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Owning a US phone# while living in EU
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cameo
May 19, 2019, 1:25:34 PM5/19/19
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I am thinking of moving to an EU country while still keeping my US bank
account and a couple credit cards as well. In Europe I would have a
local phone number, of course, but I would also like to maintain a US
phone # for use by my American contacts and banks that increasingle want
to have two-factor authentication for online account access. That might
be expensive with international calls and texting. I used to have Google
Voice for similar reasons, but that did not work in international
context. So I wonder if anybody knows of an inexpensive service to serve
my needs here. I imagine such a service would be VoIP based but I also
need Text-over-IP (ToIP?), of course.
As to my being also able to call from EU to the US, I can handle that
with Skype where I already pay for that service. I just don't want my US
contacts to be forced to use Skype as I can hardly expect banks or my
less tech savvy contacts to do that.
account and a couple credit cards as well. In Europe I would have a
local phone number, of course, but I would also like to maintain a US
phone # for use by my American contacts and banks that increasingle want
to have two-factor authentication for online account access. That might
be expensive with international calls and texting. I used to have Google
Voice for similar reasons, but that did not work in international
context. So I wonder if anybody knows of an inexpensive service to serve
my needs here. I imagine such a service would be VoIP based but I also
need Text-over-IP (ToIP?), of course.
As to my being also able to call from EU to the US, I can handle that
with Skype where I already pay for that service. I just don't want my US
contacts to be forced to use Skype as I can hardly expect banks or my
less tech savvy contacts to do that.
cameo
May 21, 2019, 9:03:38 PM5/21/19
to
On 5/21/2019 11:38 AM, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
> To receive calls and texts from the USA you could open an account with
> CallCentric https://www.callcentric.com/ and get a Siemens Gigaset or
> similar VOIP phone. Callwithus https://www.callwithus.com/ offers a similar
> service but with fewer features. Don't underestimate the difficulty you will
> encounter trying to open a bank or credit card account in Europe. Because of
> US Treasury requirements and penalties European banks are highly averse to
> having US persons (citizens or residents) as customers.
Thanks for the tips. I'll look into it. As to having a bank account over
there, it's not a problem for me because I am a dual citizen. The bigger
problem is how much more expensive banking is over there than in the US.
> CallCentric https://www.callcentric.com/ and get a Siemens Gigaset or
> similar VOIP phone. Callwithus https://www.callwithus.com/ offers a similar
> service but with fewer features. Don't underestimate the difficulty you will
> encounter trying to open a bank or credit card account in Europe. Because of
> US Treasury requirements and penalties European banks are highly averse to
> having US persons (citizens or residents) as customers.
Thanks for the tips. I'll look into it. As to having a bank account over
there, it's not a problem for me because I am a dual citizen. The bigger
problem is how much more expensive banking is over there than in the US.
cameo
May 21, 2019, 11:05:56 PM5/21/19
to
On 5/21/2019 7:55 PM, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
> Your dual citizenship does not address the concerns of European banks. I
> suggest that when approaching a European bank you don't volunteer
> information about your dual citizenship or having any connection whatever
> with the USA. Bring in only your domestic passport and hope that any accent
> doesn't give you away.
>
> I don't know about banking costs in many countries but you may find it to be
> cheaper than in the USA. In the UK simple checking and savings account
> banking is quite free so long as you can convince an institution to open an
> account for you.
Actually I already have several bank accounts in my chosen country where
I've been transfering funds from my US bank. I think the UK banking
system is much more innovating and customer friendly than continental
banks. No wonder so many of the new money transfer companies started in
the UK.
> suggest that when approaching a European bank you don't volunteer
> information about your dual citizenship or having any connection whatever
> with the USA. Bring in only your domestic passport and hope that any accent
> doesn't give you away.
>
> I don't know about banking costs in many countries but you may find it to be
> cheaper than in the USA. In the UK simple checking and savings account
> banking is quite free so long as you can convince an institution to open an
> account for you.
Actually I already have several bank accounts in my chosen country where
I've been transfering funds from my US bank. I think the UK banking
system is much more innovating and customer friendly than continental
banks. No wonder so many of the new money transfer companies started in
the UK.
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