How long does a bank's “Know Your Customer” (KYC) process typically take?
The idea is to positively identify you with properly issued government ID. If you show up with your passport, visa, and another form of government-issued identification which the banker can recognize and use (for example - international driver's license, a US-State driver's license, EU internal ID, etc) - it will be quick and painless. Usually, at least two distinct forms of identification are required from foreigners: passport and something else, and not the visa stamped in a passport, that just shoes to show your status upon your W9/W8 requirements may be based. You'll probably be asked for a TIN before any payments are made to you by the bank. If you don't have anything credible to show as your identification it will be equally quick and painless, except that you'd be leaving without a bank account. If your identity cannot be established properly there and then - they will not serve you.
Since there are no details (rightfully so). You need to know how it will make money, period. Snap chat sounded like a weird idea, but it got super popular and is valued very high. But guess what - it doesn't know how to make money. Which is why the value has been so volatile and going down. You need to know how your idea will *very specifically* make money. Details about your target audience, how many people does it include, how you will attract them, why they would want your product or service over someone else's, how you will give it to them, how much they would pay, how often would it be needed. And you need to know how much money it will cost you to make that money so figure out the costs you need to know the exact resources that you will need, how much they will cost, how long it will take to even begin execution, and how long you expect it will be until you are cash flow positive. There's a lot more but hopefully that's a starting point for you since you seem to not any real research done I am using my debit card regularly: in ATM's with a pin, in stores with my signature, and online. But later you say  But from what I recall from starting my own business (a LONG time ago), for debit cards there's only a per-transaction fee of like $0.25, not a percentage cut. Only pin transactions have just a per-transaction fee paid by you to the merchant (and you are reimbursed by Schwab).  If you use your card with just a signature or online without a pin, then it is a credit transaction from the merchant's perspective.  The merchant pays a fee and Schwab gets its cut of that.  So for two of the transaction types that you describe, the merchant pays Schwab (indirectly) out of your payment.  Only when you enter your pin does it process as a debit transaction where Schwab pays the merchant.   Because check cards withdraw the money from your account immediately, you don't even get the twenty to fifty day grace period.  So those merchant fees are pure profit for Schwab, offsetting the loss from the ATM fees.   You claim $4-5k in fees at $.25 each.  That's sixteen to twenty thousand transactions.  Assuming that several is four to five years, that's more than ten transactions a day.  That seems like a lot.  I can see three for meals, one for miscellaneous, and maybe some shopping.  But if I go shopping one day, I don't normally go again for a while.  I have trouble seeing a consistent average of five or more transactions a day.   Even if we use just the higher ATM fees (e.g. $2), that's still more than a transaction a day.  That's an extreme level of usage, particularly for someone who also makes frequent purchases via card.   I haven't done any other business with them. I find this confusing.  How does money get into your account?  At some point, you must have deposited money into the account.  You can't debit from an account without a positive balance.  So you must have done or be doing some kind of business with them.  If nothing else, they can invest the balance that you deposit.  Note that they make a profit off such investments.  They share some of that profit with you in the form of interest, but not that much really.   Of course, Schwab may still be losing money on your transactions.  We can't really tell without more information on how much of each transaction type you do and how much of a balance you maintain.  Perhaps they are hoping that you will do other, more profitable, activities in the future.   I doubt there are that many Schwab customers like you describe yourself.  As best I've been able to see, they advertise their banking services just to investment customers.  So it's unlikely that many customers who don't use their investment services use their banking services just for ATM reimbursements. Update: here is a message the seller just sent me. Does this make sense?  I spoke with my bank again and they explained it a little better for me. I guess how it works is they will print out something for you that is called an affidavit in lieu of title that states they are no longer the lein holder and to release it to you. You then take that to the dol and they get it put in your name. He says that's how they do it all the time. When we get to the bank, the teller just verifies the check and I deposit it and they release the funds to pay off the account and that's when you would get the paperwork. You would be there for the whole process so nothing is sketchy. Sorry it's such a pain, I didn't understand how that worked. We've never sold a car with a loan on it before. "Under no circunstances will the bank keep the money for itself. Keeping the money is considered Unjust Enrichment: A general equitable principle that no person should be allowed to profit at another's expense without making restitution for the reasonable value of any property, services, or other benefits that have been unfairly received and retained. The banks will attempt to, in order: Wait for some time: Generally, a time frame of three to five years with no customer-initiated activity sends an account into dormancy. The amount of time that must lapse depends on the [US] state in which the bank account was opened. Attempt to contact the account holder: (...) the bank must try to notify the account holder. If the customer does not respond within a certain amount of time, the balance on the account will be turned over to the state. Turn over the money to the government: In a process what is called “escheating” an account, banks are required to turn over funds from the inactive account to the state treasury. Once the account is sent to the state, the funds are held as unclaimed property. At this point the account no longer exists so far the bank is concerned.  To reclaim your money, you will have to contact your state for the instructions on how to get your money back. You’ll need to complete and submit a claim form along with the necessary identification. If you happen to have unclaimed property held by the state, you can begin the retrieval process by visiting www.unclaimed.org. For a foreigner, it is not unreasonable that the bank would attempt to contact the diplomatic body of the country of origin in step 2, but that may be subject to bank policy. There is some paperwork the bank needs to do to ""escheat"" the account and properly transfer the money to the state." I would presume this goes entirely through the credit card network rather than the banking network. I am guessing that it's essentially the same operation as if you had returned something purchased on a card to the store for credit, but I'm not sure whether it really looks like a vendor credit to the network or if it is marked as a different type of transaction. "Your bank will undoubtedly charge you a fee for the ""chargeback"" and so while you will get your money back faster, you will likely end up with less than you would if you were not so impatient and just waited a few days for the refund to show up. I suppose it depends on whether you consider this a downside or not." The negative effects of multiple hard inquiries in a short span of time don't stack, they're treated as a single inquiry (and inquiries aren't *that* bad anyway, the only ding you by a few points).  The bigger problem here is the **other** reason your bank gave you - Too many overdrawn accounts.  If you don't believe you currently have any overdrawn accounts, you need to pull your credit report *now* and make sure it's accurate.  Maybe there's a mistake on your credit, maybe you're a victim of identity theft.  That said, 1.5 years isn't really very long in credit terms for managing to keep your record clean, so maybe your credit just needs a few more years to heal.  But *definitely* pull your credit report to rule out the worst possibilities. "The other answers describe why this is highly likely to be a scam. This answer describes why you don't want to get involved, even in the unlikely case that it isn't a scam.  I'm describing this using US law (which I'm not particularly familiar with, so if I go astray I'd suggest others fix any flaws in this answer), but most other countries have similar laws as these laws are all implementations of a small number of international treaties have very large memberships. The service you describe (accepting money transfers from one party and transferring them to another) is one which, if you engage in it for profit, would classify you as a ""financial institution"" under 31 USC 5312, specifically paragraph (a)(2)(R): any   other person who engages as a business in   the transmission of funds, including any person   who engages as a business in an informal   money transfer system Because you would be acting as a financial institution: Failure to follow such requirements can lead to a fine of up to $250,000 or a 5 year prison sentence (31 USC 5322). See also: Customer Identification Program and Know Your Customer."