Why "avoid the Baltics like the plague"? I have had an account with LHV bank in Estonia for several years and had a very good experience
LHV is a victim of simply being in laundromat Eastern Europe sadly. They finally got a USD correspondence account last year but operates it with restrictions. Took them 4 years to get one .
LHV Bank partners with Citi for USD payments · LHV
LHV is the best place for safeguarding and growing your money.
www.lhv.ee
I would say avoid banking in all of Baltics period as its just one Russian laundromat.