Transfer money regulari from Europe/asian banks?

crille30

New member
Dec 13, 2011
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Does any one have like money transfered from Europe/Asia banks to DR? does it work god?Time for transfer?Ex I stay in Asia and get money from Europe it mostley 4-5 workdays.What Bank would you recommend in DR?The one most high tech?Please share your experiense.Bad or god.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Well, the bank I like is Leon and Santa Cruz. Both allow you to have accounts in USD and RD pesos, have online banking and allow you to transfer easily between the accounts. Most banks in the DR have online banking nowadays. Popular also allows you to pay many bills online, however I do not like Popular at all because there are always long lines in all branches. leon offers prepaid VISA card which works with Paypal and is great for online purchases and protection (you transfer money on the card via online banking right before you make purchase).

Most banks in the DR work via US corresponding banks and it takes 3-5 business days to transfer money form abroad to the DR account. Two of those 3-5 days is the time the DR bank "holds" your money. Also you must transfer less than 10k USD or equivalent in foreign currency because 10k and over your transfer will be held up and proof of legal origin of funds will be requested from you and/or your sending bank.

Most of the DR bank offers ATM/debit cards, but only few offer truly VISA debit cards for making PIN-less (swipe and sign) purchases. Among those are Leon, BHD and Santa Cruz. Other banks offer at-most "Maestro" branded PIN-based debit cards. Most cards can be used abroad with currency exchange rate at market rate + 3%, ATM withdrawals are possible with usually a US$5 fee per transaction.

Most internet banking allows you to set up pre-approved payees within the DR for making local wire transfers. These must be set up through the local branch. Most DR banks now makes due diligence on their foreign customers who do not have cedula and be prepared for 5-30 day wait. Foreign bank references usually help. Also, exact procedures vary by branch within the same bank, as some branches may be less strict than others on what are official bank policies and procedures (some branches of the same bank may open you an account while waiting for due diligence to come through, while other branches of the same bank may put your file "on hold").
 

belgiank

Silver
Jun 13, 2009
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I transfer money from Belgium to Banco Popular, which takes 2 to 3 working days.

It is true that the lines are long, but I try to use the drive-through, which works great.

I also possess a Banco Leon Visa Debit card for online purchases, for the safety.

BelgianK
 

dropshort

Member
May 18, 2008
281
2
18
Bank to Bank Wire Transfers are not well understood.

Transfers between institutions typically can be done over night / in a day.
A transfer from Europe to Canada can happen overnight unless the sending bank needs the services of an intermediary bank to reach the destination. Then it will take overnight from sending bank to the intermediary bank and an additional overnight from the intermediary bank to the receiving bank.

If the intermediary bank does not have a business relationship with the receiving bank a transfer fee may be assessed for which no documentation will ever be produced.

A Transfer from Canada to Banco Popular takes two days and need the services of Banco BHD for which a fee will be assessed.

You may be given a SWIFT Code of 8 characters. However SWIFT is ALWAYS 11 characters as follows:

BBBB CC DD NNN BBBB Institution CC Country Code DD City Code NNN Branch code.

If NNN is omitted XXX is used XXX is Head/Home Office.

It is NEVER wrong to be specific and unambiguous.

Wire transfers work. However you have to understand more about than bank employees to ensure they do not screw.

If a wire transfer fails the funds will be returned to originating bank and bank account.
 

bayaguanaman

New member
Oct 22, 2009
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I do transfers from Macau (China) and Dubai. The routing used for the Macau was until recently Bank of Macau - JP Morgan New York - Scotia Bank and from Dubai - HSBC - Banco Popular (no intermediate bank required). The transfer from Macau was 3 days and HSBC next working day. Both banks give a bit of a headache sometimes in that the cash can get caught up in the system here as they need to clear the transaction, which for money laundering etc I fully understand. But I prefer to use the Banco Popular and go in to my branch where the account manager puts a note on my account to the effect that the funds (and source etc) are due.

Last year, on the passing of my father and winding up his estate, I had advised the above of the imminent transfer, copied in branch his death cert etc, and the principal office still held up his (my) funds for over a week causing me to go off on one which certainly worked to release the account......
 

crille30

New member
Dec 13, 2011
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0
rubio_highuey
beligank
dropshort
baygaunaman
Thank you all very much.It was great info and made me one big step closer to go to DR