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Comment by 101008 | Hacker News Reader

I can imagine this being true but at the same time it's so weird. I tried to open an account with Chase and Bank of America and they ask me for SSN, and I can't get one because I am from outside the US (I just want to get one to have my freelance money in an actual bank and not Paypal/Payoneer/an app).

There are companies that provide a LLC with a SSN for just a fix payment of $400, but I am sure it comes with a lot of taxes issues that I don't want to care for now.

So, how can the financial system rely on SSN if they can be sold for inmigrants?

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> There are companies that provide a LLC with a SSN for just a fix payment of $400

This has to be a TIN (Tax Identification Number) not a SSN (Social Security Number). As far as I know SSNs are only issued to people.

Legal immigrants get an SSN. I have an SSN it is just suspended or something. If I try to use it online it causes 500 errors everywhere as whatever status is attached to it isn't handled by any financial site.

They won't use a Chase account. They'll get paid cash or a physical check they can take to a check cashing place.

Yes but my question was not about how they open a Chase account, but why Chase requires a SSN if SSN are sold in a black market (according to the previous comment)

Chase requires more than just the SSN. Chase requires you to prove your identity matches the person whose SSN you submit. They require it as part of a larger picture, not in isolation.

(Employers are supposed to verify ID too, but they're not scrutinized as heavily as a major bank like Chase.)

Chase uses the SSN to look for a bad banking history.

Why wouldn't they? They'd probably just use the business tin as the taxable account owner and then their real foreign passport as the UBO for KYC. If they can't do that it would surely break the wheels of industry as foreign owned US businesses need US bank accounts.

IIRC banks need a ITIN or SSN + passport or ID of the UBO

Documented immigrants will get a ITIN and/or EIN.

Undocumented immigrants are far more likely to go the... undocumented route.

Undocumented immigrants can get an ITIN, and many do. A lot of the time the ITIN will be used where it's allowed (opening bank accounts) and a counterfeit social security card where it's not (applying for employment).

Wouldn't that, by definition, turn them from undocumented to documented?

I guess in a pedantic manner, but then they were always documented, since their country of origin knew who they are.

In terms of immigration, undocumented typically means you don't currently have a valid visa or residency permit. In that case no, they would still be undocumented, since the ITIN doesn't grant them either.

BofA happily opens accounts for those with no SSN as long as they show up with somebody who has. And a person with a driver's license and SSN must confirm that the customer resides with them.

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