When to open local Banking....

S

StaseyA

Guest
I’ve read many different posts about banking in the DR, but my question is around when to open a local account as well as a local non prepaid cellular service. We have an anticipated move date of 10 months. We are hiring a lawyer to help with all of the residency paperwork. Prior to final move date, I will be making a few more trips to DR to look at different areas for renting ( we plan to rent for at least a year before deciding where to purchase). in your opinion should I open an account with a local bank on one of my trips or wait until we actually move there. Also I see that my good credit will not follow me to DR and I do not want prepaid cell service so should I also begin the process of establishing a cellular account ahead of time as well??? Any advice would be great.... and I’m aware that every branch differs in the ease of opening an account... thanks in advance! My thought process is to open a USD and Peso account with BanReservas as well as open a cell account on my visit in Feb... which would be about 4-5 months before our anticipated move date!
 
C

Cdn_Gringo

Guest
You may have a hard time with a post paid cell account without an address. The contract length will probably be for 18 months and it took me a couple to attempts and a cedula to finally land one. Cell service is something you can put off until you are here for good. When you have a place to live you may have better luck with Claro if you are getting TV, Internet and cell service from them. Or possibly not.

The paperwork for a bank account can also be horrendous. Again, without an address here and only a passport, you may encounter resistance. On one of your trips, I'd go into the bank and try to open an account. That will give you an idea of any obstacles they intend to throw in your path. Depending on the bank and the type of account, they often like to see activity in the account every month or charge you a fee, or if you had too much activity they charge you a fee, or if you take money out they charge you a fee or if you don't have enough money in the account they charge you a fee. As soon as you open the account, the fees start so you may want to open one account until you relocate for good. Also figure out how you are going to get your money from there to here and ask how long the DR bank is going to sit on that transfer/deposit until they clear it.
 
J

JDJones

Guest
Cdn_Gringo said:
You may have a hard time with a post paid cell account without an address. The contract length will probably be for 18 months and it took me a couple to attempts and a cedula to finally land one. Cell service is something you can put off until you are here for good. When you have a place to live you may have better luck with Claro if you are getting TV, Internet and cell service from them. Or possibly not.

The paperwork for a bank account can also be horrendous. Again, without an address here and only a passport, you may encounter resistance. On one of your trips, I'd go into the bank and try to open an account. That will give you an idea of any obstacles they intend to throw in your path. Depending on the bank and the type of account, they often like to see activity in the account every month or charge you a fee, or if you had too much activity they charge you a fee, or if you take money out they charge you a fee or if you don't have enough money in the account they charge you a fee. As soon as you open the account, the fees start so you may want to open one account until you relocate for good. Also figure out how you are going to get your money from there to here and ask how long the DR bank is going to sit on that transfer/deposit until they clear it.
Click to expand...


You make it sound like they have a fee for every thing:

https://www.popularenlinea.com/Personas/Documents/Tarifas/Tarifario Web al 09 de agosto de 2019.pdf

:nervous:
 
M

Matilda

Guest
I would leave cell phone till you get here, but try opening a bank account first. I use Banco Popular, excellent online banking and you can transfer from your US bank account using xoom - direct transfer in minutes. You don't have to wait for it to clear and there was a post on DR1 the other day about how good the rates are over US$2,000. https://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php/176188-Xoom-money-transfer.
As your father is Dominican, the first thing you should do is get your Dominican nationality sorted, with a Dominican birth cert, assuming you don't have one, and a Dominican cedula. That will make all of the bank, cell phone etc transactions much easier. This explains how to do it http://consuladord-ny.net/yosoydominicano

Matilda
 
S

StaseyA

Guest
Matilda said:
I would leave cell phone till you get here, but try opening a bank account first. I use Banco Popular, excellent online banking and you can transfer from your US bank account using xoom - direct transfer in minutes. You don't have to wait for it to clear and there was a post on DR1 the other day about how good the rates are over US$2,000. https://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php/176188-Xoom-money-transfer.
As your father is Dominican, the first thing you should do is get your Dominican nationality sorted, with a Dominican birth cert, assuming you don't have one, and a Dominican cedula. That will make all of the bank, cell phone etc transactions much easier. This explains how to do it http://consuladord-ny.net/yosoydominicano

Matilda
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Great advice!
 
S

StaseyA

Guest
Cdn_Gringo said:
You may have a hard time with a post paid cell account without an address. The contract length will probably be for 18 months and it took me a couple to attempts and a cedula to finally land one. Cell service is something you can put off until you are here for good. When you have a place to live you may have better luck with Claro if you are getting TV, Internet and cell service from them. Or possibly not.

The paperwork for a bank account can also be horrendous. Again, without an address here and only a passport, you may encounter resistance. On one of your trips, I'd go into the bank and try to open an account. That will give you an idea of any obstacles they intend to throw in your path. Depending on the bank and the type of account, they often like to see activity in the account every month or charge you a fee, or if you had too much activity they charge you a fee, or if you take money out they charge you a fee or if you don't have enough money in the account they charge you a fee. As soon as you open the account, the fees start so you may want to open one account until you relocate for good. Also figure out how you are going to get your money from there to here and ask how long the DR bank is going to sit on that transfer/deposit until they clear it.
Click to expand...

Thank you!!
 
D

Dr_Taylor

Guest
Cdn_Gringo said:
You may have a hard time with a post paid cell account without an address. The contract length will probably be for 18 months and it took me a couple to attempts and a cedula to finally land one. Cell service is something you can put off until you are here for good. When you have a place to live you may have better luck with Claro if you are getting TV, Internet and cell service from them. Or possibly not.

The paperwork for a bank account can also be horrendous. Again, without an address here and only a passport, you may encounter resistance. On one of your trips, I'd go into the bank and try to open an account. That will give you an idea of any obstacles they intend to throw in your path. Depending on the bank and the type of account, they often like to see activity in the account every month or charge you a fee, or if you had too much activity they charge you a fee, or if you take money out they charge you a fee or if you don't have enough money in the account they charge you a fee. As soon as you open the account, the fees start so you may want to open one account until you relocate for good. Also figure out how you are going to get your money from there to here and ask how long the DR bank is going to sit on that transfer/deposit until they clear it.
Click to expand...

JDJones said:
You make it sound like they have a fee for every thing:

https://www.popularenlinea.com/Personas/Documents/Tarifas/Tarifario Web al 09 de agosto de 2019.pdf

:nervous:
Click to expand...

I had to laugh. I thought that Banreservas had a fee for every instance. Permit me to remain on my own lawn for now.:squareeye
 
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