The bonkers banking game! UK vs DR

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Anastacio

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A Dominican bank requires a reference from my bank in England to allow me to open a bank account in DR. My Bank in UK also demands that the request for the reference from my bank comes from the third party, being the bank in DR. The bank in the DR will not send off to my bank in the UK for the reference, this is down to me to request, and even if I could somehow get the bank in DR to write to my UK bank they would not send it via FedEX, if at all that would cost me around ?20. Now saying the bank in the UK then got the request they would not send the reference back to DR bank with FedEX even if I offered to pay another ?20 to get the reference sent back.

So even though it is impossible as both sides seem like they don't understand Dominican postal systems don't work, if I could beg and plead and eventually get them to use FedEX to send these letters to each other (which they won't) it would cost me at least ?40 just for the lettering before I even opened an account which I can not do.

How seriously unhelpful can a bank be. Basically I'm stuck:bored:
 
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jrhartley

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whatever happened to the fax machine,basically the letter only says how long you have had an account with said bank , what funds are in it
 
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granca

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I too had this Reference Letter problem when I first opened an account here some years ago. I managed to persuade Scotia bank to send the request by fax and equally persuade NatWest to reply by fax. I too faxed NatWest as well as phoned them with a translation. Scotia had someone with sufficient english to translate the reply for themselves. Fedex or Dompost are either ridiculously expensive or hopelessly slow. Good luck.
 
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Anastacio

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granca said:
Fedex or Dompost are either ridiculously expensive or hopelessly slow. Good luck.
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This is where my bank in UK fail to understand Dominican postal problems. It seems the people I speak to have not travelled far in their years and feel all international postal systems run like royal mail, which is actually thought of as being quite bad, lol, if they only knew how good they have it.
 
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Expat13

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Anastacio said:
They won't accept a fax from the bank in DR if I could get them to do it.
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Yes i hear yor pain. I have dealings with UK bank as well Canadian, and was up against the same situation.

UK Bank which is overly protective to the point of nonesense and a lack of customer service, more robotic responses.

Canadian HSBC-wrote the ref letter, cost me 10cdn, and sent it via courier to me here. This letter was done simply by my email instruction once my identity was confirmed.

You may need a personal ref from a longterm banking DR resident, to overcome this
 
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pedrochemical

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There are simple ways round this.

You just need to find a Dominican friend who has a friend working at a bank.
You will have your account in a day or two.
This is for a US$ account - the pesos accounts require even less effort.

This is not a tough one.
 
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granca

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Why not try this, get a friend or relative preferably on business headed paper to contact your bank and ask for a personal reference. Then have your friend post it to you Royal Mail to your or a friends PO Box in Miami. Total cost UK stamp and 15RD$ from there to your mailbox here.
 
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Anastacio

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granca said:
Why not try this, get a friend or relative preferably on business headed paper to contact your bank and ask for a personal reference. Then have your friend post it to you Royal Mail to your or a friends PO Box in Miami. Total cost UK stamp and 15RD$ from there to your mailbox here.
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Why would I do that, I was in the branch of my bank in the UK the other day trying to dispute why I could not have a reference of my bank account given to me while I was in the UK to take back with me. This should not need anyone else apart from myself my bank and the Dominican bank to do this, I don't even want a credit account I'm only going to use it to put my wages and transfer the occasional extra from UK now and then.
My next effort is going to be take my family into the bank, tell them I want an account opened for my Mrs and a savings account for my daughter and one for my transfers while I'm at it. Maybe if we go as the family we won't look like we are some serious money launderers.
 
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Anastacio

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pedrochemical said:
There are simple ways round this.

You just need to find a Dominican friend who has a friend working at a bank.
You will have your account in a day or two.
This is for a US$ account - the pesos accounts require even less effort.

This is not a tough one.
Click to expand...

I want a pesos account and it is turning into a tuff one. I don't have friends who work in the banks, apart from the security.
It is quite simply another test sent to harrass us to see how much crap we can put up with in exchange for breathing Dominican air. I don't even get mad at stuff like this anymore, I find it funny such simple BS can be made so complicated.
 
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jrhartley

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i just walked into my bank in the uk , asked for letter and got it in about 10 minutes...then brought it with me on my trip here.
 
Tamborista

Tamborista

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jrhartley said:
i just walked into my bank in the uk , asked for letter and got it in about 10 minutes...then brought it with me on my trip here.
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If Anastacio did that he would have to come up with another 15 posts of jibberish.


;)
 
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Anastacio

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I am unsure why Nationwide are unwiling to hand over the papers to me while I'm in the country, almost seems like they are trying to be b@stards to me for some reason.
 
Tamborista

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Anastacio said:
Really any need for that?
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It really is jibberish mate, I can search on this message board for detailed step by step instructions on opening a USD or RD Peso bank account in under 2 minutes. Try it sometime spanky.
 
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ffritz

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So, when you have finally got an account over here I do hope you will take ALL your money out of the offending British bank to show your gratitude for their excellent customer service? ;-)
 
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Anastacio

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Tamborista said:
It really is jibberish mate, I can search on this message board for detailed step by step instructions on opening a USD or RD Peso bank account in under 2 minutes. Try it sometime spanky.
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Go drown yourself you miserable sh1t, this thread does not need to go down that road. It seems many of us have had problems with the bank thing and like on many forums are sharing and discussing it. As for Spanky? WTF are you drinking this fine day, :ermm:
 
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BushBaby

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Anastacio said:
I am unsure why Nationwide are unwiling to hand over the papers to me while I'm in the country, almost seems like they are trying to be b@stards to me for some reason.
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from looking at a number of your posts Anastacio I feel you have a certain amount of negativity in you that is not proportionate to the 'problem'! You might want to question if the DR is the correct country for you to live in when it requires so much 'inventiveness & optimism/positive input'. Your desire to put the problem at someone else's doorstep does not bode well for a happy & contented life here - honestly!!

Go to a different bank here.
Close your UK account with Nationwide & set up a new one at another UK bank - asking them (Nationwide) to issue with a letter of referral to the new bank (in the UK) you choose. (you can then use that letter here in the DR!!!).
Consider getting an off-shore bank account (in I.O.M. for instance) where ALL transactions can be completed ON-LINE! DON'T use Nat West UK as their Customer Service section sucks & generally speaking it is IMPOSSIBLE to talk direct with the branch staff when you have questions/problems!!

If you are going to be living in the Puerto Plata region & promise to be positive & amenable to productive thought processes, I will introduce you to a Bank Manager here who will be 'helpful' to the extreme. Any negativity in that meeting (or subsequent meetings) & you will get dropped like the proverbial hot potato!! I will be as helpful as possible to ANYONE who will be an asset to this country - I will NOT help those who leave the letters 'et' off that word 'asset' by complaining & belly-aching!! ~ Grahame.
 
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Robert

Robert

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On BushBaby's post, we will close this.

As others have said, use the search function, it's your friend, plus it would save you time in trying to follow the multiple threads you have started on subjects already discussed to death on this board.
 
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