US Bank Branches in DR???

AlterEgo

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I've tried the search function, but couldn't find an answer.....

Is Banco Popular in US the same as BP in DR? I'm wondering if we open an account in NJ can we withdraw money in DR?

Are there any other US banks that have branches in DR? My husband thought there was a Bank of America branch in SD, but not according to their website.

AE
 

RacerX

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in NJ banco popular is a portorican bank(BPPR). Banco Popular dominicano es a different bank. BPPR uses a different name in DR of which I cant remember.
But I would thnk there would be a Citibank, BOA or Chase somewhere in SD. I remember when I was Mexico in Guerrero there was citibank in the zocalo. It would dispense in dollars or pesos too.
 

cobraboy

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Different banks. The best you can find are "correspondant" banks, sort of like cousins.
 

AlterEgo

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I found out there's a Citibank in SD. So I called Citibank in US [I have a couple of their credit cards but no checking or savings] and I was shocked to find out that :

If we open an account in US, and go to the branch in DR, we have to pay a 3% fee on any withdrawals of our own money from our own accounts. I asked the rep to double check that, because it sounded outrageous to me. They put me on hold and came back and said it was true, because it's an international transaction.

Anyone experience this? Or did I just reach someone who didn't know what he was talking about. He did sound about 12.

Geesh.

AE
 

Tamborista

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-Just cash your USD check in RD Pesos, at a cambio you have a relationship with and avoid this BS fee!

tio tambo'
 

Chip

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I was in the same boat after we first moved here. I also tried to get a Citibank US account with the idea that I could do an online transfer of funds economically to my DR account as I told they were completely separate accounts. The advantage to me was that supposedly I could do these transfers online as opposed to have to be present in the States to authorize it. I didn't go through the whole process as there was no bank branch in Florida and I would have had to travel to another State and too I found out at the same time that I could cash my US checks here at the highest exchange rates one can get.

If in the future I have any large sums of money but still less than US 10,000 I believe I will just work out something with my local cambio house, otherwise I'll just do a wire transfer. For example, when I bought my SUV in 2006 I did a wire transfer for US14k and was charged US100 for the transaction and whatever nominal amount due to the lower exchange rates the Dominican banks give.
 

RacerX

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I found out there's a Citibank in SD. So I called Citibank in US [I have a couple of their credit cards but no checking or savings] and I was shocked to find out that :

If we open an account in US, and go to the branch in DR, we have to pay a 3% fee on any withdrawals of our own money from our own accounts. I asked the rep to double check that, because it sounded outrageous to me. They put me on hold and came back and said it was true, because it's an international transaction.

Anyone experience this? Or did I just reach someone who didn't know what he was talking about. He did sound about 12.

Geesh.

AE

Yes, but it is a CURRENCY translation fee nothing more. Chase does the same thing when I withdraw from Cibao Ahorros y Prestamos(actually they charge 2.75% for the currency exchange).
 

las2137

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I found out there's a Citibank in SD. So I called Citibank in US [I have a couple of their credit cards but no checking or savings] and I was shocked to find out that :

If we open an account in US, and go to the branch in DR, we have to pay a 3% fee on any withdrawals of our own money from our own accounts. I asked the rep to double check that, because it sounded outrageous to me. They put me on hold and came back and said it was true, because it's an international transaction.

Anyone experience this? Or did I just reach someone who didn't know what he was talking about. He did sound about 12.

Geesh.

AE

I had a Citibank account before moving to SD. At that time, the Citibank in SD was for commercial accounts only, not private or personal accounts. Imagine my surprise when I went to withdraw money from the ATM and discovered there was NO ATM there!
 

cobraboy

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I think of it this way. The banks in the DR are separate corporations with separate rules. There is no advantage that I have found to using a bank in the DR with a similar name to one outside of the DR.
Bingo!:cheeky:
 

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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IMO, the closest you will get to a partner relationship in the DR banking world is for Canadians.... Scotiabank. It has a very long Caribbean history.

But again, it still is basically an arm's length transaction with the exception that a reference letter from the Cdn company actually facilitates the opening of the account in the DR.

Also, I think there is a facility for mortgage applications that allows Cdn information to be used in the DR - I could be wrong here, it was a few years ago and I didn't mortgage.

Doesn't help Americans.

WW
 

riravaga

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Popular Bank in USA it not the same Popular Bank in DR, City Banks sold his operations in DR to Scotiabank, only the Corporate Division of City Bank has operations in Dominican Republic, so if you are looking for an International Branch you better go to Scotiabank, its the only international branch in Dominican Republic.
 

AlterEgo

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Back to the OP, if you give us some idea what you are trying to do between the banks, other advice could be provided instead of shooting in the dark about the reason. As I mentioned before there really is no "close" connection between any US or Canadian bank and DR banks with the same name.

Well windeguy, we'll be there for two months. We need to build two walls [front and back] that will probably run $7-10,000/us. We want to buy a used SUV [$10,000?], we're debating about expanding our house, need to buy an inverter and 8-16 batteries. All this on top of normal living expenses [renting a house, food, restaurants, travel around the country]. Maybe buy an apt in SD. A lot of other maybes. In the past, we've brought $5,000 cash with us, and used the ATM. Had a bad experience with ATM once, and the possibility the card might be cloned or the machine eating it scare me. Last trip we ran out of cash after we decided to built a wall down the side of our property. My brother-in-law called a cambio place he knows [we've never used one] and sent us there, they accepted our check, but they didn't have the cash [$3,000 US] to give us, so they went down to BHD cash one of their checks, and came back saying it was too early, they didn't have that much cash at the bank [?????????] We ended up taking back our check and going to our BHD branch and taking the money out of a CD we had there.

So - I was hoping there was an easy way to access US accounts if we need money. Obviously I was wrong. At this point I think we'll make a few $9900 wire transfers to our BHD savings account and just have it there if we need it. What I don't like about it is changing it all to pesos [we don't have a dollar account and don't think we can open one from here]. I do most of my banking online, so I probably can wire more funds down there while I'm there if needs be.

Just had hoped there was an easier way.

AE
 

william webster

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Several "less than $10,000" transactions may be seen as "structuring".

I wouldn't worry.... when we were building our house, I wired $50,000 or more at a time.
Remember, its not illegal to wire or carry more than $10,000 into any country... you just need to be able to prove where it came from and where its going.
It needs to be legal money for a legal use.
This advice came from a US Border Official who basically said, "Just declare it... hiding it is wrong and against the declaration you sign on entering.

As for the cambio not having money... that could have just been bad timing. I've found they have quite of a bit of money.
(I had my head taken off here on DR1 once for saying otherwise when talking about BIG amounts)
Perhaps just alert him in advance that you'll need $xxxx tomorrow.

Do you have a lawyer friend? Wiring to a lawyer solves a lot problems.. they handle large wires all the time.

The cambio is always the easiest and fastest.

hope this helps

WW
 
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Chip

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I've wired US14k and it only took three days. They will ask you questions at your US bank about the amount and just be honest with them.
 

AlterEgo

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I don't know why I thought it had to be under 10K - for some reason I was under the impression all sorts of paperwork had to be filed or something. I guess it's the banks who have to do the filings. All the money is in our bank accounts, so there will be no question as to where it came from. Good to know.

AE
 

cobraboy

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There are cambios who deal in hundreds of thousands of dollars weekly. Find one of them.
 

william webster

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I've wired US14k and it only took three days. They will ask you questions at your US bank about the amount and just be honest with them.

I have seen it appear the same day.. that was from Commerce (now TD) to Progresso.

WW
 

ohmmmm

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I worked at a bank in the USA a year ago. The bank is obligated to record all money transfers of over $10,000 and report it to the government. It's a bank responsibility and there are no restrictions on the transfer of the money. A bank is also obligated to report any suspicious activity and they will do that without the customer knowing if appropriate...

A business person I know had told me that money is transferred the easiest via a wire transfer or via paypal accounts...
 

william webster

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I worked at a bank in the USA a year ago. The bank is obligated to record all money transfers of over $10,000 and report it to the government. It's a bank responsibility and there are no restrictions on the transfer of the money. A bank is also obligated to report any suspicious activity and they will do that without the customer knowing if appropriate...

A business person I know had told me that money is transferred the easiest via a wire transfer or via paypal accounts...

US banks and check cashers are req'd by law to keep a log of those $10,000+ transactions

As previously said, all is totally legal. I expect all of us/most of us have wired large sums at one time or another.
Don't let it bother you

WW