Questions from Canadians coming for 4 months

The point was you can easily get cash straight from your Canadian account paid to you in pesos with no crazy service charges

the banks here might have the same name but they are independant from their same name banks up north. they must follow dominican banking laws which may be different from Canada..  I'm not castigating them at all.  just be aware that they don't have to be the same.  they do not have to have the same protocols.   they can have different ways of dealing with various services..  such as secured loan, mortgages etc.  just ask lots of questions if you require a bit more than a checking account.   nothing injurious or demeaning is implied in my comment.  have fun & enjoy yourself.  just remember in all things, it is a bit different here.  remember the name of thing do not always mean the same thing as elsewhere.

You are correct Scotia bank here has little to do with Scotia in Canada other than sharing a name.

Bob K

Hi Bob!
Finally I have to correct you.
You are usually right, eh?

Scotia Banks communicate with Canada on a daily basis.
One of my friends here opened an Scotia account in Puerto Plata.
It was done in under 1 hour.
(Scotia Bank has been here over 100 years.)
Try opening an account at a Dominican controlled bank.
The norm is 2+ months.
It took me 3.
BHD is my bank now.
The best I have found.
Tom.

it took an hour to open my account witha santa cruz. just talk to Carlos, very accomadating (sp) guy. I opened  a dollar, peso personal & a corporate account.

Wow! things must be a'changin' here.
I am talking 5-6 years ago.
That's good news!
Tom.

yes it was great, but that was in 2002 when I moved to sosua.

Oh well, I should have gone to Santa Cruz then.

Tom yes they are connected but the rules may and do vary form Scotia in Canada and Scotia here.

As to opening an account we too opened peso and dollar accounts at Santa Cruz in under an hour. This was in 2004 and in the following 8 years helped clients open accounts there in the same amount of time.  I have never heard of waiting 2 months to get an account opened.

We even got a Dominican Visa card with Santa Cruz and I will admit it did take two days to get the card in my hand as they had to send it from Santo Domingo.

Bob K

If you say so Bob.
I know at least 35 people from Canada that
are here or moving here & they all had a long wait
from all local banks (except for Scotia), if they had a
Scotiabank acct. in Canada.
Actually none of them , including me, hat ever
tried or saw a Santa Cruz bank until a few years ago.
Tom.