Checking Accounts

ambre

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Hello,
I've read through the various threads on banking, but most pertain to people who are either retiring and/or living off of savings... I am planning on moving in August/September and working as a teacher. Since I don't know which one I will be working at, I am not sure if they do direct deposit or what. My questions are these: 1. If I do work as a teacher and receive a check in pesos (obviously) every month - where is it wise to deposit this check which will basically cover my month to month "living expenses?" I am planning on living in the DR for 1-2 years, and want to keep my American account with Wachovia, but was wondering how safe it is to deposit in a DR bank. From what I've read, most say it is safer to deposit in a general country owned bank, as opposed to a private bank... Thoughts? What do most do who aren't living off of savings?
Many thanks!
Ambre
 

macocael

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Establishing a bank account here is not all that easy, since you have to have residency, and that means you need to get your residency straightened out first. That said, many of the banks here will serve your purpose. Banco Popular is getting high marks these days. If you dont have an account here to handle your peso payments, there may be some means of simply cashing the check. You will lose money, though, if you try to convert to dollars. Course, you need to check with your employer about method of payment.

I have a friend down here who is doing what you plan to do, I could ask her how she handles the matter if you like.

As for Wachovia, check to see what they charge you when you withdraw money overseas -- probably about three bucks for every withdrawal.
 

Ken

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The other teachers in your school should be able to give you good advice. Contact the administrator of the school with your question. It is possible the school has an arrangement with a bank.

As far as your Wachovia account, if it is a checking account, you will have no trouble getting money. When you get here, make arrangements with a banco de cambio that gives good rates to accept your checks--assuming, that is, the money you get from teaching does not cover all your expenses.
 

british bulldog

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I heard banco popular is opening a branch in miami,i think anything is possable now here in the DR with banking,just need to ask at various banks what you want,of course at a price.
 

SH6811

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Hi,

Actually you don't need residency status to open a bank account, only your passport. It takes a bit longer (say 7-10 business days) for the account to become "active" but as long as you have a valid passport you shouldn't have any trouble. I myself have a Dominican bank account as do many thousands of other foreigners who live here only during the Winter or part-time like that. I also deposit funds into that account I have every month without problems.

I also know that among Dominicans direct deposit payments from their work is quite common...so you just need to go to the ATM machine or a withdrawal direct from a teller when you need your money.

If bank security is an issue for you (compared to a US bank) just don't keep a lot of money in your account at any given time. It is easy to do that since this is a cash-based society so you need cash for everything and anything...
 

diego

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macocael said:
Establishing a bank account here is not all that easy, since you have to have residency

As for Wachovia, check to see what they charge you when you withdraw money overseas -- probably about three bucks for every withdrawal.

Thats news to me, I know of a number of people who are not Residents and never will be just Visitors putting their money in the bank when they are not here. Dollars or Pesos.
I do have an account in the US and write a check on my account there to cash here, no problem at all.
 

macocael

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Ah, well all this info is news to me. When I opened my account at BP the first thing they wanted to see was my cedula -- but I guess there a distinct process for each different group, and if you are not resident you need only provide a passport. Good to know this.

Diego, you mentioned that you write checks on your US acct and cash them here -- but how does this work? I know at BP if you attempt to deposit a check drawn on a US bank you will wait a long time for the money to clear. So Diego, explain to me the process whereby you cash the checks you write on your foreign acct -- this is good to know, so I thank you for clearing this up. I have a PO money order here that I would like to cash as well, but it specifically states that it is non negotiable outside the States. yet it ought to be better than a check.

It does seem that banking across borders is getting easier. I stand corrected. Apologies to the OP.
 
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Ken

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For years I've been writing checks on my US account and cashing them for pesos at the banco cambio I use in Sosua. No problem, and no bank charges.
 

macocael

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Thanks Ken, so you just go to a private Agente de Cambio to do it, and he presumably has some means of redeeming the check. Someone suggested to me that I do that with my MO. It never occurred to me that this might be possible.

Anyone else with info on these matters?
 

diego

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Money orders are no good here, not as far as i know anyway, I tried to cash a few in the past but had to send them back to the US.
Yes when you open a bank account you have to wait a bit for your money to arrive, but...my account is with banco santa cruz and after a while they get to know you and you will have no problems. I actualy get a better rate then posted. BP is a larger bank and most likely have stricter rules.
Money Changers are very good for that as well, I am not sure about it, but you may need a valid Dominican ID.
The other option would be to leave your Money in the US and use an ATM card, which i did in the past but the fees got to be as high as $5.00 per transaction just from the bank here plus your usual fee at you bank back home
 

diego

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sorry me again

You mentioned Wachovia,they are actualy the partner bank with banco santa cruz here in the DR. You should be able to set up a monthly wire from bank to bank, this does not take longer then 24 hours and cost $25.00
Hope this helps
 

Texas Bill

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Don't know why someone hasn't

given a good clear answer to the original OP.

Resident or non-resident, all you need to do is open a dollar account at BPD Bank, New York ( you do this through the local Banco Popular here in the DR) and get a checking account at Banco Popular. BPD Bank will give you an ATM card which can be used in almost all ATM machines. Banco Popular will give you a card which can be used at ALL the better businesses country-wide. The card is the vehiclefor direct debit to you PESO Account with Banco Popular. Your money, in dollars, in the BPD Bank in the States can be converted by a dollar check and deposited to your peso account at Banco Popular IMMEDIATELY upon cashing it.
You MAY have to go to the MAIN Banco Popular headquarters in downtown Santiago or Santo Domingo to cash/convert your dollar check, however. Any Banco Popular bank can give you the particulars regarding this.
I say all this from personal experience. I've had an account with BPD Bank, New York for over a year and an account with Banco Popular almost since I moved here in 2000 and have found BOTH to be extremely helpful in all regards.
The reference to Banco Popular opening a BRANCH in Miami is not exactly correct. That bank is part of the Banco Popular Dominicana, a holding company that operates BPD,NY and BPD,Miami as well as all the Banco Populars in the DR. It's a BIG outfit. The banks owned and operated in the USA are dollar based and the ones in the DR are Peso based. Very simple.
I might add that BP Dominicana offers very favorable exchange rates; comparable to the more reliable exchange houses. You'll normally receive the highest rate available on the market.

Whew!! That was a LOOOOONG post. Hope you didn't get bored.

Texas Bill
 

macocael

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question for Texas Bill

Texas Bill said:
Resident or non-resident, all you need to do is open a dollar account at BPD Bank, New York ( you do this through the local Banco Popular here in the DR) and get a checking account at Banco Popular. BPD Bank will give you an ATM card which can be used in almost all ATM machines. Banco Popular will give you a card which can be used at ALL the better businesses country-wide. The card is the vehiclefor direct debit to you PESO Account with Banco Popular. Your money, in dollars, in the BPD Bank in the States can be converted by a dollar check and deposited to your peso account at Banco Popular IMMEDIATELY upon cashing it.
You MAY have to go to the MAIN Banco Popular headquarters in downtown Santiago or Santo Domingo to cash/convert your dollar check, however. Any Banco Popular bank can give you the particulars regarding this.
I say all this from personal experience. I've had an account with BPD Bank, New York for over a year and an account with Banco Popular almost since I moved here in 2000 and have found BOTH to be extremely helpful in all regards.

Texas Bill


Thanks TB, that was very helpful and didnt bore me at all, served to light a fire under my lazy butt and finally look into this properly! I believe there is another thread somewhere on the board about this arrangement with BPD. Can you clarify something, here, though: you say you have the BPD dollar account in the NYC branch (not the American BP, but BPD, I understand the difference between the two) and "you do this through the local Banco Popular here in the DR"-- so there is no need to visit the main branch in St Domingo (or Santiago) in order to set this up or set things up on the NY end? Reason I ask is that when I inquired at my local branch here on Av Bolivar about opening up a dollar account, they didnt explain any of this (natch, I didnt ask, I wasnt aware of this arrangement at the time), and there seemed to be a good bit of confusion over the advantages of having a dollar acct and just how it operated. The dollar account was, according to my understanding, not to be located in NYC but here in the local branch. Now, my own bank in NYC, together with Paypal, pretty much serves all my needs very nicely, and the charge for ATM withdrawals overseas is minimal, so at the time there seemed no advantage to setting up a dollar acct with BPD. I was mainly interested in being able to deposit and clear American checks in the dollar account, but while I can deposit them, I was told that funds would not be available for at least 30 to 45 days. Also I am a bit confused about the status of the dollar account you have set up: if your dollar acct with BPD is in fact located in the BPD branch in NYC, then presumably if you deposited an American check in that account from this end, that is, you walk into your local branch where you maintain your checking account, but give them the dollar account number and deposit the check in that acct, presumably the check should clear more quickly simply because the money would be in that NY account and thus able to be more quickly processed -- but I suspect that may not be the case: probably the paper check itself needs to go through a variety of steps here and then back in NY before it can be cleared.

Can you clear these matters up Texas? Thanks.
 

Texas Bill

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Checking accounts

I think I may have confused some people with my post.
Here's the way it works.

BPD Bank, new York is owned by the Banco Popular Group as is the new BPD Bank, Miami.
Bpd Bank, New York has corresponding offices in both Santiago and Santo Domingo. I'm not sure about other cities/villages.

I have a US Dollar account with BPD, New York. All of my money is deposited to my account there in dollars.
I also have a peso account with Banco Popular here in the DR.

When I want pesos, I go to the ATM and use the card provided by BPD, get my money in pesos. Also if I want to replenish my peso account, I go to the Main Branch here in Santiago, write a dollar check and immediately get the pesos, either in my hot little hand or deposited immediately to my peso account.
In re-reading my other post, it seems that I alluded to being able to go to ANY Banco Popular, deposit or withdraw dollars from the BPD account. That isn't the case. One must go to in-country branches of BPD in Santiago or Santo Domingo to do that.

In order to get the correct information from the "horses mouth", so to speak, Call this person:

Amelia Dura
1-809-544-8088
Santo Domingo

She is the BPD Bank, NY representative and can give you all the information, in correct format.

I just hope I haven't added to the confusion on this subject too much.

Texas Bill
 

macocael

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Not at all Bill that clears it up and jives with what I read recently on another thread some where here as well as with my experience at the local BP branch. Thanks I will call Amelia

I hope the OP is getting what she needs. I called my teacher friend today to see how she handles her salary and will post the results as soon as she returns my call.
 

Ken

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macocael said:
Thanks Ken, so you just go to a private Agente de Cambio to do it, and he presumably has some means of redeeming the check. Someone suggested to me that I do that with my MO. It never occurred to me that this might be possible.

There is no problem. I and others I know have been doing it for years.

Because I can check my account on line, I know that a few days after I wrote the check the money was taken from my account. You can't just walk in a right a check, but if you go to a banco de cambio, introduce yourself, tell them you are a teacher, and give them a reference you can check, then you will be able to write checks on your US account and get pesos in exchange in exactly the same way as if you were changing dollars.
 

ambre

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diego said:
You mentioned Wachovia,they are actualy the partner bank with banco santa cruz here in the DR. You should be able to set up a monthly wire from bank to bank, this does not take longer then 24 hours and cost $25.00
Hope this helps

That is really helpful! Thanks... As I won't have an endless savings, I am only going to have my American Bank as back up. I was basically trying to find out if it is safe to set up an account (and where is best) in the DR to deposit my earnings while in the DR. What is the overall most reliable bank? Do they provide you with a check card there or do you have to take money out from the bank?
Thanks!
Ambre
 

Texas Bill

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Ken is right.

There are times when I want pesos without having to fight the downtown traffic, park, go to the bank, write the check, THEN draw the pesos out. Those times I go to Cambio Lovera, off Avenido Sadhala and write my check there for the pesos I want for immediate payments.

I find both methods convenient for different purposes and reasons.


Edited to add:
As to which bank here in the DR to use???? Well, I use Banco Popular since they have numerous locaations throughout the country and do provide clients with a bank card for use in ATM's. Depending on the branch used, you will be limited as to the amount you can draw out on a daily basis (or on a one-time basis). The other banks are not sufficiently numerous in the country to be of ultimate convenience to the client and they have more stringent rules for withdrawing your money, charge a higher exchange rate, etc.


Texas Bill
 
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ambre

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thanks -- very informative

Texas Bill said:
Ken is right.

There are times when I want pesos without having to fight the downtown traffic, park, go to the bank, write the check, THEN draw the pesos out. Those times I go to Cambio Lovera, off Avenido Sadhala and write my check there for the pesos I want for immediate payments.

I find both methods convenient for different purposes and reasons.


Edited to add:
As to which bank here in the DR to use???? Well, I use Banco Popular since they have numerous locaations throughout the country and do provide clients with a bank card for use in ATM's. Depending on the branch used, you will be limited as to the amount you can draw out on a daily basis (or on a one-time basis). The other banks are not sufficiently numerous in the country to be of ultimate convenience to the client and they have more stringent rules for withdrawing your money, charge a higher exchange rate, etc.


Texas Bill

Thanks for all of your help. To confirm - I can wait until I get to the DR to set up my BDP/Banco Popular account? They are one and the same, correct (in that you can access your money from BP in the DR)?
Thanks again.
A