I am in receipt of a PR income tax refund check. Great news. Unfortunately, I am hitting roadblocks in trying to cash or deposit the check and I can use guidance.
1) my US based credit union will not accept the check because they insist it is a foreign check. I have tried to educate them that Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the US, the check although printed in Spanish is using USD as currency. The Puerto Rico banking system uses the same Federal Reserve Bank as with US banks. And as in the US bank deposits are guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
2) being unable to deposit to my US based credit union, I thought that opening an account in Puerto Rico would be my solution. So today I went to a Banco Popular to open an account. But they will not allow me to deposit the check because my wife (also listed on the check) is not here in person to deposit the check or to sign up as a joint account holder. She does not plan on traveling here until the end of December, so this is not a good option.
Any suggestions?
How to cash (or deposit) a PR income tax refund check
It looks like you'll have to wait until your wife is here. Any other bank in PR will act the same as BPPR.
You could try to get a check in your name only from Hacienda but I don't think that will work and even if it would work I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get the new check before December.
Amazing the amount of ignorance there is on the mainland USA... This is a valid, U.S. issued a check and they have no authority to refuse it. IT will however take 5-10 day to clear. Speak to the bank branch manager or go to to the main branch. INSIST... it is illegal for them to refuse it.
The other problem is the two names on the account; that has everything to do with the way banks are getting scammed. There is not much you can do about that until your wife comes down.
Indeed Puerto Rico is a commonwealth. So is Virginia. But Virginia is one of the 50 states. Puerto Rico is part of the US as a "possession" or "territory". Different banking rules will apply. That's why people who live and work in PR don't pay US income taxes, they pay Puerto Rico income taxes. Now, the tax system may or may not be funded by the federal reserve but all tax refund checks issued in the states are guaranteed and there is no waiting period for a check to clear. Also the tax refund checks issued in the states are issued by the US treasury Dept. and they are based on earnings made in the states. PR has different regulations and procedures. And to be quite honest Banco Popular ( and other PR banks) tend to make up their own rules sometimes when it's convenient and they think they can get away with it. Case in point. I was late on a loan payment once and they tried to withdraw the money from my daughter's account who is a minor. Now, that is blatantly illegal so they returned the money to her account. It happened once again down the road and someone went in the bank's computer system and erased the edict that my daughter's account was not to be touched.and they withdrew the money again. I threatened to sue if it happened again. But as Gary says, you will probably have to sit on it til your wife comes down. Make sure you have plenty of ID and that it's signed by both of you and you are both present. Even though some people are very quick to point out that PR is "part" of the US you have to bear in mind that it has territory status and not state status. UPS for example considers shipping items to PR as "overseas"(even though they have US Post Offices all over the island) and you have to fill out a customs report with the items you are sending and the rates are higher as a result. Move to PR if it suits you and try to have a wonderful life there. But always, always remember that you can be reasonably sure that no matter what you try to do in PR, it will probably end up being more complicated than it needs to be.
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