Monies for Living in the DR (Dominican Republic)

adrienne224

Newbie
Nov 2, 2017
2
0
0
Looking for input from folks, who have spend some time in the DR, longer than a week etc. My husband and I going forward are looking to 'rent' in and around the Sousa, Carbarete, Costmabar, Puerto Plata area, for the time frame of Dec - thru to end April.

Our question: what are the availability of any Banks of Nova Scotia in these areas, along with suggestion, and help on how to manage our monies for that time frame. Is it better to withdraw XX amount of monies each day? on reading some reviews for monetary, there seems to be some issues with the amount of pesos that are available at the ATMs at times.

Any suggestion/help/review would be greatly appreciated.
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
113
THere is a DR website for the bank.

Ask at your branch (Canada , I assume) and they'll be helpful... should be

It's a large bank in the DR... quite accessible
 

Me_again

Bronze
Nov 21, 2004
901
2
0
81
There are references in threads you'll find on these forums but my advice is:

Use ATM cards, make sure you have at least two accounts in case one gets compromised.

I advise one ATM on the Visa/Plus system and one on MasterCard/Cirrus (one system may be down).

Bring credit cards too but avoid using them except for big items such as car rental or inside the bank.

Do on-line e-banking to check your accounts daily to detect early any hanky-panky--it happens.

Draw enough pesos for three or four days at a time--avoid using the ATMs at night.

You can use other banks besides Scotiabank. Banco Popular for example in Sosua

Have access to a phone so that you can call your bank, make note of all phone numbers you might need.

Do not try to reset passwords at ATMs in the DR--It doesn't fly.

Bring a few hundred dollars US as back-up in case the ATMs prove a problem temporarily.

And of course, don't put all your eggs in one basket (wallet or pocket) spread 'em around.

We've done what you're planning several times and this (above) is the voice of experience speaking.

wbr
 

pularvik

Active member
Jan 2, 2011
424
38
28
Seems like you might be from Canada?  RBC has a USA bank and you can open an account in your RBC in Canada. Then you can get USA checks. (Very sorry but nobody takes Canadian cheques).  You can then transfer your money online to your USA account.
In the DR you will need to find a money changing place that will cash your cheques.  DR banks will only take your cheques if you open an account and then will take 3 weeks to credit your account.
Just another way of getting your money down here.

PS too bad about that Can/US exchange rate
 

retiree

Bronze
Jan 18, 2008
978
10
0
There is a Scotiabank branch and atm in Puerto Plata and one also in Cabarete. There is an atm in the Pola supermarket in Sosua but that can't be counted on to work all the time.
The Scotiabanks are independent banks and do not provide the same access as in Canada but you can withdraw from your Canadian Scotiabank account at the atm without fees. We have been doing that for years.
You can withdraw 10,000 pesos per transaction and withdraw as many times as brings you to your daily limit set by you at your Canadian Scotiabank (ours is $1,000 cdn). So with a daily limit around 35,000 pesos, if we need that much, we withdraw 10,000 pesos 3 times plus a little 4th extra if we need it.
 
Last edited:

london777

Bronze
Dec 22, 2005
786
29
28
There are references in threads you'll find on these forums but my advice is:

Use ATM cards, make sure you have at least two accounts in case one gets compromised.

I advise one ATM on the Visa/Plus system and one on MasterCard/Cirrus (one system may be down).

Bring credit cards too but avoid using them except for big items such as car rental or inside the bank.

Do on-line e-banking to check your accounts daily to detect early any hanky-panky--it happens.

Draw enough pesos for three or four days at a time--avoid using the ATMs at night.

You can use other banks besides Scotiabank. Banco Popular for example in Sosua

Have access to a phone so that you can call your bank, make note of all phone numbers you might need.

Do not try to reset passwords at ATMs in the DR--It doesn't fly.

Bring a few hundred dollars US as back-up in case the ATMs prove a problem temporarily.

And of course, don't put all your eggs in one basket (wallet or pocket) spread 'em around.

We've done what you're planning several times and this (above) is the voice of experience speaking.
All good advice. I would add:

Notify your bank(s) well before you travel that you will be using your cards in the DR for (whatever your length of stay). The DR stinks worldwide for fraud and scams and they will terminate your card if they see an unexpected pattern of usage. Agree a maximum amount for withdrawals so if you are scammed you are not hit too hard.

Try to use your cards inside the bank at the counter (you will need your passport too) rather than using ATMs. It is safer. Ask for at least 1000 pesos in coins (moneda) when drawing cash to avoid vendors scamming you because they "have no change".

If using an ATM, draw an odd amount (say 9900 pesos instead of 10000) to also give you some small bills. Try to use ATMs outside a bank rather than at stores or other locations. If you have a query it will get resolved quicker (but probably not on the spot).
 

josh2203

Bronze
Dec 5, 2013
1,574
527
113
A couple of things I'd like to add based on personal experience:

If using an ATM, draw an odd amount (say 9900 pesos instead of 10000) to also give you some small bills. Try to use ATMs outside a bank rather than at stores or other locations. If you have a query it will get resolved quicker (but probably not on the spot).

This is excellent advice, but one point to keep in mind: Some ATMs only dispense bills of certain value, and those values are mostly clearly visible on the starting screen. That is to say, that if an ATM only dispenses bills of 500 and 1000 pesos (which is the case in many Banco Popular ATMs), giving the amount of 9900 pesos only gives you an error because the ATM cannot dispense that. On the contrary, for example in Germany many ATMs do the exact contrary, even if you want 500 EUR, you are given (and you can even choose the quantities) 4x50EUR, 5x20EUR etc. This I find a good practice.

The DR stinks worldwide for fraud and scams and they will terminate your card if they see an unexpected pattern of usage. Agree a maximum amount for withdrawals so if you are scammed you are not hit too hard.

One good practice I've had is that if possible, only withdraw using a card to which you can move just the amount of money you intend to withdraw immediately before going to withdraw it. This way it's less possible to become a victim of a fraud, as one you have taken out the funds you want to take, the card is useless (without money). Now, if your bank notifies you of some intents of withdrawal with that empty card, you know immediately that it was compromised.

You can have a card like this by having for example two accounts in your bank, one where you keep your funds, and other, empty account, to which you move the funds you want to withdraw. Or a prepaid credit card.
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,966
113
Keep in mind that all DR banks are separate entities from any umbrellas companies that own them. Even Scotia Bank.

DR banks have their own rules and regulations. Hence transferring money electronically to the DR will have some costs/fees/FOREX rate hits, etc...Taking money from ATMs will have fees and Forex issues that depend somewhat on your home bank and the ATM you use here.

Always check your balances in your home based accounts and your DR accounts to quickly deal with any fraud issues.