Need foreign currency account recommendation

[Robert Oak]

Since I got completely screwed by Everbank who held onto my application
never opening the account while the dollar slid, I'm now trying to
find a replacement.

Anybody know of anything...like Everbank but without their bad treatment?

[BernieBear]

1. I've had a good experience with them...

I opened online and funded by wire. 2 days from start to finish....

I'm sorry it didn't go well.

[Robert Oak]

2. I am really pissed off they suck

and usually one experience eventually leads to another.

I need other banks, recommendations, not a defense on indefensible
service.

[Steven_S]

3. I'm also looking..

I have an account pending at Everbank. I found this with google:

http://origin.bankrate.com/brm/news/DrDon/20040910a1.asp

Doesn't seem to be much out there in the way of foreign currency cd's

Is Everbank the only game in town?

I wanted to open another account with another firm, so I will let you know if I find anything.

[Robert Oak]

4. why I put up with it until today

but after they insisted once I fax all of this crud
(and just ridiculous...all because I use a PO BOX) it would be opened
pronto, then the phone call today...another blow off lie.

I had to call them everytime...they never picked up the phone to ask me or tell me what was going on.

Especially because I knew the dollar was going to crash hard this
week, why I shipped it fed ex to arrive 8am Monday morning...
so I called Wednesday and they said they were "backed up" and I was blown off and then I called Thursday and demanded they investigate to hear this new "requirements"
and when I complained...them promising once they got this stuff that I faxed received, they would call me, confirm and open the account...and of course no phone call after I faxed everything, I called late morning today..oh I was "3rd of the stack" and more blow off but it would surely be processed today and then they closed...no phone call...no account.
Fuckers.

anywho, I'm really seeing red on this one...never in my wildest
days would I imagine a credit report and so much BS in order for me to be "approved" to put MY money in someone's bank where's it's not that easy to get back out again. Unreal.

Thanks for letting me rant. I'm completely frustrated in trying to escape the Shrub's burning desire to ruin the United States. this for some reason was the straw.

I'm finding a lot of plain old fashioned offshore banks.

If anybody finds a site that reviews foreign banks...I'm still digging

at this point it seems the only way to get decent competitive service
is to just use a bank in another country. Will post if I find anything.

As far as keeping funds in the US in foreign currency..

only the Bank of California did I find anything but it said "small business" so I have to call and see what that means to them.

[amazona]

5. the P.O. Box is your problem

I think you are going to have the same issue with every bank and brokerage because of U.S. banking law. If you are working out of a P.O. Box then they are going to have to take extraordinary steps to verify your identity.

I will assume there is some sound reason you can't use your home address, such as a person living with you who interferes with your mail or who has used your identity to get hold of your money -- ha, you can tell, I've known people in this pickle -- but it is really, really going to be difficult to do the kind of banking you want to do without a secure street address and a local bank reference.

I don't think it is everbank -- although I haven't dealt with them so perhaps they are just idiots -- I think it is federal regulation that is the issue here.

[Robert Oak]

6. like I said

They had a street addresss and a local bank refernce and so forth.

the reason I don't have much going here is there is no mail delivery.
The town has no regular mail delivery.

but, that's beside the point, they are idiots because they never called
me for additional info and after 5 days with every document under the sun they still hadn't opened the account.

Maybe I'm overreacting but I figure if they won't/can't respond
when you call repeatedly and give them everything to open an account...
what's it going to be like to make a purchase of foreign currency
or want to bail out of a particular foreign currency or close
the account?

I'm assuming hell on wheels.

As far as finding an offshore account, there are hundreds...so now
the question is which ones are reputable and safe and also don't
require you to be a millionaire to keep a little savings in foreign
currency?

[amazona]

9. let me be more explicit

Try this. The next time you try to open an account, with whoever it is, don't mention the P.O. Box at all, since you do have a street address.

Once the account is established, you can change the address to what you like.

I can't guarantee it will work, but it smoothed my way. Didn't specifically deal with everbank though...

[Robert Oak]

10. well since most don't run a CREDIT REPORT

to open up a friggin account I'm sure I won't have this problem.

Of course I didn't list my PO BOX as my residence address on the app!

The credit report has my PO BOX since this is the only mailing address
I have and hence, many bills report the po box.

I'm sorry but you just cannot defend this "everbank" because it's not
the norm.

I have had many investment accounts, bank accounts, savings accounts and
so forth and NEVER have I seen such bullshit.

It's them, pure and simple.

[amazona]

11. ok appreciate the clarification

I thought I had a similar problem and it was easily solved by getting rid of the P.O. Box. Clearly this is something more.

P.S. Credit reports are sometimes run for investments that are considered high risk, because they are supposed to prove that they are only targeting sophisticated investors. For instance, a friend worked at a shady brokerage where they had to show the feds that investors had a net worth of a million dollars minimum OR a minimum annual income of $400K a year.

Not sure why everbak would need to run a credit report though since I'm aware of folks investing there with way less qualifications.

It is a mystery to me what the problem is. I think I've got to agree with you -- "it's them, pure and simple."

[Nite Owl]

7. Sorry to hear that

about everbank. I'v had an account with them since early summer and have had nothing but good experiences with them so far. Have you called and spoken to a rep?

[Robert Oak]

8. I called 4 times this pooped all over me n/t

[elsiesummers]

12. I've had good luck with them so far.

It took us a couple of days after they received the check to finalize the account - we had to fax things - but it didn't seem like a big deal to me. They've always responded to phone calls within 24 hrs - and email maybe a day later.

My experiance with purchasing CD's from them - trying to time a purchase at a buying opportunity (have now rolled over three times on 3 month cds) is that if you are concerned that if you don't purchase immediately then it will be too late, that you will lose out on appreciation this week, (the dollar is falling too fast in three days) then a correction may be around the corner and you may be about to buy at a local top. You really have to look at the CD's as an intermediate term investment because of the total of 1.5% fee getting in and out of a currency, IMO. I managed to purchase the pound sterling at 1.86 handle, I think, before it plummeted all the way down to 1.79 and back up again (now at 1.94, I think).

It is difficult to time the purchase perfectly.

Prior to getting in the currencies I called the upswing of the euro at 1.07 - said we should get in but we were still dallying - but I would have sold euro at 1.14 - so what the hell do I know - would have left before the party started.

I had a similar (though not as severe) PO box issue with Fidelity, at one point. They were sending statements to an address where I no longer lived although I said: "Don't send mail there - I don't live there." (We sold and closed a house in 12 days - couldn't change addresses quickly enough). They insisted they must have a physical address so I authorized the PO Box as a mailing address - by mail - and with a signature in order to receive statements.

Also, Fleet insisted on delivering mail to our temporary rental where we weren't supposed to receive mail and not our PO Box when we were finalizing our next mortgage.

The banking law about PO boxes - I found this interesting and will give you another reason to be irritated about it - it is part of the PATRIOT Act.

[elsiesummers]

13. Oh - according to the daily pfennig (the everbank eletter)

they switched offices over the weekend - don't know if this relates to your issues.

Also - you might see if a brokerage house would sell you eurobonds or some other foreign equivalent of treasuries. Would probably be less liquid but might have higher interest (but be careful of fees).