Is it possible, anywhere in the US for a funding firm to not have a license number showing somewhere?
In the United states the US government has the Small Business Administration. They also have Small Business Development Centers SMDC to help. These are also supported by state governments and colleges and universities.  SBDCs provide services through professional business advisors such as:   development of business plans; manufacturing assistance; financial   packaging and lending assistance; exporting and importing support;   disaster recovery assistance; procurement and contracting aid; market   research services; aid to 8(a) firms in all stages; and healthcare   information. SBDCs serve all populations, including: minorities;   women; veterans, including reservists, active duty, disabled   personnel, and those returning from deployment; personnel with   disabilities; youth and encore entrepreneurs; as well as individuals   in low and moderate income urban and rural areas. Based on client   needs, local business trends and individual business requirements,   SBDCs modify their services to meet the evolving needs of the hundreds   of small business community in which they are situated. SBDC assistance is available virtually anywhere with 63 Host networks   branching out with more than 900 service delivery points throughout   the U.S., the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa   and the U.S. Virgin Islands,. Your local SBDC should be able to help you identify local sources of funds, including government backed loans for small businesses. Well, these can range from loan broker to outright scams. It is pretty typical that loan broker just take some fee in the middle for their service of filling your applications for a bunch of real loan provider companies. Because making a web page costs nothing, a single loan broker could easily have many web pages with a bit different marketing so that they can get as many customers as possible. But of course some of the web pages can be actual scams. As soon as you provide enough information for taking out a loan, they can go to a real financial institution, take out the loan and run with the money. In most countries consumer protection laws do not apply to business-to-business transactions, so you have to be even more wary of scams than usual.
I realize this is a stale topic, but to anybody who may swing by looking for an answer to this question (on the recently revised W-8BEN), a foreign taxpayer can get an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) without being resident in the US.  However, an ITIN will often not be necessary for W-8BEN purposes if you have a tax number from your local jurisdiction.  Check the Form W-8BEN instructions for your specific situation, but some taxpayers will need neither a US-issued ITIN nor a foreign-issued TIN. Forming a Delaware or Nevada LLC would be expensive and generally subject to federal and state tax and filing obligations.  It would also moot the need for a W-8BEN, which only applies to foreign taxpayers; the equivalent form for domestic taxpayers is Form W-9. Street name is not what you think it is in the question.  The broker is the owner in street name.  There is no external secondary owner information.   I don't know if there is available independent verification, but if the broker is in the US and they go out of business suddenly, you can make a claim to the SIPC. This depends on the practise and applications available with the Beneficiary Bank. For a corporate customer, the details are show. For Retail customers they are generally not shown. The old school way would have been to identify some wealthy zip codes and cold call like a mofo.  At present I would prefer to find some retiring advisor and buy his book (that may mean leaving your current firm). Off the top of my head I can think of 10 prop shops in Chicago that don't require any sort of certifications.  Most those certification requirements are there only when you are managing outside investor money. I was under the impression you are just trading the firm's capital, not outside investor capital, which is why I asked (which, to me, is the definition of a prop shop.) "I can't find a citation, but from memory (EDIT: and reading the newspapers at the time it happened): up until around 1980, banks couldn't cross state borders.  In my state, at least, they were also very local, only staying within one county. This was to enforce ""localness"", the thought being that local bankers would know local people and the local situation better than far away people who only see numbers and paperwork." "In Canada, for example, they are expected or required to find out. They call it, The “Know Your Client” rule, part of which is knowing your ""Investment knowledge and experience"". They say it is, ""to ensure their advice is suitable for you"". I have always been given that kind of form to fill in, when opening an account." Its not public information but it would be hard to keep it a secret. By its very nature, a custodial bank has to interact with various brokers, middle office systems, back office systems - many of which are third party. And the investment firm will likely be giving out their custodial information to these third parties to set up interfaces and whatnot. It is completely in the realm of each lender what they request. Some lenders always want to see proof of income, and others have decided to look only at other things. Their decision has nothing to do with you, your situation, your income, or your credit history. You are of course free to go to another lender that does not want proof of income. The reason the loan amount is showing is because it is a default - the fact that you live in a non-recourse state doesn't change the fact that a loan obligation that had your name on it was defaulted upon. I don't think there is much you can do now given that your name was still on the mortgages. I've talked to several very experienced accountants that deal with startup shares, stock 83(b)'s, etc. weekly (based in SF, CA) as this issue would have had a massive impact on me.  The most important part of filing an 83(b) is notifying the IRS within 30 days. The law requires the written notification within the 30 day window. Adding it to that years tax return is an IRS procedure. Forgetting to include a copy of that years tax return is apparently a common occurrence when no tax was owed (0 spread, you actually paid the FMV). And the accepted method to resolve this is to simply file a blank amendment for that years return and include the copy of the 83(b) election. If you or she can't answer this or don't have access to someone who can, then I fear for the business.  That said, it really depends on where you are and how your business is incirporared, but I can't think of any law prohibiting it where I am. I was an employee of my dad's business as soon as I was legal. This is all answered in the prospectus. The money not yet invested (available/committed to a note but not yet funded) is held in pooled trust account insured by FDIC. Money funded is delivered to the borrower. Lending Club service their notes themselves. Read also my reviews on Lending Club. I am wondering weather it is worth it (how taxation works in this   scenario ect.) or not and legally possible to do so ? Whether it is worth it or not is up to you. There's nothing illegal in this, unless of course there's a legal issue in the foreign country. The US doesn't care. Re taxes - it is a bit trickier. If your lender does not provide you with form 1098, you'll have to report the lender's name, address and SSN/ITIN on your tax return in order to claim a deduction. The IRS will then expect the lender to report that interest as income. This is US-sourced income and is taxed in the US despite the fact that the lender is non-resident. See here for more info. If the lender doesn't report the income and doesn't pay the taxes - your deduction may be denied as well for double-dipping. It is easier if this is an investment. Then the deduction is not going to Schedule A, but rather as an expense to Schedule E. The IRS may still require matching, but you won't need to report the SSN/ITIN - just have the expense properly documented. Obviously, the best when it comes to legal issues, is to talk to an attorney licensed in the State in question. Similarly with tax questions - you should talk to a EA/CPA licensed in that State. I'm neither. "This is common practice I would suprised that there was multinationals not doing this.  What is funny though is when auto companies in Australia get government grants to be viable but then send the same amount of money back to the US for ""branding licence"".    Looking at you General Motors"