can prove that he has access to the external account by calling out the values of the two micro deposits. After this he can make ACH payments to that account.

Can he also make withdrawals from that account? YES. Unless one of the two banks has some restrictions in place. Therefore, ACH is suitable only for use among one’s own personal accounts.

Sent electronically across a network of banks or transfer agencies around the world.

Paid for at the sending bank.

Sender must provide:

• amount transferred
• The recipient’s
  • name,
  • address, and
  • contact number, along with
  • any other personal information required to facilitate the transaction
• The recipient’s banking information, including their
  • account number and
  • branch number
• The receiving bank’s information, which includes the
  • institution’s name,
  • address, and
  • bank identifier (routing number or SWIFT code)
• The reason for the transfer

International wire payments are monitored by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, part of the Treasury Dept.

Domestic wires take up to 3 days.

International wires take up to 5 days. It takes longer because it has to clear the USA ACH and the equivalent in the receiving country. Delays of up to 3 weeks are not unheard of.

A non-bank money transfer made through a private network. Faster.

International.
How does it differ from a P2P App?
A Thailand account is not available to a non-Thai citizen.
A USA account will not take a credit card with a foreign billing address.

my paypal account was created with nationality USA and it does not take credit cards with a thai address

to use paypal with a thai bank, I would have to create a new account with nationality Thailand, and be authorized with a Thai National ID, available only to Thai citizens.

faxzero.com only takes paypal

Person to Person Payment Apps:

• Zelle - US only
• Venmo - US and dabbling in Mexico
• Apple Cash - US only
• Cash App - US only
• WeChat - China
• AliPay - China
• Revolut - Europe, U
• Paytm - India

https://www.consumerreports.org/money/digital-payments/peer-to-peer-payment-apps-comparison-a5999129619/

Plaid connects software to banking systems.
Powered by plaid:

• venmo
• robinhood
• acorns
• AdvicePay

Plaid actually expects you to sign-in to your bank system by entering your bank username and password into the Plaid portal.

This 2022 article describes a class-action lawsuit where Plaid collected excessive financial data from customers.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/23/22898009/plaid-financial-venmo-acorns-robinhood-class-action-lawsuit

Example. Glenn Reeves asks for money for his 1040 excel spreadsheet, via 4 P2P systems.

PayPal
https://paypal.me/incometaxspreadsheet
(Send to: IncomeTaxSpreadsheet@gmail.com )

Zelle (App)
https://www.zellepay.com/
(Send to: IncomeTaxSpreadsheet@gmail.com )

Google Pay
https://pay.google.com/payments/
(Send to: IncomeTaxSpreadsheet@gmail.com )
in the use Google Pay has been folded into Google Wallet
Google Wallet includes non-financial features, like storing boarding passes, event tickets, ids
But P2P not available in the US.

Venmo
https://www.venmo.com
(Send to: @Glenn-Reeves-2 )

Credit Unions can offer services similar to banks, including checking, savings, debit card, credit card, and various credit and loan products.

Those who have accounts in the credit union are its members and owners. They elect their board of directors in a one-person-one-vote system, regardless of the amount they have invested.

Federally chartered credit unions in the US are regulated and supervised by the National Credit Union Administration, an independent federal agency.

https://www.sdfcu.org/
kb:Infrastructure:SDFCU