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Comment by vruiz | Hacker News Reader

This almost seems too good to be true. What's the catch?

> Silicon Valley Bank will waive account maintenance fees for the first 24 months. SVB will share more detail about your account’s complete fee schedule and functionality as you open your bank account.

> Pay a registered agent located in Delaware to act as a liaison between your company and the state. Stripe will set you up with a registered agent at a rate of $125 per year. (The first year’s fee is covered by Stripe.)

> File an annual report with Delaware, which costs $50.

> Pay an annual Franchise Tax to the state of Delaware—a minimum of $175 per year.

> Pay federal income tax on income generated in the U.S.

https://stripe.com/atlas/faq#Are-there-any-additional-costs-...

No catch maybe, but Stripe siphon off 2.9% of global startup profits into a US company. Sounds like a great business idea to me :-)

You have to compare that to fees that other credit card providers would charge.

Yeh sure. I've no beef with it. Just trying to make the point that when Stripe are making 2.9% there doesn't need to be a catch.

How so? You can do it currently without Stripe anyway? (Set up a US Delaware company and use Stripe USA to accept payments)

I've seen similar services for higher fees. But opening a US bank account without visiting the US? That I have not seen.

HSBC will do it for UK customers.

Citi, HSBC and JPM in certain cases do this.

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