How Residency Status Affects Banking Options in Latin America
From Beach-Bum to Paperwork Warrior: My First Encounter with Dominican Banking I still remember the salt-heavy breeze of Santo Domingo clinging to my shirt as I shuffled into the air-conditioned lobby of Banco Popular. I had just arrived in the Dominican Republic with the grand idea of teaching English by day and trading U.S. stocks […]
Opening a Bank Account in the Dominican Republic as a Foreigner: Lessons from the Teller Window
From Merengue Beats to Signature Sheets: My First Brush with Dominican Banking On a humid Tuesday afternoon in Santo Domingo, the sound of merengue pulsed from a colmado across the street while I stood inside Banco Popular Dominicana, nervously fingering the sweat-soaked photocopies of my passport. Two elderly men debated béisbol stats behind me, and […]
Colombian Banking Fees: What Expats Need to Watch Out For
From a Balcony in Medellín: The Day I Learned About “Cobros” the Hard Way I still remember the late afternoon sun lighting up the red-brick roofs of Laureles while I tried—somewhat desperately—to piece together why my brand-new Colombian savings account, or cuenta de ahorros, showed a balance lower than the one I had carefully calculated […]
Can You Keep Foreign Currency Accounts in the DR?
A Morning of Mangoes, Motorbikes, and a Mystery Deposit It was a sticky Tuesday in Santo Domingo, the kind that turns a fifteen-minute walk to the colmado into a full-blown sauna session. I had just hopped off a motoconcho—helmetless, of course—and was juggling a bag of mangoes in one hand and my Brazilian surfboard repair […]
Exchange Rate Risks When Living in Peso Economies: Lessons from Four Countries and One Restless Wallet
A Morning in Medellín: Coffee, Exchange Rates, and a Surprise Bill I still remember the shocked look on my own face the first Tuesday after moving to Medellín, Colombia. I had ducked into my neighborhood café in Laureles, ordered the usual tinto and arepa, and paid with my Colombian debit card. The receipt read COP […]
Sending Money Home: Best Transfer Services for Expats in Brazil
An Ocean-View Epiphany in Rio I was sipping a steaming cup of café passado on the tiled balcony of my rental in Rio’s Santa Teresa district when the WhatsApp notification popped up: “Your U.S. student loan payment is due in three days.” The morning sun was climbing over the Guanabara Bay, the distant clatter of […]
Dual Banking: Keeping Accounts at Home and Abroad
Stormy Skies and Two Debit Cards in Santo Domingo I still remember that sweaty Tuesday afternoon on the Malecón in Santo Domingo when the sky went charcoal and the lights blinked out. My landlord, Don Ricardo, shrugged—blackouts are a quiet tradition in many parts of the Dominican Republic. I needed to pay him rent that […]
Avoiding Double Fees on ATM Withdrawals in Latin America: A Veteran Expat’s Guide
The Surprise in Sosúa: My First Costly Cash Run It was a humid Sunday evening in Sosúa, on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, when I sprinted to the nearest cajero automático (ATM) for pesos before dinner. I slid in my U.S. debit card, tapped for a quick 6,000 DOP withdrawal, and watched two […]
Decoding Brazilian Central Bank Regulations on International Transfers: A Field Guide for Expat Investors
Last year, while living in São Paulo’s bohemian Vila Madalena neighborhood, I found myself hunched over a café table trying to move the proceeds from a condo sale in the Dominican Republic to Brazil so I could snap up a pre-construction apartment near Avenida Faria Lima. My iced latte was sweating as much as I […]
Wise vs. Western Union for Transfers to Colombia: An Expat’s Hands-On Guide to Smarter Banking Across Borders
That Afternoon in Medellín When I Needed Pesos Fast Four years ago, I was tapping my dusty sneakers against the terrazzo floor of a packed metro station in Medellín, Colombia. A street musician was strumming vallenato tunes, and the whole platform smelled of fresh arepas de choclo. I had just moved from the breezy beaches […]