Mercury vs Relay for Non-Residents

Both Mercury and Relay welcome foreign-owned LLCs, but they differ in how they review non-resident applications and what they offer once you are approved. Here is what actually matters before you apply.

Why the bank you pick matters more when you are not a US resident

Any US LLC needs a US business bank account to actually operate, invoice clients, and get paid in dollars. For founders based in Europe or elsewhere outside the US, the practical choice usually comes down to a small set of fintech-style business banking platforms rather than traditional brick and mortar banks, which rarely open accounts remotely for non-residents. Mercury and Relay are the two most commonly recommended options, and both are built to onboard people who have never set foot in the United States. Neither Mercury nor Relay is itself a bank. Both are financial technology companies that partner with FDIC insured banks to hold your money, which is normal and not a red flag.

Mercury overview

Mercury is the more startup-oriented of the two, popular with founders raising outside investment or running SaaS and ecommerce businesses. It partners with banks including Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank and Trust, both FDIC members. Mercury offers checking accounts, savings style accounts for idle cash, virtual and physical debit cards for team members, and a charge card product called Mercury IO for businesses that qualify based on their banking activity. Applications are done entirely online through a form that asks about your business, your role, and your home country, followed by document upload.

Relay overview

Relay positions itself more as an operational banking tool for small businesses that want to separate money into sub-accounts for tax, payroll, or savings without spreadsheets. It partners with Thread Bank, also FDIC insured. Relay allows up to twenty user seats with individual debit cards, which is useful if you have contractors or co-founders who need to spend from the business account. It also integrates directly with QuickBooks and Xero, and supports mailing physical checks from the dashboard, something Mercury does not offer natively.

Feature by feature comparison

Approval odds and where both can say no

Neither platform publishes exact approval criteria, and nobody offering an honest comparison should promise you will be approved. What is true for both is that they run compliance checks tied to the bank partner behind them, and both maintain lists of countries and industries they will not onboard, usually for anti-money-laundering reasons rather than anything specific to your business. High risk categories such as crypto, gambling, or adult content tend to face more scrutiny on both platforms. Founders from countries with strong sanctions exposure sometimes face extra friction or rejection regardless of which platform they choose. Having your LLC formation documents, EIN confirmation letter from the IRS, and a clear, honest description of what your business actually does in hand before you apply reduces back and forth significantly.

What you need in place before applying to either

• A registered US LLC or corporation, most commonly formed in Wyoming, Delaware, or Florida
• An EIN issued by the IRS, obtained via Form SS-4, which non-residents can get by fax or mail without a Social Security Number
• A valid passport for every beneficial owner
• A US mailing address, which your registered agent can often provide
• A short, clear description of your business activity and where your customers are based

Which one should you actually choose

If you are a solo founder or small team running a software, consulting, or ecommerce business and want the platform most other startups use, Mercury is usually the more familiar default and pairs well if you plan to raise investment later. If you want stronger day to day bookkeeping features, need many team members to hold cards, or want to mail checks without a third party service, Relay tends to be the more practical operational tool. Many founders end up opening both, using one as the primary operating account and the other for specific workflows like payroll sub-accounts or vendor payments. There is no rule against holding accounts at both.

Do not forget the tax filing that comes with the account

Opening a US bank account does not remove your obligations as a foreign owner of a US LLC. If your LLC is single member and foreign owned, it must file Form 5472 along with a pro-forma Form 1120 every year, even if the company had no income and the account balance never moved. The IRS treats this as an information return, it does not calculate or assess tax on its own, but skipping it can trigger a penalty of 25,000 dollars per late or missing filing. This is separate from any income tax return you may owe personally, and getting it wrong is one of the more expensive mistakes non-resident founders make.

Where Founders Credit fits in

Founders Credit handles the entire sequence for non-US founders in one done-for-you engagement, forming the LLC, obtaining the EIN and ITIN, and opening the Mercury or Relay account remotely, so you are not guessing which document goes where or discovering a rejection reason after the fact. The goal is to get you from no US entity to a working bank account and card without the usual back and forth.

Glossary

EIN: Employer Identification Number, issued by the IRS to identify your business, required to open a US bank account.

ITIN: Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, issued to people who are not eligible for a Social Security Number but need to file US taxes. No US visa is required to get one.

Registered agent: A person or company with a physical address in your LLC's state of formation who receives legal and state mail on your behalf.

Form 5472: An annual information return required for foreign-owned single-member LLCs, filed together with a pro-forma Form 1120, even when the business had no activity.

Beneficial owner: Anyone who owns 25 percent or more of the LLC or otherwise controls it, whose identity banks and the IRS require for compliance purposes.

FDIC: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures deposits at partner banks behind fintech platforms like Mercury and Relay, typically up to the standard coverage limit per depositor per bank.

Frequently asked questions