Mercury account for no US presence

[Forx39]

I am planning to incorporate LLC in Wyoming. I read several posts about opening bank account with Mercury. It seems to be the best solution for "non-resident alien". Alternatives eventually?
Who had successfully experiences with Mercury could provide me process details to open the account. In particular, do they ask if company will have biz/customers in US? Because this is not my case. I have customers only in Europe. Eventually, what to answer them? Can be a problem opening the account if company has no activities in US?

 

[Fraction]

My opinion is :

1. No business presence / no customers in US - they will probably reject your application
2. If you say that you'll have business relations/presence in US - they will open your account (even if you do your business in Europe). I suggest you to use their card to buy some goods in US market time to time , then they'll be happy.

Think about that :
1. How will your customers transfer money to your Mercury's account? You can use Wise as a "gate" between EU customers and Mercury. Stripe (aggregator/payment gateway) will help you to.
2. EU meas VAT ... Think about registering in VAT OSS for non-EU companies - especially after 1.1.2024 when payments gateways like Stripe (or maybe Wise too) will have to report transactions to EU tax authorities to find VAT frauds

Other Mercury alternatives?
1. Wise
2. XE
3. Novel (US account only, nice KYC, good contactless payment cards, I have extremely good experience with them)
4. Relay Financial (US account only, hard KYC)

Regards

 

[Forx39]

My opinion is :

1. No business presence / no customers in US - they will probably reject your application
2. If you say that you'll have business relations/presence in US - they will open your account (even if you do your business in Europe). I suggest you to use their card to buy some goods in US market time to time , then they'll be happy.

Think about that :
1. How will your customers transfer money to your Mercury's account? You can use Wise as a "gate" between EU customers and Mercury. Stripe (aggregator/payment gateway) will help you to.

I will sell services and not items. There are consulting contracts with with European customers. They will pay me by wire transfer to my LLC bank (mercury ot whatever)

2. EU meas VAT ... Think about registering in VAT OSS for non-EU companies - especially after 1.1.2024 when payments gateways like Stripe (or maybe Wise too) will have to report transactions to EU tax authorities to find VAT frauds

I do not know about this. What will change about VAT and my LLC ?

Other Mercury alternatives?
1. Wise
2. XE
3. Novel (US account only, nice KYC, good contactless payment cards, I have extremely good experience with them)
4. Relay Financial (US account only, hard KYC)

Regards

 

[JosephLL]

Why should Mercury care where the clients are? First time I hear this can be a criteria when getting an account?

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Why should Mercury care where the clients are? First time I hear this can be a criteria when getting an account?

You can’t try to understand what a bank does and why. You can only acknowledge it and act accordingly. Life becomes easier that way

 

[JosephLL]

I'm just surprised how something like this didn't surface in all previous threads Icve read about us llc nra. Maybe the guy with Borat gif can comment, if anyone can remember his handle...

 

[Jerry1911]

You can’t try to understand what a bank does and why. You can only acknowledge it and act accordingly. Life becomes easier that way

Same goes for women

OP you may be able to open a Paysera account. Payoneer also comes to mind

 

[Fraction]

I'm just surprised how something like this didn't surface in all previous threads Icve read about us llc nra. Maybe the guy with Borat gif can comment, if anyone can remember his handle...

Mercury is (quite often...) closing accounts with no US relations (customers or presence or something like that). You can find some posts here or you can read some opinions on Google too.

Simply solution: use their card to buy something from US market (for example: antivirus software etc...)

Same goes for women

OP you may be able to open a Paysera account. Payoneer also comes to mind

But Paysera means CRS ...

I prefer Wise than Payoneer

Question for all :

What about VAT in his case?

 

[extremedox101]

My opinion is :


4. Relay Financial (US account only, hard KYC)

Regards

in your opinion why relay kyc is hard ? because the video verification or do you mean the process is lengthy and more documents are requested to open account .
i think they are more tailored to non-residents plus FAQ is simple/straightforward unlike most emi/neobanks .

 

[Fraction]

My case and three other persons:
- video authorization
- bank statements from my individual account and from Wise
- they were asking for LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram profile too
- photos of business items, products, place/room where you do your business with a small paper note with current date and my signature

I agree that Relay is good for US non-residents, but Novel is a bit better than Relay in my opinion.

Novel:
- 100% no complaints (look at trustpilot and other web sites)
- better plastic payment cards (contactless, Google Pay and Apple Pay available)

But ... Relay payment cards are more accepted in foreign online transactions

Mercury, Relay, Novel :
No issues at all with ATM withdrawals

I have no idea how Mercury, Novel and Relay treat international wire transfers ... I prefer a kind of "gate" like Wise or XE to earn international transfers and after that transfer own funds into Relay, Novel or Mercury. And as I mentioned before : Stripe is good to do that too.

 

[Kirito]

Ok, I opened a Mercury account with no problems at all.

It was 2 years ago, during pandemic, so I don't know if they changed or not they policies.

I had the LLC setup in Delaware, then asked them an account, sent the documents required and account was opened.

I got my money from Denmark and from a US Stripe account.

Finally, I purchase many products on US with my accounts and use the physical debit card to pay for goods abroad. I get my money by ATM rather than wire transfers (is cheaper by ATM)

 

[Elad]

I have no idea how Mercury, Novel and Relay treat international wire transfers ... I prefer a kind of "gate" like Wise or XE to earn international transfers and after that transfer own funds into Relay, Novel or Mercury. And as I mentioned before : Stripe is good to do that too.

Hi Fraction. Can you clarify, you have a Wise/XE business account, your international clients send you the money there via SWIFT code and then you transfer it to your US Novel/Relay/Mercury account by domestic wire, correct?

 

[Deepbarrels]

My opinion is :

1. No business presence / no customers in US - they will probably reject your application
2. If you say that you'll have business relations/presence in US - they will open your account (even if you do your business in Europe). I suggest you to use their card to buy some goods in US market time to time , then they'll be happy.

Think about that :
1. How will your customers transfer money to your Mercury's account? You can use Wise as a "gate" between EU customers and Mercury. Stripe (aggregator/payment gateway) will help you to.
2. EU meas VAT ... Think about registering in VAT OSS for non-EU companies - especially after 1.1.2024 when payments gateways like Stripe (or maybe Wise too) will have to report transactions to EU tax authorities to find VAT frauds

Other Mercury alternatives?
1. Wise
2. XE
3. Novel (US account only, nice KYC, good contactless payment cards, I have extremely good experience with them)
4. Relay Financial (US account only, hard KYC)

Regards

Does XE works for non-us residents/corp?

You can’t try to understand what a bank does and why. You can only acknowledge it and act accordingly. Life becomes easier that way

I think if the clients are from the U.S then its liable for taxes in the U.S, even if the person owning the LLC is a non-resident of the U.S. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[micand]

Mercury is keen on clarifying that you are running a legitimate operation. They want to see, that you have ties to the US (customer/suppliers), that you have a professional website or in case of an Amazon business can provide a sound sellers page.

Mercury wants to make sure that you have social media accounts (private/business). They might want to see product pictures and they need proper information about your cashflows (incoming/outgoing), e.g. which countries are involved and what sums are supposed to be moved.

Besides that you should be able to describe your business case in detail or provide a business plan as serious businesses are usually able to do. I personally like their KYC and onboarding process because it makes sense and avoids bad apples from entering the basket, which ultimately benefits not only Mercury but also all of it's client.

 

[stivemoose]

Be carefull with Mercury and direct wire, always use Stripe. About Wise I can only say that I'm not sure it's convinient to use becaue I'm a little worry that they will report something in the EU. XE I have no idea, never used.

 

[Deepbarrels]

Why should Mercury care where the clients are? First time I hear this can be a criteria when getting an account?

Because, correct me if I'm wrong, but when you have US Client, you are liable for taxes with the IRS even if you are a non-resident and you have an LLC! That's how they get you.

 

[csp dubai]

so any alternative to mercury?

 

[TrueNorth]

Ok, I opened a Mercury account with no problems at all.

It was 2 years ago, during pandemic, so I don't know if they changed or not they policies.

I had the LLC setup in Delaware, then asked them an account, sent the documents required and account was opened.

I got my money from Denmark and from a US Stripe account.

Finally, I purchase many products on US with my accounts and use the physical debit card to pay for goods abroad. I get my money by ATM rather than wire transfers (is cheaper by ATM)

How did you sign up for a Stripe account with your Delaware co if you didn't have a US Social Security Number?

 

[Novice]

How did you sign up for a Stripe account with your Delaware co if you didn't have a US Social Security Number?

You don't need SSN. You only need the LLC EIN.