Alternatives to banking whilst on the road?

iSTEVEi

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Need a little help...
Are there any alternatives to opening up a bank account that can be used whilst travelling. I don;t have a lot of money but I'd like to keep enough money hidden away that I can use in an "emergency" situation.

Naturally I;ve hit the snag that you have to have a permanent US address to start an account and a PO box isn;t allowed due to the Patriot act.
I was considering leaving a U.K HSBC account open at my Parents address here in the U.K and just keeping a debit card for a quick withdrawal should one be needed. But I was wondering if there were any alternatives to banking that you don;t require a permanent address for or do you think my U.K account plan would suffice?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)
 

iSTEVEi

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Your valuables should be safe if you use the method recommended here:
http://www.ak47.net/archive/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=1238682
:D
No penalty for early withdrawal.

Haha, I was wondering how long it would take for someone to say that.


Not sure what its like in the UK but here in the states you can go to a walmart and pay 5 bucks for a Pre Paid Debit Card... You just load however much money you need onto it... & you can keep loading money onto it for howvever long.. For a small fee ofcourse..

I've heard about prepaid cards.. I assume that they work the same as prepaid phones right? Just top it up whenever its running low?
Does anyone have any experience with them and can reccomend a "Brand" of card to choose once I get to the US?

Just trying to keep my options open until I get my last unemployment benefits payment at the end of August. Then I'll make the choice of which method to go for (But not in any body cavity).
 

CrypticCosmic

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Haha, I was wondering how long it would take for someone to say that.




I've heard about prepaid cards.. I assume that they work the same as prepaid phones right? Just top it up whenever its running low?
Does anyone have any experience with them and can reccomend a "Brand" of card to choose once I get to the US?

Just trying to keep my options open until I get my last unemployment benefits payment at the end of August. Then I'll make the choice of which method to go for (But not in any body cavity).
I had green dot.. It's a visa pre paid debit card.. pretty much like a phone card in ways..

Everytime you load money into your account though it cost 5 bucks, pretty shitty..

Or you can go to a place called Money tree and only pay a one time fee, but you have to reload at a money tree, which can be hard to find in some places..

That Green Dot card is in all the major stores like walmart ,kmart ,cvs , walgreens ect..

hope this helps brothaman
 

iSTEVEi

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Thanks man.
I checked out Money Tree but It doesn;t seem that they have branches in any location but the west coast.
I'll probably go with Green Dot... although a quick google shows lots of complaints about them.
Any other first hand experiences with them would be great.
Thanks
 

bryanpaul

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I'M PRETTY SURE THE MAJOR CREDIT CARD COMPANIES DO THE PREPAID THING..... oops caps lock...... i've never heard of those companies you mentioned ...........

or go with young jeezy's method

A .40 cal, rubberbands, and a shoebox
Run through a hundred grand watching Matlock

nobody gonna fuck witcher shoebox when you strapped like 'at
 
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Teko

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Kenn Lee

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yeah i have my dad set me up a payee account so i can travel and have an atm card where i get 70 dollars a week put into a payye account. so that way every week i can max out and not go broke. otherwise i may decide im having a really good night and spend buku bucks on drugs and alcohol and a hotel. this way ill be safe. check out secondary rep payee accounts. it would be opened under an active account but you would only have access to a section of it.
 

Teko

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yeah i have my dad set me up a payee account so i can travel and have an atm card where i get 70 dollars a week put into a payye account. so that way every week i can max out and not go broke. otherwise i may decide im having a really good night and spend buku bucks on drugs and alcohol and a hotel. this way ill be safe. check out secondary rep payee accounts. it would be opened under an active account but you would only have access to a section of it.
that kinda defeats the point of a bank alternative doesn't it? and pardon me if i miss understood you, but your father pays for you to travel around?
 

Kenn Lee

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lol. well yeah but everyone was discussing different methods of the same issue. i just hit a blank spot. but yeah.
yeah my dads billy gates.
no its my money in a representive account. the US government pays for me to travel baby.
 
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urbanflow

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way the fuck out there
lol. well yeah but everyone was discussing different methods of the same issue. i just hit a blank spot. but yeah.
yeah my dads billy gates.
no its my money in a representive account. the US government pays for me to travel baby.

lol awesome. how so though? we talking disability or SS? or are you talking about welfare and food stamps?
 

Doc Road

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Whare your going....,there is no money......
Whait,thats just the begining of the prep talk i give myself when i set sail.
Perfer to take just enough,so that nothing could go wrong(mind over matter shit works fine)
For mad cash,you just ganna have to bank. Banking is not evil,(just the Inc's,witch is to say seeingly all forms of them on this planet)travelers checks can still can be practical,and more work for the wrong person to use them. Just hit up those small no name banks, that dont partake in the ''retualisticfuckining'' the rest do.
 

Weston

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Have you ever heard of bitcoin? Bitcoin is anonymous crypto-currency that can be used, if you know where to buy, to purchase just about anything your heart desires. Clear market or black market.

Step one is open an online bitcoin wallet - https://blockchain.info/wallet is a highly trusted place to do this. It's free and anon as long as the email address you provide is created under a fake name - even more anon if you tunnel your ip traffic through Tor. Bitcoins can be purchased easily with cash by going to bitinstant ( https://www.bitinstant.com/ ) and following directions. To cash out you can sell them at a Bitcoin exchange or sell them straight up for cash to anyone needing bitcoins. One cashout example is sell them at MtGox and route the cash to your Dwolla.com account.

When you discover the benefit of bitcoin over cash you might not even want to cash them out...


EDIT - I should mention that this requires internet access... but even an Android phone with no service can be used at public WiFi for everything mentioned here.
 

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