First, you can take the check to the issuing bank and usually get it cashed there without a fee.

Second, Austin is filled with check cashing stores and just about every other gas station cashes checks for a 1% fee. We're lucky because it's about 3% to 6% in most parts of the country.

Another option is Wal Mart. I've heard they cash checks for a flat fee of $3.00.

The process did not go as smoothly as I'd hoped. I opened an account at RBC in 2007, with their full knowledge that we were US Citizens and did NOT have a residence in Canada.

Even though I called BOM ahead of time to ask about any requirements, ("oh no problem at all.") once we sat down with the agent she said it was required that we HAD A RESIDENCE in Canada. I gave her the Canadian maildrop and phone I procured a few weeks ago.

She asked me how much we paid in rent there! I gave her a number and she put it in the field in the computer.

She asked a lot of questions and I could tell she knew that we weren't actually living there. It seemed like she bent some rules for us to open the account and I left feeling uneasy.

For this reason, I would recommend RBC. Maybe these are new rules, or maybe we just got the wrong clerk. Still, she said it was a requirement.

In addition, she ran my wife's credit... of course, nothing came up. She accepted a credit card for the 2nd form of ID without asking for a DL. She entered the complete card info into her computer as well. RBC only required one form of ID.

Lastly, we've probably been to Canada 30+ times via Peace Arch. The border guard we got this time asked more questions than ever before. This is why I always take my wife with me. Always. I've always felt that it looks weird to drive through as a single man, or even with a friend. Husband and wife, up for a leisurely getaway - totally normal IMO. JJ, maybe that's why you had an issue? Also, I've never been asked how much cash I had - that's really strange.

Thanks for all you do.

... I think you got the wrong person at the wrong branch, John, because I've not heard of similar complaints from anyone who's opened an account at BMO.

Do exactly as JJL says, dress well, speak well, cheerful and relaxed in your request... a complete snap. If you do not open an interest bearing account, they won't need any social ID number, which was fine with me. I can do without the meager 2% interest for now.

I would like to add to the discussion of ways to accept Paypal without being subject to their questionable business practices.

You can signup for a third party credit card processor such as 2checkout which offers a Paypal payment option in addition to all of the major credit cards. That way you are totally shielded from Paypal's arbitrary freezing of accounts, etc.

Michelle, Did you give Paypal your SS#? If so my advice will not help you.

If you did not give Paypal your SS# you have several options. I advise against using the debit card or using it too much because paypal will freeze it without notice. Based on my experience and my friends experiences this usually happens if the card is used outside your area. They base this on your zip code and other factors.

I've had at least five accounts closed down by paypal for various reasons. I currently have about five active paypal accounts because I sell on Ebay and other internet websites. I would love to not use Paypal but Ebay and a few other websites make using Paypal pretty much mandatory.

Here's my advice. Do not use your real address with paypal. I usually use Hotels or Office buildings. Used a nominee to open two bank accounts for you. Link your paypal account to one of the accounts. When you are paid immediately transfer the monies from the Paypal linked bank account to the account not linked to Paypal. This will save you from waking up one morning to learn Paypal has all your money and you have to fax them a ton of documents to MAYBE get your money back.

This may be overkill to you. But, I have 20+ internet businesses with payments going to various paypal accounts. I will not use the same computer to access my paypal accounts. Paypal has been known to link accounts based on ip addresses ...

I went to AAA to register car. I always dress nice, not overdone, just neat. I spoke to the agent & he looked at my papers & said, "oh you've done this before right?". Of course I agreed with him. But this was actually the first time I ever did this.

I started to talk to him about the cold weather & how lucky we were to have sun & not snow. He continued to talk with me about all sorts of items I brought up just to make conversation, and try to avoid any tough questions. After a few minutes he said I would have to have Commercial Insurance in order to register the car in the LLC. I said "OK", I will see my agent, she's down the hall here at AAA. I didn't want to show any signs of being upset or disappointment.

I spoke with my agent and within twenty minutes I had a new Commercial Insurance Policy, & because I have multiple cars insured with AAA, I got a discount. The increase rate was not that much money at all.

She then put in the front of the line to get my car registered in the LLC. It was completely done in less than one hour. Two weeks later I got a refund because they now said I didn't need Commercial since it was a personal holding company with no else driving my vehicles. Of course I told them this in the beginning, but I usually go along with them if it accomplishes my goal.

Later that week I went DMV to renew my drivers license. I was nervous because I was going to use my new local ghost address. It went so smooth I couldn't believe it. Now both my car and drivers license are in my ghost address, with car in the LLC.

Thank you Jack.

I responded earlier to Joe's question about using a prepaid Visa gift card for Gmail/Yahoo annual service charge. I said that I use a Gift2go card (available at Walgreens) and register it with a fake address.

Well... to my surprise, the Yahoo auto-renewal failed to accept my Visa gift card last week. After scratching my head for awhile, I noticed that the street address I used when registering the card, had a comma at the end (i.e. 123 4th Ave,). This was causing Yahoo's credit card address verification to fail. When I went to Yahoo and added a comma to the street address, they instantly processed the card and renewed my account.

Having some knowledge of setting up merchant accounts, I know that you can adjust the settings on the merchant gateway for different levels of security. Typically, the default setting for address verification is to match only the street number and first five digits of the zip code. It now appears that merchants like Yahoo are implementing a more strict address verification policy when processing credit cards.

From now on, I will double-check that the credit card info I give to the merchant exactly matches the info registered with the gift card.

(I might also use it as a return address on normal correspondence but unless the address or postage was incorrect, the letter would never show up at the overseas address.)

Do you offer anything like that?

... Yes, for just 27 cents a day (3 year minumum). Although it is not currently offered on this Web site, you can contact Rosie for details. It's called the "PG" address.

the VA DMV agents would not let me use an international address as the address of the LLC - they required I use the US address of the LLC on the IRS EIN letter.

They told me NO company can register a vehicle in VA without a US address.

I'm skeptical but was unable to think of any points that might have persuaded them as I was standing there talking to them beyond the "not doing business" approach.

It didn't matter to them that I wasn't doing business with the LLC and this was a personal vehicle.

On the positive side, they were patient and took the time to discuss it with me without threatening or bluster. This may not be representative of all VA DMV agents, but it kept it civil and informative.

... Would they have accepted an Alaska address?