Applying for Mercury and Relay bank accounts with a registered agent address?

[slink]

Do any overseas non-resident US LLC owners have experience getting accepted or rejected by Mercury and Relay by using the registered agent address as your business address?

Both Mercury and Relay both forbid using virtual mail services but say it's fine to use a registered agent's address as long as the beneficial owner provides their personal address.

However, I've seen videos from James Baker and comments online that contradict this, saying overseas non-residents shouldn't use the registered agent address, and should instead use virtual mail services.

What are people's experiences here?

 

[Tradepass]

If you have a U.S. LLC, the legal address of your company is typically that‌ of your registered agent. The registered agent’s primary role is to receive official correspondence and‍ legal notices on your behalf.

You must list your registered agent’s address as the company’s⁠ legal address. However, you can designate a separate physical mailing address,such as where you are⁤ able to receive business mail, debit/credit cards, or other operational correspondence. With Mercury you are⁣ not required to have a physical mailing address in the USA and, since beneficial owners⁢ have to disclose their address of residence, you can also indicate your foreign address to︀ receive correspondence from them.

 

[whisper]

Mercury ok
Relay can not

 

[TravW]

I'm not US based and use Mercury for my LLC. They accept the registered agent‌ address without issue.

 

[ddddmmm]

I've used Mercury for almost 3 years, but last year they started to request "proof‌ of business connection with the US" where they requested bills, contracts, or whatever could prove‍ that I had some "business" in the US. They did this twice, because they didn't⁠ allow me to use my US mailbox anymore nor the one of my registered agent⁤ as the address of my LLC (I had to use my physical address where I⁣ live, in a non-risky country in Europe)

Last time I uploaded a few bills from⁢ my cloud services that I pay with my business card and they stopped complaining... but︀ I stopped using them entirely as I took that as a warning that they didn't︁ like non-US residents in LLCs.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[slink]

Ah right, thanks that's good to know.

Were you receiving much revenue from the US into︂ your Mercury account? Or mostly from other countries?

 

[ddddmmm]

That's the odd thing. All the money I was sending to that account came from another‍ business account of my own LLC. And all expenses were also going to US companies.⁠ So it was just transfers from the same company in another bank. I keep my⁤ bookkeeping simple: income goes to account A, and expenses are from account B, with A⁣ -> B on a monthly basis.

So, given that this setup was extremely straightforward, I⁢ found it concerning that they were so pushy about proving "business" in the US

 

[slink]

Yeah that is weird considering your transfers, it's similar transfers︀ to what I plan on doing.

 

[slink]

An update from me on this. I signed up⁣ to Mercury and Relay using my registered agent address and my overseas personal address, and⁢ was approved for both accounts in under 24 hours.

 

[alley]

That’s actually solid feedback. We’ve had posts‍ here on OCT a few months back saying Mercury Bank was shutting down that kinda⁠ thing. When’d you open your account? And have they fully signed off on your company?⁤

That’s awesome, means we can start setting︀ up US LLCs again, and they can definitely be useful.

I’m gonna wait a couple︁ months though, just to see if any reports pop up about account closures or anything︂ like that.

 

[kilor]

Never trust a con on YouTube, it should be obvious by⁠ now that the influencers you see there are never telling the whole truth, only whatever⁤ makes them money.

 

[slink]

Yeah man you're right. I've definitely got some value from his⁠ videos, but he clearly has a vested interest in people getting private US addresses for⁤ their LLCs, as that's part of his $3000 a year LLC package.

 

[hungryit]

But isn’t that exactly what’s been︁ pretty clearly described here in the thread?
I’m just really glad it now works with︂ Mercury, it didn’t before. My guess is they weren’t getting enough new customers unless they︃ bent the rules a little.

 

[slink]

Cool. Also, I don't know if this made a difference, but as they optionally⁤ ask for a company website, I created a domain name in the name of my⁣ LLC name, used a nice looking template to knock up a home page about the⁢ business, and also used the domain to create the work email address I applied with.︀

 

[achraf1]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

When you applied to Mercury, did you use your personal‌ phone number or a U.S. number for the company’s contact information?

 

[slink]

I just used personal. I thought about buying a US number, but as seen⁠ as Mercury says on their website that they allow overseas beneficial owner addresses, I thought⁤ I'd just try it with my overseas phone number too, and it worked fine.

 

[ayousupply]

I am US non resident with LLC. Relay declined me not sure the reason. Mercury‌ no problem, but asked for personal residence address verification via utility bill