Useful Banking Information

You may have read in my blog about a BDF screw-up (actually, error of an individual). Well, disaster was narrowly averted meaning the money being transferred showed up today, over 12 hours before not having it would have been a major disaster.

But, that isn't the end of the story. This new data may be of use to others doing some banking here.

First, the good news. Wire transfers work fine. In my case, it was ordered (in Costa Rica) on Tuesday and the money appeared in BDF today. Totally reasonable.

The next piece of the picture was that we found out the person we need to get the money to tomorrow has an account in BANPRO. So, I asked the Estelí branch manager how we do that. He said it is no problem--I just request a Manager's check. That was the next good news. But, the bad news is that branch managers have a limit on checks before they must get them signed in Managua. So, if you need a big check tomorrow, you need to ask for it yesterday.

Live and learn. This is all related to a real estate transaction. It reminds me that in the US, you have an escrow agent in the middle. They collect the signed papers and the money and when all is ok, they do the right stuff with all the pieces. Here, where typically there is one lawyer and no independent party, you are forced to somehow make everything happen at once in the same place.

One other useful piece of information: If your bank account is in the name of Robert Jones, make sure any checks you try to deposit are made out to Robert Jones, not Bob Jones or even Rob Jones. It looks like with a good story, some of the bank manager's time and a lot of phone calls you can get from Rob to Robert but anything beyond that seems close to hopeless.