I recently opened a DR Soctiabank account with my Dominican boyfriend (late July), mistakenly thinking that they may have SOME kind of relationship with Scotiabank here in Canada. My hope had been that if I deposit $$ in my DR account that I could then withdraw it at a Scotiabank ATM here in Canada fee-free. I had checked with Scotiabank here in Canada first and they assured me that it would be no problem. So I went ahead and opened the account the next time I was in the DR. (The reality is that I am charged RD$170 for every withdrawal regardless of what bank's ATM I use in Canada.) Anyway, after an hour at the bank in Bavaro, 2 "personal" written references and taking a photocopy of EVERY page in my passport, my restricted area pass ID (I work for an airline), my driver's license AND my birth certificate, along with my boyfriends cedula, work ID, firearms license AND passport, we had our account (doesn't it mean you have the account when they give you ATM cards and an account #? )...or so I thought.
They contaced me the next week to say I needed to provide a reference from my bank here in Canada. Okay, no problem...I bank with BMO here in Canada so I went to them and they kindly wrote up a reference on the spot and even faxed it to Scotiabank in the DR for me. After a couple of days I called Scotiabank again to verify that all was good and they informed me that a) they hadn't receved the fax and b) the matter was now in the hands of head office in Santo Domingo. What? Why?? I have my account number and ATM card! And have deposited money in the account. But okay, so I fax the letter again and this time they receive it. The letter is of course on BMO letterhead and lists the "direct banking managers" contact info on it. Scotiabank calls me back to ask for the phone number of the BMO...the one that is directly on the letter. How silly of me to think that they would actually READ the letter (did I mention that I found a BMO rep who speaks spanish and wrote the letter in spanish?). Fine, we all know not to bother pointing out the obvious when dealing with matters such as this, so I read them the phone number from the letter.
Two weeks go by and I haven't heard anything so I think things must be a-ok. Week 3 comes and Scotiabank calls my boyfriend this time and informs him that now the issue is that the letter is addressed "to whom it may concern" and not "to Scotiabank". No jokes. They really don't want me to have this account. I found out they had also called my two personal references - 1 was Dominican and 1 was Canadian. At this point we have deposited and withdrawn money several times (and I know you are all thinking "sankie pankie" but it's the other way around - he is depositing the money, I am withdrawing it and moving it to an account it here in Canada) but still the account is not "confirmed".
As of today my understanding is that things are still in limbo - it's been about 2 weeks since the last phone call to either me or my boyfriend...and I haven't sent them a revised letter. I did stop in and present them with the original BMO reference letter when I was there last week, so maybe that placated them. Who knows. In the meantime I guess we'll just continue to use our account as if none of this ever happened. It's starting to feel to me like all of this was just to watch me jump through hoops and not actually about making sure I was an upstanding citizen of the world.
They contaced me the next week to say I needed to provide a reference from my bank here in Canada. Okay, no problem...I bank with BMO here in Canada so I went to them and they kindly wrote up a reference on the spot and even faxed it to Scotiabank in the DR for me. After a couple of days I called Scotiabank again to verify that all was good and they informed me that a) they hadn't receved the fax and b) the matter was now in the hands of head office in Santo Domingo. What? Why?? I have my account number and ATM card! And have deposited money in the account. But okay, so I fax the letter again and this time they receive it. The letter is of course on BMO letterhead and lists the "direct banking managers" contact info on it. Scotiabank calls me back to ask for the phone number of the BMO...the one that is directly on the letter. How silly of me to think that they would actually READ the letter (did I mention that I found a BMO rep who speaks spanish and wrote the letter in spanish?). Fine, we all know not to bother pointing out the obvious when dealing with matters such as this, so I read them the phone number from the letter.
Two weeks go by and I haven't heard anything so I think things must be a-ok. Week 3 comes and Scotiabank calls my boyfriend this time and informs him that now the issue is that the letter is addressed "to whom it may concern" and not "to Scotiabank". No jokes. They really don't want me to have this account. I found out they had also called my two personal references - 1 was Dominican and 1 was Canadian. At this point we have deposited and withdrawn money several times (and I know you are all thinking "sankie pankie" but it's the other way around - he is depositing the money, I am withdrawing it and moving it to an account it here in Canada) but still the account is not "confirmed".
As of today my understanding is that things are still in limbo - it's been about 2 weeks since the last phone call to either me or my boyfriend...and I haven't sent them a revised letter. I did stop in and present them with the original BMO reference letter when I was there last week, so maybe that placated them. Who knows. In the meantime I guess we'll just continue to use our account as if none of this ever happened. It's starting to feel to me like all of this was just to watch me jump through hoops and not actually about making sure I was an upstanding citizen of the world.