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Deceiving Banks

US banks are wary about people signing up from foreign countries and will either reject or closely examine you if you sign up with a foreign ISP. Is one allowed to use a VPN and sign up with a US ISP for a US bank account if one lives in Israel and maintains a mailing address in the US. Would this be a form of geneives daas?

Answer:

If their rules state clearly that one must live at their US address or the sign up asks for their place of permanent residence it would be lying to enter an address that one does not live at. For example on tax returns they clearly state that resident means for at least 6 months out of the year you live at that address, However if they make no such stipulation and one makes use of a legal loophole to obtain this service, this would be permitted. The bank presumably has an interest in not being overly scrupulous, probably because they are interested in garnering more customers.

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2 Comments

  1. If they ask for a primary address, can one give one's US mailing address, i.e. the address one uses when dealing with US matters such as IRS income tax forms. (US law requires US citizens to file income taxes even if they live abroad)

    1. Yes, as long as there is no stipulation that primary address means one you reside in most of the year.

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