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Are there any banks in Costa Rica that have counterparts in the USA. I want to put my direct deposit in a USA Bank that I can transfer funds to the sister bank in Costa Rica?
Banderai don’t think it’s that easy to do. i have an HSBC account in the States and one here in CR but i cannot move money between the two accounts.
The Banco HSBC branch manager in Grecia informed me last week that he can create a new account for me here which I could then use to directly transfer funds from an account at HSBC Bank in the U.S.
When I went online to HSBC U.S., I found a checking account that’s free if you have funds directly deposited to it, so I began the application process. All went well until we got to the part where I have to prove to the Bank that I live at the physical address (not a P.O. box) that I listed. Sadly, the only physical address I have to offer is the Aerocasillas shipping address in Miami, and I cannot send HSBC a copy of any proof that I actually live there. They need a utility bill or a tax bill with my name on it.
I talked to a supervisor about this and he explained that the proof of physical residence is a requirement of the good ol’ U.S. Patriot Act and there’s no getting around it. According to the Patriot Act (as he tells it), someone who does not have a physical residence in the U.S. cannot open a new bank account.
Inasmuch as I don’t want to spend my declining years in a federal hotel or get him or his bank in trouble, we agreed that I’d just withdraw our application for the new account.
So, for the time being, I’m stuck with writing a check against our U.S. credit union, depositing it into our Banco HSBC account here, and waiting out the ten business day clearance delay.
Maravilla, talk to your Banco HSBC branch manager about converting your account here. With your Colorado address, you should be able to use your existing U.S. HSBC Bank account to immediately transfer money here.
[quote=”agarcia”]You can do so with an HSBC Premier account.[/quote]
The problem with an HSBC Premier account is that you must maintain a $100,000US balance at all times. Like that’s gonna happen . . .
that’s interesting info, David. thanks. but i’ve gotten my system of moving money around down to a science, and like you, i just write a check on my acct in the States, which is NOT my HSBC account, and deposit it here. everything else seems to be too big a hassle!!
I dunno, maravilla. Others have reported being able to walk into a Banco Nacional office and have a teller there withdraw money from a U.S. bank account, using their ATM/debit card, and deposit it in their BN account with no waiting. For this service, there is said to be no cost.
We have a BN account but they say our credit union debit/ATM cards won’t work for this purpose. What’s more, the wait in Grecia to see a BN teller is almost as long as Banco HSBC’s clearance delay. So we write checks, too.
In the meantime, we and others are having our U.S. Social Security checks deposited to our Banco Nacional accounts directly. It happens via Irwin Trust Co. of New York. The funds arrive by the afternoon of the third of every month or earlier if the third is a holiday or on a weekend. For this convenience, there is a $6.00US monthly cost. It’s my understanding that one’s SS payment can be deposited to a Banco de Costa Rica account the same way.
i cannot believe there is no cost to use a debit card to move money — it was why i stopped doing it. besides the 3% fee, there was also an international transfer fee of $4.50, so how would BN be able to do that without incurring fees on one end or the other? i can’t believe that the banks in the US are going to allow money to leave their greedy little mitts and not slap you with some kind of transaction fee. and the only reason i don’t have my SS check deposited here is that i refuse to pay that $6.00. i refuse to give those banksters one more sou than i absolutely have to.
Thanks Friends for your time. Another possible option is to use a Panamanian Bank? Possibly with the US presence in Panama ,maybe this could be possible? The last time I wrote a personal check to someone in CR it cleared my bank in the USA in 3 days. So there appears to be no charge to write a check on a US bank in CR?
The trick with the HSBC account and the $100K would be to have a mortgage there also so the totals exceed $100K
I receive a Post Office retirement check and they allow two alotments via direct deposit so possibly I wouldn’t have to deposit the whole check.
Does anyone know if the banks offer different types of currency accounts? Euros? Canadian $$$?
Thanks
BanderaDunno about involving a Panamanian bank, Stan, but you’re right that there is no cost for a Costa Rican bank to accept your U.S. bank check for deposit. They make plenty on the float, however.
A difference between Banco HSBC and other Costa Rican banks is that Banco HSBC’s hold on your money is only ten days. Some banks here will hold a check six weeks!
We have a mortgage at Banco HSBC but that alone does not qualify us for immediate transfers from the U.S. the trick would be to open an account at HSBC Bank in the U.S. while you still have a verifiable physical address there.
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