Question for the Money Doctors

Question submitted on Feb 1, 2012.

Question

Good day, I live in South Africa and have a family friend living in New York. He wants to do further studies, I wish to open an account for him to transfer the money into. Please advise me, what type of account I can open from SA. I want to have full access and control of the money. I wish to transfer the money from that account to his personal savings account. Is this at all possible and can payments be made via paypal or must all be done via wire transfer?

Thank you.

Answer

It is possible for you to establish a savings account, etc, at a bank in the US or open a brokerage account in the US providing you fill out the appropriate application papers and identification forms.  The institutions will do a thorough background check based on the application and as long as your place of residence is not in a restricted country, you should be OK.  The institution will decide what methods are available for transferring money once the account is in place.

I wish you good luck.

For additional information visit http://www.360financialliteracy.org/