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Banco Popular is in both Florida and Costa Rica. I haven’t gone into the one here to start checking. However, if it’s the same bank, it may solve the problems of direct deposit, CR bank accounts, etc.
So is BICSA (Banco Internacional de Costa Rica), and that’s government-owned. There is, however, a fee applied to deposit in Miami and withdraw in San Jose.
I don’t think the Banco Popular in Costa Rica is part of the Banco Popular North America.
As far as Costa Rican banks go, I think that BICSA is the only one with a branch in the U.S., and only in Miami. The only U.S. bank operating in Costa Rica is Citibank. However, their Costa Rican operations are limited to commercial activities.
In my opinion, the lack of US banks operating in Costa Rica is due to at least two primary reasons:
1. The immaturity of the CR financial sector, primarily due to the:
a. lack of credit reporting institutions
b. skewed playing field in that only deposits in State-owned banks are insured)
c. lack of residential addresses that can fit in a data base, or on an envelope for that matter (lol)2. The lack of will on the part of US banks to look to the Latin American market (no American car dealerships there either). If Costa Rica finally signs on to CAFCA (Central American Free Trade Agreement), I think the country will consolidate its role as the administrative center for US companies in Central America, and more banks will start operating there.
The many pensionados and rentistas on this forum can tell you how they bring in their dollars. I’d be surprised if they said any bank other than Banco de Costa Rica or Banco Nacional. I was always under the impression that this was mandatory, as the purpose of these programs is to bring dollars into the State-owned financial system in exchange for colones.
Banco Popular is the same in CR and USA.
I recently went to Puerto Rico and opened an account with Scotia Bank, PR. It is the same Banco Nueva Scotia in CR. This is (Scotia) a canadian bank with no banks in the USA.
It is well established in the Carribean, Central and South America and you can use your ATM in all those areas.
I’m not sure if the Banco Popular in CR is the same with the one in the USA. The one in the USA is the Banco Popular from Puerto Rico, and if you look at their website, it does not have any locations in Costa Rica.
http://www.bancopopular.com/welcome.html
I’m not 100% sure about this.
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