Banco Santa Cruz sticking it too me

[cavok]

For larger amounts, even $5000, paying a flat rate at your receiving bank is probably cheaper. One way to be sure though...

Anytime new fees appear or when fees are increased it's a hit to the wallet, but that's part of the cost of living abroad. I do not keep much money directly in Dominican banks since I don't trust them, and it's easy enough and cheap enough, to me, to transfer funds when needed. I bet we save money, even with the fees vs leaving money in a DR account and having fees for letting it sit in the accounts eat away at it. There's really nothing I need or require from a DR bank on a regular basis so I take the safe route. I don't like the fees either but I'd rather have the relative safety and pay the fees.

In addition to the fee the receiving bank is charging, there is the wire transfer fee the sending bank charges. Some people have accounts at "sending banks" that charge little, or no, wire transfer fees.

If you have a USD and pesos account here, there really are no fees to have your money just sitting there. Just make an occasional transfer between your USD and peso account to keep them active.

 

[AlaPlaya]

Those companies charge you a fee for their service in transferring your money. On the other hand, BSC is charging you a fee for the privilege of putting your money in their bank.

A lot of people claim these other companies are "cheap", but they never post an actual transfer with all fees involved. I've checked many of them and none of them looked "cheap" to me.

As an exemplar -

$2,000 USD at a rate of 54.3510 Pesos was 108,702 on March 29, 2022 with XE. I'm not comfortable sharing the transaction slip, but the transfer fees and transfer taxes were zero on the slip. And like I said, Banco Santa Cruz doesn't charge me to receive it.
$2,000 USD at a rate of 53.35 Pesos was 106,700 on April 4, 2022 with Remitly.

 

[D'Arcy (Apostropheman)]

In addition to the fee the receiving bank is charging, there is the wire transfer fee the sending bank charges. Some people have accounts at "sending banks" that charge little, or no, wire transfer fees.

If you have a USD and pesos account here, there really are no fees to have your money just sitting there. Just make an occasional transfer between your USD and peso account to keep them active.

But should you forget, or be too late, making your occasional transfers....then what happens? A fee or penalty, ya. I've heard many, dozens literally, about how people left X amount in an account and it became dormant and the fees ate up the total or a large chunk. In some cases there was a negative balance lol.

We each have our own methods and reasons and My point was simple. If you don't have a better option then complaining does nothing and if you do have a better option then take it and then there's no reason to complain.

I'm content with my method so I guess I'll just leave it at that.

Good luck with yours and do let us know if you find a better, cheaper, simpler, safer way.

 

[cavok]

As an exemplar -

$2,000 USD at a rate of 54.3510 Pesos was 108,702 on March 29, 2022 with XE. I'm not comfortable sharing the transaction slip, but the transfer fees and transfer taxes were zero on the slip. And like I said, Banco Santa Cruz doesn't charge me to receive it.
$2,000 USD at a rate of 53.35 Pesos was 106,700 on April 4, 2022 with Remitly.

A couple questions: (1) Does your bank charge you any fee to send the money to XE? (2) XE sends you 108,702 pesos. Did you receive 108,702 pesos in your BSC account? (3) How long did the transfer take?

With Remitly, it's going to cost me $46USD to send $2000USD. XE would only be about $10 if there really are no other fees. I'll switch to XE tomorrow if that's the case. Maybe they've gotten better(?). I looked at XE before and it didn't look that good.

 

[cavok]

But should you forget, or be too late, making your occasional transfers....then what happens? A fee or penalty, ya. I've heard many, dozens literally, about how people left X amount in an account and it became dormant and the fees ate up the total or a large chunk. In some cases there was a negative balance lol.

We each have our own methods and reasons and My point was simple. If you don't have a better option then complaining does nothing and if you do have a better option then take it and then there's no reason to complain.

I'm content with my method so I guess I'll just leave it at that.

Good luck with yours and do let us know if you find a better, cheaper, simpler, safer way.

The inactive fees were pretty small - maybe a couple hundred pesos monthly. I can't remember how often you have to have a transaction to keep the account active and it probably varies with each bank, but I think once every 90 days(?). If it goes inactive, you have to transfer money into the account.

No reason to change if what you're doing works good for you.

 

[AlaPlaya]

A couple questions: (1) Does your bank charge you any fee to send the money to XE? (2) XE sends you 108,702 pesos. Did you receive 108,702 pesos in your BSC account? (3) How long did the transfer take?

With Remitly, it's going to cost me $46USD to send $2000USD. XE would only be about $10 if there really are no other fees. I'll switch to XE tomorrow if that's the case. Maybe they've gotten better(?). I looked at XE before and it didn't look that good.

(1) My US account is with CapitalOne Bank and they don't charge me a fee to send the money to XE.
(2) Yes, I always receive the full amount. No fees are ever deducted from my account other than a few pesos at the end of the month when they recalculate how much interest they overpaid because of withdrawals during the month.
(3) Initiated the transfer on March 24th, XE sent the payment on March 29th, and it was available April 4th. Sometimes it's available a few days earlier, but in the DR I find it usually takes to the day they say it will be available (in this case, when I initiated the transfer, they said funds would be available April 4th). This is the only downside, because if I use XE to send money to Canada or the UK its usually available a day or two after XE makes the transfer.

I had a free transfer to use with Remitly, so I didn't have any fees on that transaction. The only benefit I can see with Remitly is that it's available within 5/6 days (unless you do the immediate transfer option for an even worse exchange rate). I prefer to get the best rate, so I don't mind if it's a little slower. I just plan any transfers accordingly.

 

[william webster]

I just did a $1600US transfer at ScotiaBank - from my account to a supplier within Scotia.

Fee was $2.40US

 

[chico bill]

I have tied to use XE as others said. There conversion rate is OK - about 54.45 pesos to the dollar
But you can not send dollars to a dollar account with them.

I used World Remit a couple of times and they are fast (2 days) and cheap but after two times their fees go up and it is more expensive than a wire.
They are like drug dealers - get you hooked then they try to gouge you at 10 times the introductory fee

 

[JLSawmam]

Those companies charge you a fee for their service in transferring your money. On the other hand, BSC is charging you a fee for the privilege of putting your money in their bank.

A lot of people claim these other companies are "cheap", but they never post an actual transfer with all fees involved. I've checked many of them and none of them looked "cheap" to me.

A couple weeks ago I used XE to transfer $1000 US to my peso account here. Exchange rate was 54.45. The rate at this very moment from Banco Popular is 54, and it probably was the same then. XE is consistently just a smidge above the Popular rate. No other fees involved from either end. For me, it is easier to do this than to do a wire transfer of dollars, and if not cheaper, close enough for me!

 

[cavok]

(2) Yes, I always receive the full amount. No fees are ever deducted from my account other than a few pesos at the end of the month when they recalculate how much interest they overpaid because of withdrawals during the month.

It's really strange that BSC doesn't charge any fee when receiving money from XE, but on a wire transfer they do. Actually, there's no "fee" shown on my statements - I just receive $25 less than sent(doesn't matter the amount). On the other hand, if I deposit a check in BSC, the full amount is credited to my account. The problem with a check is that the funds aren't available for almost a month.

 

[raycayenne]

Banco Santa Cruz, does not provide any information on its Bank account charges. You just see them appear in the account. When you ask what the charges are for or complain about the charges the staff do not respond.
The Bank took away my online access, then chrges me for not managing the account by going under the minimum balance.
They seem to do as they please and the custmer has no recourse or ability to affect what they are doing. They will not even provide details to make a complaint.

 

[fuchs4d]

Banco Santa Cruz, does not provide any information on its Bank account charges.

Just got an email with updated fees. Lengthy document.
I heard from a customer that it is best to make a small transfer every 3 month or so to avoid problems from inactivity.

Alexander

 

[josh2203]

Banco Santa Cruz, does not provide any information on its Bank account charges. You just see them appear in the account. When you ask what the charges are for or complain about the charges the staff do not respond.
The Bank took away my online access, then chrges me for not managing the account by going under the minimum balance.
They seem to do as they please and the custmer has no recourse or ability to affect what they are doing. They will not even provide details to make a complaint.

I've had to research the tariffs for various banks in the DR in the past (not necessary currently as we're abroad), I believe almost every bank has in fact a document titled tarifario de servicios on their public website available. Sometimes it's not very obvious where it is, but it should always be there. Sometimes when I have not found this, I put [Bank XYZ] "tarifario" to Google and it should find it. In the case of Banco Santa Cruz, appears to be accessible via the right hand menu as a PDF:

https://bsc.com.do/api/content/uploads/2023/10/20231007-Tarifario-de-productos-y-servicios.pdf

That PDF might be the same one fuchs4d also received via email?

I've had to deal with a few banks in the DR, so I always read the tariffs pretty darn good...

 

[fuchs4d]

That PDF might be the same one fuchs4d also received via email?

Exactly. This page content embedded in the email.

Alexander

 

[raycayenne]

I've had to research the tariffs for various banks in the DR in the past (not necessary currently as we're abroad), I believe almost every bank has in fact a document titled tarifario de servicios on their public website available. Sometimes it's not very obvious where it is, but it should always be there. Sometimes when I have not found this, I put [Bank XYZ] "tarifario" to Google and it should find it. In the case of Banco Santa Cruz, appears to be accessible via the right hand menu as a PDF:

https://bsc.com.do/api/content/uploads/2023/10/20231007-Tarifario-de-productos-y-servicios.pdf

That PDF might be the same one fuchs4d also received via email?

I've had to deal with a few banks in the DR, so I always read the tariffs pretty darn good...

Thanks for the link.....it seems they charge for everything, although it says Account Management is supposed to be free if the account balance is above the minimum. However, I saw I was charged Account Management, even though above the minimum balance.

 

[JD Jones]

Thanks for the link.....it seems they charge for everything, although it says Account Management is supposed to be free if the account balance is above the minimum. However, I saw I was charged Account Management, even though above the minimum balance.

They all do Ray. The service charge list for BPD is almost as big as a book.

 

[SKY]

Gave up on them 15 years ago. Opened an account and specifically told them I would be getting transfers every one or two weeks. They said no problem. On the second transfer it was held up. I eventually got it and closed the account never to enter that bank. GARBAGE...........

 

[cavok]

I've had a BSC account for 5 years. They require you maintain a $500 USD balance and a 5000 peso balance. It's a very small monthly charge if you go under that during the month - maybe 100 pesos on the DOP acct and a couple bucks on the USD account. They also have inactivity charges - not sure what they are(?). The law also requires all banks to charge a 0.15% transaction fee.

 

[CFA123]

BSC customer for 5(?) years - dollar and peso accounts. Never had an issue with incoming wires, making online payments, transfers to other accounts at BSC/other banks, or withdrawals from ATM’s… and it’s nice to be able to take out 50k pesos a day from the atm. Fees are minimal, many (most?) being gov’t taxes.