Re:Ask HN: Has anyone here successfully applied to Stripe At...
by laurencei on Friday May 20, 2016 @06:47PM
(#11742140)
Not been able to get a debit card from SVB sounds like a problem.
But once the business is registered - how hard is it to open a 2nd bank account, with another bank, so you can get a Visa Debit card through them?
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone here successfully applied to Stripe At...
by benologist on Friday May 20, 2016 @06:52PM
(#11742169)
I think you need to be standing in a bank branch to do that.
From what I read SVB don't actually issue debit cards to anyone so I'm not sure how useful the account would be, I don't think you could use it to pay for anything except maybe indirectly through PayPal, that may make accessing the funds complicated too. It may leave you requiring local incorporation and a local bank account for all your business needs in which case you're paying 15+ percent tax in the US purely for Stripe.
The incorporation process is itself just a couple forms to fill out. A company I registered through http://clerky.com/ beforehand was effortless, getting an EIN and registered agent was also easy through http://delawareinc.com (except fitting very verbose Costa Rican addresses on the forms), and taxes by http://de-taxes.com. Price is around $499+ either way you do it.