How or where do I get a private checking account?

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 10 Dec 2002 21:10 PST

Dear lucyfur-ga :

Am I to understand that you merely want to open a personal checking
account with your local bank? What significance do "taxes" have on
your request?

tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by lucyfur-ga on 11 Dec 2002 19:18 PST

By private I mean an account without my SS# on it. This is not a tax
issue but one of protecting assests from preditors.

http://www.woodstockinst.org/banksurvey.pdf is a survey of Chicago IL
area banks.  Note that Bank One claims not to require a SSN.

I have not found a good source on the Web for further information, as
most of the references are from people who are clearly trying to do
something illegal, but a quick summary of the way things are done:

If you attempt to open an interest-bearing account, the bank must ask
for a TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number)(which can be an SSN, EIN,
or ITIN), and withhold 27% of the interest if you don't supply one, or
the one you supply is invalid.

CheckX, and other checking account reporting services are linked to
the SSN, so that a bank that participates in that service may not want
to open a checking account without an SSN.

There are no Federal or (to the best of my knowledge) state
regulations REQUIRING banks to REQUEST your TIN for an
non-interest-bearing account, nor is there a requirement for the bank
to have a TIN to open an account.  On the other hand, there is no law
requiring the bank to open an account for you without an SSN.

Your best bet would be a small bank where you're dating a teller.