Transferring money to a Dominican bank account

[Alltimegreat]

As I've written before, my permanent residency permit is up for renewal shortly, and I am living in Europe. The new renewal rules require proof of economic solvency, which is somewhere in the ballpark of 100,000 to 300,000 pesos. I've been told that the Immigration Department strongly prefers that applicants can show they have this much money in a Dominican bank account, but they may still accept a legalized letter from a foreign bank with equivalent funds.

To be on the safe side, I'm considering transferring that amount of money to a Dominican account which I opened with Scotiabank in 2008 (1,000 pesos) for the purpose of proving I have a connection to the country (this was a rule back then to obtain temporary residency). So I called Scotiabank yesterday to set up online banking, and they told me that my account is now invalid due to inactivity and that I can try to get it reactivated by coming to the bank in person. Can they really do that? I'm a bit concerned now about the security of the 300,000 pesos if I deposit that into the account.

Does anyone have any experience with this or any advice? I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[rubio_higuey]

Yes, most "savings" account get "inactive" at most DR banks after you do not do any transaction in 6 months. It's not that your account is closet, it's in "frozen" status waiting for you to come in. It is meant for your security. It happened to me once in Banco Leon on USD account and a quick visit to the branch resolved that. For that reason it is good to have a dollar/peso accounts and do online transfers between the two, even for 1 peso, every now and then.

So to answer your question, it is normal to have that account "frozen", the banks must report these accounts to Banco Central. I have seen last year Banco Central published a list o "frozen" inactive accounts for (I think) 3 or more years. Here is some reading for you:
http://www.bancentral.gov.do/normativa/normas_vigentes/financieros/Reglamento_cuentas_inactivas.pdf
https://www.banreservas.com.do/fportal/cuentas+inactivas.htm
http://www.bancentral.gov.do/noticias/avisos/aviso2011-11-24.pdf

Depending on the time since you last accessed the account (deposit, withdrawal, transaction) your account may still be with Scotiabank or may have been transferred to Banco Central.

WARNING TO ALL: DR banks are not to serve as safe havens same as Swiss banks do where you can have money deposited for 50 years without accessing your account and it's still there!! Not in the DR! Unless you do a transaction now and then, your account will be frozen and eventually transferred to central bank as abandoned account.

 

[Alltimegreat]

Thanks for the helpful response. Unfortunately my Spanish isn't good enough to read those PDF documents. Do you know if the "abandoned" accounts can also be reactivated, or are they gone for good (along with the money in them)?

 

[AlterEgo]

Don't worry about your account. Every time we leave DR our accounts are 'deactivated' or some such word. When we go into the bank, show ID, they update the account and enter all the interest into the passbooks. Takes minutes.