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Comment by iLoveOncall | Hacker News Reader

I have bank accounts in 3 different countries and none of them have any fees either.

What they have thought is redundant documentation of my funds that guarantee I won't be SoL when the building burns down with the paper ledger in it like this bank here.

I really don't understand this fascination or even admiration for outdated ways.

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I'm sure Mr. Sammon's typist keeps the pink copy of the carbon with your account data on it offsite.

Many of this bank's customers would be baffled at the necessity of having bank accounts in three different countries. They haven't left Newton County, Indiana since high school.

The old-school way to document savings accounts is with a passbook:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passbook

If this bank offers that, then you have the redundant documentation yourself.

That doesn't seem like the kind of redundancy that the bank would trust. It's nice for you to see what is in your account but you cannot reconstruct a trusted bank ledger from those.

(but I may be wrong, the wikipedia page is short in details)

> I have bank accounts in 3 different countries

How is this even possible? Do you have citizenship in all three countries?

I have lived and worked in 3 countries and have kept the bank accounts I opened there since. They usually won't allow you to open a new bank account without being a resident, but you can notify them of your new tax residency once you move out and keep your account, credit cards, etc.

I could have more if I had kept the account I had when studying abroad but it had fees to keep it while empty.

Actually with Revolut I have also an account domiciled in Lithuania.

It's the opposite. You just really, really need to not be a US citizen.

If you reside in the European Union, you can easily have bank accounts in any other EU country. Apart from that, plenty of banks in many countries allow you to open an account even without residency or citizenship.

Getting an account as a US citizen in the EU used to be easier, but the US put in place onerous reporting requirements that made US citizens mostly unwelcome unless you have a lot of money. Very frustrating to have a bank close your accounts because dealing with the US reporting is too much of a hassle.

temporary residence or work permit is enough. and you can have that in multiple countries at once.

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