MoneyofDoom, I'm sorry to hear your friends had trouble opening accounts. now if they were trying to open biz accounts without a corp & EIN then that's one thing, because I couldn't even open for myself without all my company ducks in a row if I wanted to and I am a U.S. citizen - to open a U.S. biz account you MUST have a the corp/llc and EIN.
The problem about the banking laws really is more about KYC which stands for "know your customer". The majority of banks will open an account for you if you are there in person and have proof of identification and if you're a foreigner then they'll ask you to fill out a W8Ben.
Now as far as going to a courthouse to get your EIN number, that is NOT the courts responsibility in the U.S. The ONLY entity that can issue an EIN is the Internal Revenue Service. And if you need a local resale tax number that is done at the local level but not by a courthouse either.
To get your EIN you either need to have a SS#, ITIN number or a use company who such as ours who can get your EIN number for you (*this doesn't mean "filling out paperwork" btw). period.
With the EIN and your company articles you will be able to go to a bank in the U.S. IN PERSON to open a business account (of course any bank can tell anyone for any reason they desire that they don't want your business whether it be they don't like the business you are in or the country you're from or for whatever reason they desire.)
The other way would be to work through someone like us or another provider who knows which banks will be friendly to a foreigner and are able to satisfy their KYC rules and of course what paperwork will be required to get through their verification. We have several banks we work with - some are a pain and others are more friendly but it always depends upon the situation.
And I would not suggest putting your bank account in anyone else's name other than yours - U.S. citizen or not.
Oh and an FYI - those small unknown banks in the middle of nowhere...probably won't want biz from someone outside of the U.S. they're usually pretty unfriendly in that regards
