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Banks advice
 

Lately i've been driving around and seeing plenty of banks around my area. There are at least 5-10 banks around here that i don't have an account with. Since i have no credit history i don't like to open up accounts online at banks that i do not already have an account with. I also found a couple banks that are anywhere from 15-30 min away from me. I don't mind driving there but i have a feeling i will get questioned why i drove all the way up there to sign up with them. Would a good excuse be i live here temporarily with my gf and i plan on moving here soon? Got any better ones?


Also this has been really annoying me. I'm currently being a guinea pig for testing these local banks around me. Hopefully all of them will work fine. I usually like to call and ask if they accept deposits/transfers in different names before i sign up. I don't like asking this question in the branch while signing up. But no rep ever knows what i am talking about. I always get a confused response. How do you guys ask this question to get a proper answer?

I would like to save some time and have the answer before i sign up.

You have to understand that the people who sign you up for accounts have nothing to do with the bank security people who look at account activity.

Some smaller banks scrutinize EVERYTHING. Some only look at larger deposits. Keeping the amounts transferred REASONABLY low will usually work OK.

Why not set up a business account and use a D/B/A name which matches the eBay account? For example, Loop Hole d/b/a John Smith. In most places, filing for a DBA is cheap and handled at the county level.

When I open accounts I talk to the branch manager first. If the manager if busy or not there I will wait to ask.

I tell the manager the truth, expect for the EB part, I tell them that I have a paypal under so and so name. That so and so name is a client of my that pays me with paypal and that I like to have many paypal accounts for each customer that I have. It keeps it easy for me under tax season and/or keeping track of sales for my big time customers.

Or that I sell for so and so person and that person likes to pay me my commission fees with his paypal account under his/her name.

I ask them is your bank can accept incoming payments in mismatch names. If they have no idea, I tell them who can I call to know. They usually give me their number to the security department.

If I get to the security department after the branch manager not knowing, then I only use the commission trick. They all understand that people sell things for other people in this tough economy.

I have been thinking of using the soldier in the military trick but haven't gotten that far yet.

One fyi for you... I have gotten limited after the first withdrawal when using some of those little no-name banks or credit unions. Never a problem with a big name bank.

@yotano, you approach small banks with this idea? And all have accepted so far - no problems?

I like to approach credit unions only. So far i have had lots of luck with credit unions. It worked at Ibew and one nevada credit union.

I dont have any accounts at the big banks. I had some issues with checksystems in the past but that is finally payed off and I am simply waiting a few months to make sure it clears out before I approach the big banks.