How to choose

Mercury vs Relay vs Wise Business for non-resident LLC owners

Last updated: August 2026

For a non-resident US LLC, the three banking rails that actually work are Mercury, Relay, and Wise Business. Each has a different job: Mercury is the US-domestic transactional bank, Relay is the operations layer with sub-accounts and automation, Wise is the cross-border FX rail. BCA sets up all three as part of the standard USD 1,000 LLC package, most non-resident founders end up using all three for different parts of the same flow.

Bottom line

For most non-resident LLC owners, the answer is "all three", not "one of them". Mercury for Stripe payouts and US ACH. Relay for sub-accounts and operational budgeting. Wise for FX and paying international contractors. BCA sets up all three as part of the USD 1,000 LLC package, so you have the full stack ready on day one instead of running three separate KYC processes yourself.

Side-by-side

	Mercury The US-domestic transactional bank	Relay The operations layer	Wise Business The cross-border FX rail
What it actually is	US business bank account (chartered banking partner: Choice Financial / Evolve)	US business bank (Thread Bank partner) built around sub-accounts and automation	Multi-currency account (UK e-money license; not a US chartered bank)
Best use case	Primary US business account, Stripe payouts, US ACH debits and credits	Operators who want Profit First-style budgeting, virtual cards per category, automated transfers	Receiving in USD/EUR/GBP/AUD and converting at near-mid-market rates; paying international contractors
Opens remotely for non-residents?	Yes, accepts non-resident LLC owners with EIN + passport	Yes, opens for non-residents with EIN + passport	Yes, explicitly built for global founders
US ACH + domestic wires	Free domestic wires, free ACH, fast Stripe payouts	Domestic ACH + wires (some wire fees apply on standard plan)	Has US ACH details (USD routing/account), but slower than Mercury
International transfers / FX	International wires available; FX rates are bank-standard (worse than Wise)	International wires available; not the strong suit	Best in class, near-mid-market FX, cheap SEPA/SWIFT, ~40 currencies
Debit / virtual cards	Debit + virtual cards included	Virtual + physical debit cards, per-employee or per-category cards	Debit cards with multi-currency spend
Sub-accounts / categorization	Limited, supports a few "accounts" but not deep sub-account hierarchies	Up to 20 sub-accounts, deep budgeting + auto-transfer rules	Per-currency "balances" but not budgeting-style sub-accounts
Account fees	USD 0/month base, no minimum balance	USD 0/month base; Pro plan USD 30/month for higher volume	No monthly fee; per-transaction FX fees (~0.4·0.5%)
Pairs with Stripe payouts	Native, Stripe payouts land same day, integrated dashboard	Works fine but not as native as Mercury	Stripe can pay out to Wise USD, but Mercury is preferred for that path

What each option actually fits

Mercury

The US-domestic transactional bank

Mercury is the right primary US bank for a non-resident LLC: free, fast Stripe payouts, native US ACH. It is the bank where your day-to-day USD revenue lives. Where it falls short is FX and sub-account structure.

Visit Mercury ↗

Relay

The operations layer

Relay is the operations bank. If you run multiple business activities under one LLC and want to keep them separate (operating reserve, tax reserve, owner pay), Relay's 20 sub-accounts beat anything Mercury offers. Mostly used as a secondary alongside Mercury, not as the primary.

Visit Relay ↗

Wise Business

The cross-border FX rail

Wise is the FX rail. If you bill clients in non-USD currencies or you have international contractors to pay, Wise saves more on FX than any other option. Where it falls short is being a primary US transactional bank, it is faster to use Mercury for Stripe payouts and Wise for FX.

Visit Wise Business ↗

The honest take

So which one?

See the canonical BCA service page →

Common questions

Can I just use one of these instead of all three? +

Yes, most founders start with just Mercury and add Relay + Wise later. The reason BCA bundles all three is that adding them later means three more KYC + LLC-doc submissions, each taking 1·2 weeks. Setting up all three at LLC formation is ~2 hours total because the LLC documents are already prepared.

Do any of these require a US SSN? +

No. Mercury, Relay, and Wise all accept non-resident LLC owners with EIN + passport. ITIN is helpful but not strictly required for any of them.

Which bank should receive my Stripe payouts? +

Mercury, by default. Stripe → Mercury is the fastest, most-reliable payout path. Stripe → Wise works but is slower. Stripe → Relay also works. You can change the payout destination anytime in the Stripe dashboard.

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