- Thread starter sunshine_79
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Sending Money to the DR
wgscogen said:
From my MAESTRO card I get Euro 2,50 fixed cost no matter how big the amount you withdraw; in DR it's limited to DR$ 5,000 per withdrawal, though you can make as many consecutive withdrawals as you'd like, currently abou Euro 120, so a cost percentage of about 2%. The exchange rate is usually very good and no other costs are tacked to it.
As I hate walk around with cheques or cash and the 2% doesn't bother me that much, this is my preferred method of getting money abroad.
Sunshine mentioned that she used www.servicash.com to transfer money to Banco Popular and after checking out the website, it looks almost "too good to be true". No fees to transfer $300 USD and what appears to be a good exchange rate. Has anyone used this service? Are there any hidden charges? How do they make a profit?
You may want to take Sunshine's posts with a grain of salt since she is currently living her life from "The Inside".
If you just use the ATH machine, you get the best rate. Most US banks charge a transaction FEE and not a percent. If you use the card inside the bank, it MAY be treated as a CASH advance which incurs more charges.
If you are coming for a week or two, bring CASH/AMEX Cheques.
If you just use the ATH machine, you get the best rate. Most US banks charge a transaction FEE and not a percent. If you use the card inside the bank, it MAY be treated as a CASH advance which incurs more charges.
If you are coming for a week or two, bring CASH/AMEX Cheques.
The "no fee" option is only available for Internet checks. If you use a credit card, there are hefty WU type fees. Also, the exchange rate is a bit on the low side (31.25 vs a street rate of about 32.40).wgscogen said:
Try using Enviosboya. Assuming you are paying via a credit card, their fees are much lower, and their exchange rate is much better (32.25, about 4% higher). Plus they deliver the money to the recipient at no additional charge.
Also, if you live in the US, you can use the Post Office to send money. They have a flat fee of $10 for amounts up to $1,000. I have no idea if they are competitive on the exchange rate or where the pick-up centers are in the DR.
Sending funds not fun
This is a very familiar theme. I bank with both USAA and Banco Popular Dominicano.
A bit over a year ago on my first trip to the DR I decided to start a CD there to facilitate purchasing real estate.
The first problem was that Banco Popular held the funds for a month before crediting them. I had written a check on my USAA Money Market account.
The second was just being able to access the account via the internet. It took some expensive phone calls and a second trip to the DR to get that established.
The third was that Banco Popular told me that I could transfer funds to my account through its associate, BPD Bank in New York, and gave me all of the routing information. To test the system I tried sending a token amount via a free domestic transfer from USAA FSB. Some time later, after it had not been credited to my account, my inquiries resulted in USAA retrieving the money from BPD Bank in New York and informing me that I would have to use the costly International wire transfer to send funds to the DR. BPD Bank in New York denied that Banco Popular had an account or an association with it to be able to transfer funds. Several months later they indicated that they have a costly International wire transfer fee. Banco Popular PR has the same.
Depositing money in the DR seems to be a better investment considering the policies of the US Government on Roth IRA?s and other non-tax deductible vehicles when I expect to expatriate to the DR in a few years. Finding an economical way to do so has been a problem. This has been an interesting thread.
This is a very familiar theme. I bank with both USAA and Banco Popular Dominicano.
A bit over a year ago on my first trip to the DR I decided to start a CD there to facilitate purchasing real estate.
The first problem was that Banco Popular held the funds for a month before crediting them. I had written a check on my USAA Money Market account.
The second was just being able to access the account via the internet. It took some expensive phone calls and a second trip to the DR to get that established.
The third was that Banco Popular told me that I could transfer funds to my account through its associate, BPD Bank in New York, and gave me all of the routing information. To test the system I tried sending a token amount via a free domestic transfer from USAA FSB. Some time later, after it had not been credited to my account, my inquiries resulted in USAA retrieving the money from BPD Bank in New York and informing me that I would have to use the costly International wire transfer to send funds to the DR. BPD Bank in New York denied that Banco Popular had an account or an association with it to be able to transfer funds. Several months later they indicated that they have a costly International wire transfer fee. Banco Popular PR has the same.
Depositing money in the DR seems to be a better investment considering the policies of the US Government on Roth IRA?s and other non-tax deductible vehicles when I expect to expatriate to the DR in a few years. Finding an economical way to do so has been a problem. This has been an interesting thread.
An update: ServiCash is a BPD Bank operation and does have an affiliation with Banco Popular. Sometimes it offers free transfers of US Dollars when funds are exchanged to Dominican Pesos. However, my Savings account or Cuenta de Ahorro at Banco Popular is in USD and I have to deposit funds into it before they can be transferred into my Dominican Peso CD. That costs 4.5% of the transfer from the US and then the exchange rate. I am looking into transfers by ING Direct, using Banco Popular's routing or Swift code (SWIFT BPDODOSX). The same would apply to using PayPal or AlertPay.
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Not quite, the exchange rate (which we can assume gives Banco Popular some profit) does not kick in until funds are moved from the savings account (U$D) to the CD and coverted to Pesos. The transfer of USD to the savings account does not involve a conversion to Pesos, therefore the occasional fee-free transfer by ServiCash would cost 4.5% of the transfer. The fee-free transfer only applies to a transfer of USD that is converted to Pesos. Since my savings account is in USD (I did not know this when I bought the CD, Banco Popular simply opened it as well as the CD) I cannot deposit Pesos into it.
Q: Were I to have an account with BPD Bank, would I be able to transfer funds to an account with Banco Popular Dominicano without being charged the 4.5% by ServiCash?
A: If you had a BPD Bank account, you would not be charged 4.5%, but would be charged $30/$35 for a wire transfer; Banco Popular Dominicano would charge a fee also. Con huevos suyo tenemos.
A: If you had a BPD Bank account, you would not be charged 4.5%, but would be charged $30/$35 for a wire transfer; Banco Popular Dominicano would charge a fee also. Con huevos suyo tenemos.
So, sending less than $667 to my account is more cost effective by ServiCash than by International Wire transfer until I can return to the DR and get the Cuenta de Ahorro changed to Pesos. Just as an aside, Banco Popular was charging that account $5/month because it had a balance of <$500 after the Peso CD was purchased from it. I discovered this after asking where that $5 was going when I noticed it on the internet balance. Not providing information until asked is considered a deceptive practice, even fraudulent. Is this not so in the DR, or is it a cultural factor to be aware of?