US banks may accept an ITIN as your taxpayer identification number when you open an account. Federal customer identification rules let a bank identify a non-US person by a taxpayer identification number, a passport number, an alien identification number or another government photo document number, so an ITIN is one accepted identifier, not a requirement, and each bank sets its own policy. In practice the large banks open accounts for non-residents in person at a branch, with a passport and a US taxpayer number. Our clients have opened accounts at Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Truist and Capital One this way in Miami.
Do banks accept an ITIN instead of an SSN?
Many do, because the rule they work under allows it. The federal customer identification rule for banks, 31 CFR 1020.220, requires a bank to collect an identification number before opening an account. For a US person that number is a taxpayer identification number. For a non-US person the rule accepts one or more of the following: a taxpayer identification number; a passport number and country of issuance; an alien identification card number; or the number and country of issuance of any other government-issued document evidencing nationality or residence and bearing a photograph. The rule even carves out an exception for people who have applied for a taxpayer number and are waiting for it.
So the ITIN is one accepted identifier among several, and the law does not force any bank to open an account for a non-resident. Each bank writes its own policy on top of the rule, branch practice varies, and the person across the desk applies both. The ITIN's real job at the bank is to be the taxpayer number the bank reports interest under; identification is your passport. Publication 1915 says as much: the ITIN is not valid for identification outside the tax system.
Which banks say they open accounts for non-residents?
Two of the largest publish it plainly. Chase writes that some non-residents believe they are ineligible to open a bank account in the US and that this is not true, that many financial institutions offer US bank accounts for non-residents with a little more paperwork, and that non-residents who do not have a Social Security number can apply for an ITIN, which may be used as a substitute for an SSN on the account application where a number is required. It lists a passport with photo among acceptable identification and asks applicants to confirm requirements with the bank.
Bank of America runs a page for non-residents and non-citizens on opening a US bank account, answers whether a non-US citizen can open an account and whether an SSN is needed, and ends with a step it calls schedule an appointment. Both pages were read on September 14, 2026. Other banks and most credit unions do not publish a policy in words; you learn it at the desk. That is the honest state of the market, and it is why a list of ITIN banks tells you less than it seems to.
Why a list of ITIN banks is the wrong question
Lists go out of date, policies differ by state and by branch, and the same bank that opens an account for one prepared founder declines another who arrives with a fintech statement and a company nobody can verify. The variables that decide the outcome are not on any list: the documents a banker can accept, a US business address the company actually uses, a passport, the ITIN letter, an opening deposit, and answers that hold together when the banker asks what the business does and why it banks in the US.
Relationship also matters more than a list admits. An account opened in person with a banker who has met you is treated differently from an online application from an IP address abroad, both on the day and later, when the account is reviewed. That is the reason the accounts in our programme are opened in Miami, in person, after the paperwork is ready, and never remotely.
Where did our clients actually open accounts?
Names from recorded client interviews, all in the cleared set on our results page. Every one of these accounts was opened in person after the client arrived with an ITIN and prepared company documents. They are individual results; the bank made each decision.
| Bank | Clients on record | What they said |
|---|---|---|
| Chase | Jack (Australia), Richard (UK), Kevin (Italy), Robert (Canada), the Latvia e-commerce founder, the Cyprus GTM co-founder | Jack: personal and business banking at three banks in about two hours. Kevin: walked out with a Chase Sapphire Reserve credit line. |
| Bank of America | Jack, Richard, Alvaro (Spain), the Latvia founder, the Cyprus co-founder | Alvaro: it was actually pretty easy once I got to the bank and did exactly what they said. |
| Wells Fargo | Jack, Richard | Richard: three days in Miami, Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo opened. |
| Truist | Alvaro, Robert | Alvaro opened Bank of America and Truist on the same trip. |
| Capital One | Robert, the Latvia founder | Robert's credit file grew from a $500 first card to Chase, Amex, Truist and Capital One cards. |
What about Mercury, Wise and Relay?
Fintech business accounts open online against the company's EIN and are a reasonable place for a new US company to receive its first payments. They are not banks in the relationship sense: there is no branch, no banker, and their statements do not carry the weight a bank's do when a card issuer or a landlord reads them. Richard described his Mercury account as a Choice Financial fronted account and its credit as leverage on what you hold in the account, not a real credit system. The Latvia founder was blunter: no one trusts a Mercury bank statement. Devan used Mercury for a five-figure monthly ad spend and got no rewards for it, until the Amex Gold.
Start there if you must. Do not stop there. The base is the account a bank opened with you in the room.
What do you bring to the branch?
- Your passport, current and unexpired.
- Your ITIN letter, the CP565 Notice of ITIN Assignment.
- For a business account: the company's formation document, the EIN letter, the operating agreement, and the US business address the company uses.
- An opening deposit, in the amount you intend to keep in the account.
- Answers: what the business does, who it sells to, why it banks in the US, how money will move. The banker will ask.
What happens at the desk, question by question, is in the branch guide. The five mistakes we see on the trip are in the Miami guide.
The order that works
ITIN first, because the bank needs to identify the person. Then the company and its EIN, with documentation a banker can accept. Then the trip and the accounts, opened in person. Then the cards, one at a time, on the accounts and the history the banks now see. Every attempt to skip a step lands on the same desk with the same result. The order guide explains why each layer depends on the one below it, and the ITIN service is where the first one starts.