Why are DR banks so nuts?

I want to open a joint account with the fiance in dollars. Went to scotia. They say you need a letter from a bank you have done business with and your passport. Great, get a letter from banco leon where I have a pesos account. Can you guess? Not good enough. Needs to be from US bank. No problem, get 2 letters from Chase. Can you guess? Not good enough. Now I need 2 letters from dominicans that know me. Fiance asked if they need to be authorized. They said no. Who believes these idiots?

I am not asking for credit line. Not applying for a mortgage. Trying to deposit a few dollars. As usual big ole PIA. Anyone want to bet that if we go back with two letters from dominicans, and my bank letter there is yet another requirement?

Are there any banks in DR that do business i at least a second world manner? HSBC? Citi Bank?

Hillbilly said:

I would never have a joint account with anyone not my wife!!

Besides that, have you tried Popular, they are usually more helpful than Scotia, who are the most uptight and backward in the DR...They were the last to stop using card files to check on your ability to cash a check!!

HB

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Thanks. Will give popular a try. As far as joint accounts, I agree. She is my fiance, have lived together for 4 years. Will be my wife soon enough. I trust her with much more than the few bucks I am going to put in the bank. Thanks again!

Givadogahome said:

Popular are pretty relaxed but I think each branch has different requirements dependent on the day of the week ad who you speak to.
Make sure she is the one, a joint bank is a heavy weight on her behalf if she decides to fleece half your things you have in country when/if you separate.

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Lol. . .that is the problem. She just called scotia and they now say the letters need to be notarized. They are clueless idiots. Won't give them 100 pesos.

And, she is the one. If I leave 20k pesos for "la casa" before I head out on a trip, she won't spend 400 in the salon until she checks with me. . . lol. If she wanted to fleece me, I have guitars, computers, and equipment in the apt that each one costs more than the amount we are opening the account with. I won't lose a wink of sleep.

Givadogahome said:

Cool, I wasn't trying to be funny, you do get guys who fall in love after a fortnight and............................ well you know. Good luck bud, and we never had any issue with Popular, you're not asking for credit so no biggy!:classic:

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No problem. I have been living down here for 10 years or so and traveling here since 1998 so I have been around the block.
You would think it would be no biggy but it always is.

Mauricio said:

I opened a dollar account in Scotiabank a year ago without anything else than my passport and 300 dollars as a first deposit

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It appears I left out at least one detail in my OP. WE wanted a joint account in dollars that has a visa/mc debit card. I travel a bunch and the fiance has spent 3 months or more away from DR each year as well. So having access to the money easily is important.

After calling at least 5 other banks and getting endless different answers we went to BHD who said NP. Birng a passport and letter from bank. We get there, and NOOOOO. . .the debit card will not be a visa/mc. My GF asked them WTF the perosn she spoke to for 10 minutes in the phone said otherwise. No answer.

We left and went to banreservas who said as long as I already had an account in a DR bank they could open a joint dollar account with visa/MC debit. Can you guess? No. . .what they meant was you can take dollars out of the account or spend the money as if it was dollars but the account would be in pesos. They said there is zero difference. I said what happens if papa llega and the peso goes to 100-1? Blank stares.

I was trying to avoid going to Leon as we have had debit cards for 3 years that have no security code on back and do not have our names printed on front. Try using a banco leon card in Brasil or Argentina with no name or security code. . .lol. We went to the branch en gazcue over 10 times in 2 years and the "machine" was broken each time. Last week we went to Leon on churchill and thei machine was also broken. I withdrew the 80k or so stinking pesos that were left in that account as it was damn near useless to me.

Again on the phone they said NO PROBLEM. We get there. PROBLEM. They said we can get a pre pago with visa or savings account but not in dollars. Again not what they said over the phone.

I wanted nothing to do with Scotia but my GF said, we have the stupid letters from dominicans that know me so lets just deal with them. Can you guess? Now those letters need to be authorized and the letter from Chase didn't have a "seal". Chase doesn't do letters with a seal. So now the woman that sits next to the dope that said the letter from chase was fine but we needed letters from 2 dominicans, says the letter from Chase is not fine, and the letters from dominicans need to be notarized. My GF had gone there 6 times. Different story every time. As others have said here, it all depends on which rep you speak to. . .totally nuts.

Screw it I will just open a second paypal account and give the additional card to the GF.

zoomzx11 said:

Most of the DR banks do it that way. Their rules are silly but its their country and they get to make the rules.
If you are this upset over something so small you will not be happy in the DR. Many things here make no sense from a US perspective. A person needs to change their way of thinking after living in first world countries if they are going to adjust to living in the DR, otherwise you will be in a constant state of aggravation. Like the song, "its just the way it is"!!

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My GF was more ****ed than I was. She wants to leave. She never cared about leaving before but everything we do is a huge project. 20 phones calls and over 10 visits to maldito codetel to turn on intl roaming and still doesn't work. If you are saying total lack of customer service and incompetence is the "dominican way". .. .coolness. I am now going to plan on bailing.

I am tired of people using the 3rd world excuse for lack of service. The country depends on visitors from first world countries many of which decide one visit is enough. I have lived here 10 years and every time I get in a taxi I have to play the dopey "don't rip me off game". I did not have to do that in Brasil, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, barnados, curacao, bahamas etc etc etc. Only in DR.

THis thread has gone way off course but save the blame the victim rap. . . .I am done with being blamed. . .

rubio_higuey said:

You want joint account in USD. NO BANK in the DR gives you a PIN-based DEBIT card (much less VISA/MC debit) to a USD denominated account. Simple as that. You want Visa debit card to your peso account? BHD, or Santa Cruz. Leon has VISA Electron which is valid for POS purchas eonly, though you can use Prepago and transfer funds for free via Internet banking (safest option, IMHO, because you can have money on "libreta" account and transfer to prepago whenever you need to make a purchase).

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That is fine. Tell me that. Every damn bank we called or visited said they DID offer debit cards on dollar accounts. I already have a leon account and had a pre pago. If I wanted to put the money in a bank as pesos I would just use that account. I will instead just open another paypal account. 1,000 times easier than dealing with the crappy CS in DR banks.

william webster said:

ScotiaBank has been here for 90 yrs......

they are easy to deal with..... no matter what people say.

The others are fine too.... SB for me.

I can't help but think there are some missing li nks (sic) here

Too many of us have opened accounts with few problems.

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Scotia Bank CS is horrible. 6 people give 6 different answers. They suck. Plain and simple.

Oh, BTW scotiabank has still never said they don't offer visa debit cards on Dollar accounts. They just change the set of requisitos depending on who you speak to. The manager of the branch did not say these type of accounts were not available she said my letter from Chase was not "cellado".

To recount the steps.

1- need a letter from bank

2- bring letter from leon. . . .not acceptible needs to be US bank

3- bring letters from chase - not acceptable need letters from 2 dominicans

4- get 2 letters from dominicans - not acceptable, not notarized, even though GF specifically asked if they needed to be

5- speak to manager, she says letters from dominicans are fine, but chase letter is not cellado. WTF?

6 branch manager said that if we have an account with leon that could be enough. See step 1 above.

Now rubio says it is impossible to open a dollar account with visa/mc debit card. That means this dopey manager would have me go back to leon get a cellado letter and THEN tell me . . . oh. . .you want an account in DOLLARS.

If one person had no clue, then that person is incompetent. if NONE of them have a clue it is an organization wide issue and lack of training.