Stilt — Free US bank account and card for Immigrants

Sounds promising, I'm curious that how do you guys make money since you don't take no fees? Do you have any B2B business model behind the curtain?

Hi everyone, My name is Rohit and I’m the co-founder and CEO of Stilt. We are excited to bring you the most powerful bank account for immigrants and visa holders. You can get an account on B-1/B-2, F-1, H-1B, J-1, L-1, TN, O-1, DACA and many more visa types. We bring years of experience in helping immigrants with financial services to our next product. It has all the features to help you get settled financially when you move to the US. - Open an account in minutes. - No minimum account balance required. - Instant Virtual cards for online shopping. - Credit lines up to $5k. No SSN required. - No foreign transaction fees. - No WIRE transfer fee. - FDIC insured up to $250k. and a lot more.

Countless times have I wished for something like this to exist. The embedded credit facility is a life savior early on. Congrats and thanks for building this!

Definitely wish this existed before. Congratulations on the launch, best of luck :) @rohitdotmittal @priyanksingh_

I remember how hard it was to get started here when I had just landed. We used travel cards for the first few months. This is such a great product for immigrants!

Hi Naren, thanks for pointing it out. We will update the criteria for the bank account soon. The eligibility criteria are simple - anyone in the U.S. or moving to the U.S. with a valid visa, employment authorization, or residency status is eligible to open an account with Stilt.

Congrats on the launch, Rohit & Stilt team. As someone who recently relocated to the states, I can relate to many points Stilt solves here and in fact, I was searching for such a solution two months ago. The closest I found was Nova Credit that helped me use my credit history built with credit card companies in India, and use that to apply for a credit card in the USA. With bank accounts, Bank of America was able to set up and activate my bank account on day one of arrival. They don't request SSN to open the account, and few other banks don't expect SSN either. In fact, BofA can open bank accounts even with a business/tourist visa. Nova Credit also has a resource section, that lists banks who can open a bank account without SSN. The BofA debit card reached me in 5 days. Technically, I was able to open my bank account and apply for a credit card using my foreign credit history on day one. By the end of week one, I had a fully functional bank account with a debit card and a credit card. By the end of month one, my credit history in the US was already building. I'm glad Stilt is making this process accessible! I'd love to test your service and provide feedback too! Good luck!

Congratulations @rohitdotmittal on Stilt . But I still see the same eligibility that is mentioned on above comments

Roommate just went through the problem of making a US bank account, took him a whole month+ to resolve it, during which he couldn't get paid easily, or even transact... glad Stilt's launched this, it's sorely needed

The idea of opening a bank account before landing in a foreign country is very appealing - 1 less thing to worry about. However, the stilt.com site & eligibility section (stilt.com/eligibility) doesn't indicate anything about the bank account rather only about loans.

Wait, how is this even legal? Can this be opened by any US citizen? How do you prevent people abusing these kind of accounts to stash away cash from IRS as there is no SSN linkages. How does your IRS reporting works?

I remember how difficult it was to navigate the financial services system when I first moved to the US. This would have been so great to have back then. Congratulations!

This is definitely a great product amid the myriad of challenges it may face due to strong competition from incumbent too-big-to-fail banks and fintech-oriented BaaS-supported like Chime, Simple and the rest. Creativity will be key for a successful launch as well as a clever product strategy to keep the brand relevant over time. I wish you the best of success.

Congratulations Stilt team! As an immigrant, I know how hard first few months can be in a new country. Having access to a bank account will alleviate much of that stress. Wish you a lot of success!

Congratulations on the launch @Stilt Team - wonderful features, excellent design and solves a huge exigent problem for immigrants! Kudos to you all.

Virtual cards, No SSN, foreign transaction or wire transfer fee, being FDIC insured are all very attractive for all, including immigrants. Many Many congratulations Rohit, Priyank and team. All the very best to you all.

Congratulations @rohitdotmittal . I used the service back in 2016 to refinance my education loan and had a pretty smooth experience. I am really excited to see the services being expanded :)

I like it. It's getting harder and harder to open bank accounts when you travel compared to ten years ago. Transferwise was a life saver. Glad to see others tackling the market

I have taken a loan from stilt, my credit was pretty new (month old ssn) and i was starving of cash. Stilt loan helped me set up my home and bring my family to usa. They really understand the banking services required by new immigrants in the country. I really appreciate them. And i know the pain of getting a bank account without ssn. This should definitely help new immigrants.

Hello, I am an F-1 student not used the bank yet but used stilt for small loans. You guys, they are the best product I've used as a student transitioning to OPT without savings. The interest rate was manageable and the payments were flexible once i started working. I am really grateful for this product, I wish many people knew about it!!