Settling in the U.S.

Opening a Bank Account

This can be a confusing step, but not if you’ve done your research before. The general advice would be to visit the websites of each bank in the U.S. and see what works best for you. However, you cannot go wrong with the two most popular choices, Bank of America(BOFA) and Chase. USC also offers its own USC Credit Union with multiple benefits for students, such as no minimum daily balance, no monthly service charges, and opening an account before arrival. However, since this is a USC-specific financial institution, certain services such as ATM locations may be more limited.

Tip: You would be best advised to visit the bank as early as possible since most students visiting the bank close to the start of the academic year results in long waiting lines. If you reach the U.S. 2-3 weeks prior to the start of the semester, that would be the ideal time to get your bank account opened. In either case, calling the bank to schedule an appointment and/or visiting the bank as early as possible in the morning would be good practice too.

Some general guidelines to consider when opening your bank account would be:

1. Monthly maintenance fee (if any) and how to waive this. Some banks may waive this if you’re under 25 years old. Otherwise, they may ask you to maintain a minimum balance (~$1500) to avoid this monthly charge.
2. Support for Zelle: This is VERY important. Make sure your bank account accepts payments via Zelle. This is how IIE will send you your payments. More on this later.
3. How near the bank branch is to you as you’ll have to go there physically to open your account.
4. People also mention to look out for the number of ATMs there are around your area of that specific bank. Whilst you will rarely need to carry much cash on you, you may still consider this factor. Popular banks have multiple ATMs in the region so this should not be a concern.

Tip: Chase offers the option of opening a College Checking Account to those aged 17-24 inclusive. If you fall within this age bracket, you would be advised to open this account instead. The College Checking Account does not have any maintenance fee and you may also earn a bonus of $100 after qualifying transactions by opening an account using a verified coupon which can be obtained here.

Required Documents

You need to carry the following documents to the branch in order to open a bank account. Please note that this can vary from bank to bank so make sure to look up online on what documents are required. But mainly, you’ll need the following:

1. Passport
2. DS-2019
3. I-94 (Supplementary)
4. University offer letter (Supplementary)

Note: You don’t need to have a US phone number to open a bank account. They’ll put your international, home country’s number for the time being and you can update it later. This was the case in both Bank of America and Chase.

Receiving your first IIE payment

Yay! It’s time to get some cash flowing in. IIE payments generally tend to be released in or around the grant start dates. In order to get yours, all you need to do is setup Zelle for your account. Zelle is a payment mechanism that allows you to send money to a person using just their email address. IIE uses Zelle to send us our payments (this is why it is necessary that the bank you open your account in has this mechanism built-in. Again, the main U.S. banks have Zelle integrated in their system so this should not be a concern).

Steps to setup Zelle can vary from bank to bank. Banks such as Chase, Bank of America, and USC Credit Union have this feature integrated into their banking app. The process takes hardly a minute. You just need to find “Zelle” on your banking app and make sure you supply your email address, the one that IIE uses to talk to you. This will connect your email address to your bank account and BAM! That’s all you need to do. As soon as IIE releases your payment, you’ll have funds available in your account.

Tip: You may also ask the bank representative opening your account to setup Zelle for you. They should be able to help you with that if you are unable to do it on your own or just need some support.

Tip: Make sure to supply the same address to setup Zelle that you have used to communicate with your IIE/Fulbright representatives to avoid any technical issues.

Getting an ITIN or a SSN

Obtaining either of these documents is very important not just in terms of filing your taxes at the end of the financial year, but also for building credit history which is needed for opening most credit cards and by certain landlords who negotiate leasing out their properties based on it.

Which one should you get?

Well, it depends. Most students who come to the U.S. are only granted a SSN once they have valid work authorization.

Tip: Some Fulbright students may be eligible to get a SSN based on the monthly stipends they receive which acts as a consistent source of income. You may visit the nearest Social Security Office with the relevant documents (outlined later) to see if your request may be approved.

SSN

As aforementioned, Fulbright students may be granted a SSN based on the monthly stipends they receive. To check your eligibility for a SSN, you may visit the nearest Social Security Office and take the following documents with you:

1. Passport for Identification (Required)
2. DS-2019 (Required)
3. Your Fulbright Terms of Appointment Letter (Required)
4. Proof of U.S. residence such as utility bills or lease (recommended)
5. Other useful documents such as university offer letter (supplementary)

Generally, getting a SSN will help build up your credit history and allow you to apply for credit cards which are particularly useful for maintaining your finances here and may generally be recommended over getting an ITIN.

ITIN

If you are unable to receive a SSN, you should apply for an ITIN instead. The process of applying for an ITIN is listed here. (After logging in go to During Your Program > U.S. Taxes > SSNs and ITINs > Option B (I will not earn income…)).

Getting a State ID

Getting a state ID is important because it allows you to identify yourself without having to carry your passport around. You can also fly domestically as well with this ID without your passport. The process to apply for this ID can vary from state to state. Look up online what you need to do in order to obtain yours. For people from California, follow this link.