Banco Popular v BHD

drstock

Silver
Oct 29, 2010
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I have had a couple of accounts and a certificate with Banco Popular for fourteen years. I have had no problems and regularly use the accounts for deposits and withdrawals. Recently, I sold a property and wanted to open up a new certificate with what was, for me, a large amount. I had given the bank a copy of the sale document to prove the money was legit. The young lady told me there was a slight delay with the paperwork for the certificate but she said she would contact me ASAP. She didn't, so after a week or so I returned to the bank, waited quite a long while then was able to ask what was going on. She told me they needed a letter from my pension provider. She couldn't tell me why, since the money in question had nothing to do with my pension. My private pension provider is in England, and getting a letter from them is practically impossible, and getting one from the other provider, the UK govt. is even worse. However, I provided what little I could then heard nothing again.

After a few weeks I gave up and went to BHD. What a refreshing change! I opened an account, transferred the money and the certificate was in my hand in a few days. In fact, it probably could have been done in one day if there hadn't been a delay transferring the funds from Banco Popular. The interest rate was better at BHD too.

I know which bank I would recommend!
 

Glenn Burke

Active member
Sep 12, 2023
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Santo Domingo
Don't be so excited about BHD, maybe they did not ask you for the paper that Popular asked for, but in many other aspects they are much worse than Popular.

May I ask you, you sold the property, did the buyer transfer the money to your existing Popular account? Or somewhere else? Because if the buyer transferred money to your account in Popular, they had to ask you for the sale document even before the money were credited to your account, that's a standard thing now for large amounts... so what exactly they did not want to do for you without your proof of income (pension) papers, to transfer money from the property sale to your account, or open a new certificate?
 

Glenn Burke

Active member
Sep 12, 2023
348
218
43
Santo Domingo
I have sold properties before with money transferred to my Popular account, they wanted the copy of contract of sale only from me (I have no idea what documents they wanted from buyers), but it was a few years ago, I would like to know if something has changed now.
 

MariaRubia

Well-known member
Jun 25, 2019
2,813
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I have had a couple of accounts and a certificate with Banco Popular for fourteen years. I have had no problems and regularly use the accounts for deposits and withdrawals. Recently, I sold a property and wanted to open up a new certificate with what was, for me, a large amount. I had given the bank a copy of the sale document to prove the money was legit. The young lady told me there was a slight delay with the paperwork for the certificate but she said she would contact me ASAP. She didn't, so after a week or so I returned to the bank, waited quite a long while then was able to ask what was going on. She told me they needed a letter from my pension provider. She couldn't tell me why, since the money in question had nothing to do with my pension. My private pension provider is in England, and getting a letter from them is practically impossible, and getting one from the other provider, the UK govt. is even worse. However, I provided what little I could then heard nothing again.

After a few weeks I gave up and went to BHD. What a refreshing change! I opened an account, transferred the money and the certificate was in my hand in a few days. In fact, it probably could have been done in one day if there hadn't been a delay transferring the funds from Banco Popular. The interest rate was better at BHD too.

I know which bank I would recommend!

Completely agree. I have had it with Popular, absolutely useless. Even when one of their directors had to get involved, they were still useless. I'm with Scotiabank now, I have an excellent guy who deals with me. He is surrounded by useless people but he is wonderful. And their internet banking and app are also much better than Popular's.

Popular took nine months to arrange a mortgage for one of my properties. Nine months. They put the Jo in Joder.
 
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DrNoob

Member
Aug 10, 2024
81
35
18
Cabarete, DR
I am new here, please can someone explain what is a 'certificate' in this context ?

On Popular vs BHD, I recently opened an account with BHD and so far they have been quite smooth (I am also from England BTW). Took a couple of hours but works fine. I did not even attempt Popular after reading the various adventures in opening accounts with them on here
 

josh2203

Bronze
Dec 5, 2013
2,026
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I am new here, please can someone explain what is a 'certificate' in this context ?
I believe the OP is talking about these:

So, a method of saving/investment with a bit higher interest rate. Those are good, my wife's step-mother has several of those in Banreservas where they bank...
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
33,243
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dr1.com
Don't be so excited about BHD, maybe they did not ask you for the paper that Popular asked for, but in many other aspects they are much worse than Popular.

May I ask you, you sold the property, did the buyer transfer the money to your existing Popular account? Or somewhere else? Because if the buyer transferred money to your account in Popular, they had to ask you for the sale document even before the money were credited to your account, that's a standard thing now for large amounts... so what exactly they did not want to do for you without your proof of income (pension) papers, to transfer money from the property sale to your account, or open a new certificate?
The transfer has to be bank to bank, with the buyer not handing the seller cash(officially) with the sales agreement...paperwork as well. Recently bought a house in Jarabacoa and this is the way it worked, with his lawyer and ours as well involved.
 

Glenn Burke

Active member
Sep 12, 2023
348
218
43
Santo Domingo
The transfer has to be bank to bank, with the buyer not handing the seller cash(officially) with the sales agreement...paperwork as well. Recently bought a house in Jarabacoa and this is the way it worked, with his lawyer and ours as well involved.
That's why I asked the topic starter, in what exact moment Popular asked him for his pension papers, because it has nothing to do with the sale. If they needed that for that 'certificate' only, that's another thing, because maybe they just want the proof of income in general for opening it, even if they have the proof where this particular amount of money came from (the property sale)? Every bank has their own rules. I am just curious if the pension papers had to do something with depositing the money from the property sale to his account in Banco Popular, because it should not be like that.
 

Glenn Burke

Active member
Sep 12, 2023
348
218
43
Santo Domingo
After a few weeks I gave up and went to BHD. What a refreshing change! I opened an account, transferred the money .....
Transferred the money from where? From Banco Popular account? Where the money went to, right after selling the property? It's not clear in the first message at all.
 

DrNoob

Member
Aug 10, 2024
81
35
18
Cabarete, DR
I believe the OP is talking about these:

So, a method of saving/investment with a bit higher interest rate. Those are good, my wife's step-mother has several of those in Banreservas where they bank...
Thank you. So these are term deposits but they issue an old-style paper certificate. The word 'certificate' threw me a bit, have not seen those issued in a while
 

JLSawmam

Newbie
Sep 8, 2018
569
439
63
@drstock , what documents did BHD require from you in order to open the account? As far as Popular, they may have been considering the certificate as a new account, thus asking for documentation. Do I agree with that logic, no. But I wonder if other banks here would have thought the same
 

Yolatengo

New member
Apr 15, 2020
18
23
3
A few years ago I tried to make an atm withdrawal at Banco Popular in Cabarete, using a debit card from my bank in Canada. It wouldn’t access my chequing account. It would only allow me to use my Visa credit card account. Whatever? I went along with it thinking I’ll pay Visa when I got back to my apartment using online banking on my laptop.
A few hours later I went to make the transfer and saw that my Visa had been hit for a little over five thousand Canadian at a few stores in Puerto Plata, TV’s, appliances etc. I was eventually able to recover the funds from my bank in Canada, after a few weeks, with zero help from Banco Popular, beyond a shoulder shrug when I brought it to their attention the next morning!
A friend recommended me to BHD and introduced me to their branch in Cabarete.
It’s been a few years of hassle free banking!
Transfers from my bank in Canada that take twenty minutes or less. Great exchange rates. BHD cards also work at Ban Reservas atm’s with no charge!
When someone states they prefer BHD to BP, I couldn’t agree more.
 
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Manuel01

Well-known member
Apr 1, 2009
1,067
1,098
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I have had a couple of accounts and a certificate with Banco Popular for fourteen years. I have had no problems and regularly use the accounts for deposits and withdrawals. Recently, I sold a property and wanted to open up a new certificate with what was, for me, a large amount. I had given the bank a copy of the sale document to prove the money was legit. The young lady told me there was a slight delay with the paperwork for the certificate but she said she would contact me ASAP. She didn't, so after a week or so I returned to the bank, waited quite a long while then was able to ask what was going on. She told me they needed a letter from my pension provider. She couldn't tell me why, since the money in question had nothing to do with my pension. My private pension provider is in England, and getting a letter from them is practically impossible, and getting one from the other provider, the UK govt. is even worse. However, I provided what little I could then heard nothing again.

After a few weeks I gave up and went to BHD. What a refreshing change! I opened an account, transferred the money and the certificate was in my hand in a few days. In fact, it probably could have been done in one day if there hadn't been a delay transferring the funds from Banco Popular. The interest rate was better at BHD too.

I know which bank I would recommend!
Totally agree ! Popular treats their client like s...! BHD far better than any other Bank. But i have to question your decicion to park your money in a certificate. Put it in SP500 and you do much better.
 
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cavok

Silver
Jun 16, 2014
10,306
4,532
113
Cabarete
I am new here, please can someone explain what is a 'certificate' in this context ?
BHD, like all banks here, sell certificates of deposit. With BHD, you can also buy Dominican sovereign bonds which pay a better interest rate than the CD's.
 
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JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
13,506
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here's an example of a bulletin that BPD sends every month:

inversions.jpg
 
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drstock

Silver
Oct 29, 2010
4,815
2,416
113
Cabarete
Don't be so excited about BHD, maybe they did not ask you for the paper that Popular asked for, but in many other aspects they are much worse than Popular.

May I ask you, you sold the property, did the buyer transfer the money to your existing Popular account? Or somewhere else? Because if the buyer transferred money to your account in Popular, they had to ask you for the sale document even before the money were credited to your account, that's a standard thing now for large amounts... so what exactly they did not want to do for you without your proof of income (pension) papers, to transfer money from the property sale to your account, or open a new certificate?
The buyer transferred the purchase money of my property to my lawyer and the lawyer transferred it to me.

They wanted the pension documents in order to transfer the money from my Banco Popular dollar account to open a Banco Popular certificate. Don't ask me why.
 

drstock

Silver
Oct 29, 2010
4,815
2,416
113
Cabarete
I have sold properties before with money transferred to my Popular account, they wanted the copy of contract of sale only from me (I have no idea what documents they wanted from buyers), but it was a few years ago, I would like to know if something has changed now.
No, that hasn't changed. Both Banco Popular and BHD wanted a copy of the contract of sale when they received the money, to prove its source, and I was happy to provide it.
 

drstock

Silver
Oct 29, 2010
4,815
2,416
113
Cabarete
That's why I asked the topic starter, in what exact moment Popular asked him for his pension papers, because it has nothing to do with the sale. If they needed that for that 'certificate' only, that's another thing, because maybe they just want the proof of income in general for opening it, even if they have the proof where this particular amount of money came from (the property sale)? Every bank has their own rules. I am just curious if the pension papers had to do something with depositing the money from the property sale to his account in Banco Popular, because it should not be like that.
They asked me for my pension papers when I applied for the certificate, not when the money for the sale was first transferred to my normal Banco Popular account. Again, as I have been with Banco Popular for 14 years, you would think that they would be happy to open a new certificate for me.

I can open a new account online with my UK bank in about 15 minutes.
 

drstock

Silver
Oct 29, 2010
4,815
2,416
113
Cabarete
@drstock , what documents did BHD require from you in order to open the account? As far as Popular, they may have been considering the certificate as a new account, thus asking for documentation. Do I agree with that logic, no. But I wonder if other banks here would have thought the same
BHD asked me for my passport, cedula, another form of UK ID (driving licence) and the property sale contract showing the source of the money. They asked me about my approximate pension amount and the value of my car, but required no proof.