Expat banking in CR

We have had an account with Banco Nacional for 10 years now.  We only have a dollar account but can move colones through it.  We only use colones as our daily currency.  We are from Canada and use our Scotia Bank Passport Visa for almost all our purchases.  It has a good patronage program and also a very low international conversion fee.  Our Canada Pension Plan and Old age Security, along with a LIF and RRSP's remain in Canada.  I transfer $5,000 USD from our Canadian bank once every few months to keep a running balance in Banco Nacional.

Hello.

My response isn't too far from TerrynViv's above.

I'm from the states... I keep a bank account in the USA where a relative can 'help out' as a named person on my account.  My SS goes directly into that account.

I use an airlines Mastercard from a US bank of whatever for almost all of my purchases here in CR... they currently do not charge me any international fees.  (they do charge around $5 for cash withdrawals from ATMs)  I pay that credit card electronically, from my bank account in the states... just as I always did.  I love getting the points... But American Airlines no longer has a partnership with any Latin American airlines.... so if I want to use them to go 'south'... I have to fly to Miami first, then return to south America. They used to partner with LATAM... which flies out of SanJose to most south American countries.

I did contact them (the CC company) before moving here to say that I would be living in CR and basically, using my Credit card here... (always a good idea to do whether just going on vacation, or moving permanently... that way there won't be a 'panic' freeze on your account because of activity in a foreign country.) I also provided them with my relative's USA address for any mailings, like a new or replacement card.  Because there is no 'regular' direct mail in Costa Rica (my house doesn't have a number, my road has no name, and there are no Zip or Postal codes here)... my relative KNOWS how to send things to me via the private carriers (Correos de Costa Rica, JetBox, Liberty Express, etc.)... which means that she is basically sending 'things' to their receiving address in Miami; ( a 2nd address is listed for the final receiver in CR along with phone number or even E-mail )  the company then ships mail en masse to CR where said company then receives the mail (and deals with customs) and then they disperse it to customers, as paid for.  (I can pick it up in Quesada, or San Ramon, or have pay to have their courier bring it to me which is or can be difficult with no address and or bad Spanish)

My relative wire transfers US dollars from my account in the states, to my account here, as I request it.  Like Terry, above, usually a reasonable amount is wired that isn't too high (the bank will hold your money if it's a big amount until you can prove 'where'  it came from...literally, you may have to show your SS benefits letter, sale documents from a home you sold up there, etc. I carried those documents with me to the bank for my first 3 years.. just in case and there were times when I'm glad I had them)... and not small amounts either... you will be paying Wire Transfer Fees (usually, fixed amounts) on both ends; every time. Less than $2500 is my bottom line; but if I can wait... anything less than $10K generally doesn't cause alarm at my bank.  Eventually, they will know you if you don't live where there are tons of expats. 

She has it sent to my account in US Dollars which I have at the Banco Nacional.  It is one of three  Nat'l banks... all others are either private or International.  I would recommend using a national bank here.  Banco Nacional (BN),  Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) or Banco Popular (BP).  Whatever you choose is up to you, all banks are represented in my nearby 'big' town.  At the time, i went with BN because they had longer and Saturday hours... all of which do not exist right now.  But I don't' work so 'banking hours' do not affect me much, I have found.

I also have an account at the BN in colones; which comes with a Debit Card; as does the account in dollars... so I have debit cards from BN in both dollars and colones.  I rarely use them.  However, it was good to have an account in Colones when the dollar went extremely High in June 2022??   One US dollar was converting to 689 colones at that time. Not knowing how high it would go before dropping, I changed a big chunk of US dollars into Colones; and glad I did.  Yesterday the exchange rate was One US dollar to 500 colones.  That's a 189 colones drop... around 29%.???   I don't pay any bank fees aside from ATM credit card withdrawals that are from a foreign bank.  My accounts at BN actually make a little bit of interest here.

Banking online here isn't much different from North America.  I can transfer funds between accounts as needed; and I can pay most of my utilities and Caja.  I pay my Water, Electricity, Cable/Wi-Fi, and Caja from my lap - top; or you can get an app for your magic phone.

Note... you CAN have your pensions sent to your account in CR via a bank in north America that OFFERS that as an option; without having a relative or friend go to the bank and do it for you.  You'll have to open an account in that bank, and your pensions will direct deposit there.. and then they (the bank, not the gov't) will transfer it here for you. 

Last time I looked, Costa Rica wasn't on the list of foreign countries (yet) that the SSA would direct transfer to... probably never because it is, after all, Latin America.

You'll pay a monthly fee to do that via a 'middle man' bank.  There's a bank in NY state... I'm not sure what the name is... DaveandMarcia generally has that information.  He's thorough.  He'll answer this post soon, I expect.

Hello.

see my response below... for some reason, it printed twice.  My bad.

Hello.

My response isn't too far from TerrynViv's above.

I'm from the states... I keep a bank account in the USA where a relative can 'help out' as a named person on my account.  My SS goes directly into that account.

I use an airlines Mastercard from a US bank of whatever for almost all of my purchases here in CR... they currently do not charge me any international fees.  (they do charge around $5 for cash withdrawals from ATMs)  I pay that credit card electronically, from my bank account in the states... just as I always did.  I love getting the points... But American Airlines no longer has a partnership with any Latin American airlines.... so if I want to use them to go 'south'... I have to fly to Miami first, then return to south America. They used to partner with LATAM... which flies out of SanJose to most south American countries.

I did contact them (the CC company) before moving here to say that I would be living in CR and basically, using my Credit card here... (always a good idea to do whether just going on vacation, or moving permanently... that way there won't be a 'panic' freeze on your account because of activity in a foreign country.) I also provided them with my relative's USA address for any mailings, like a new or replacement card.  Because there is no 'regular' direct mail in Costa Rica (my house doesn't have a number, my road has no name, and there are no Zip or Postal codes here)... my relative KNOWS how to send things to me via the private carriers (Correos de Costa Rica, JetBox, Liberty Express, etc.)... which means that she is basically sending 'things' to their receiving address in Miami; ( a 2nd address is listed for the final receiver in CR along with phone number or even E-mail )  the company then ships mail en masse to CR where said company then receives the mail (and deals with customs) and then they disperse it to customers, as paid for.  (I can pick it up in Quesada, or San Ramon, or pay to have their courier bring it to me which is, or can be, difficult with no address and or bad Spanish)

My relative wire transfers US dollars from my account in the states, to my account here, as I request it.  Like Terry, above, usually a reasonable amount is wired that isn't too high (the bank will hold your money if it's a big amount until you can prove 'where'  it came from...literally, you may have to show your SS benefits letter, sale documents from a home you sold up there, etc. I carried those documents with me to the bank for my first 3 years.. just in case and there were times when I'm glad I had them)... and not small amounts either... you will be paying Wire Transfer Fees (usually, fixed amounts) on both ends; every time. Less than $2500 is my bottom line; but if I can wait... anything less than $10K generally doesn't cause alarm at my bank.  Eventually, they will know you if you don't live where there are tons of expats. 

She has it sent to my account in US Dollars which I have at the Banco Nacional.  It is one of three  Nat'l banks... all others are either private or International.  I would recommend using a national bank here.  Banco Nacional (BN),  Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) or Banco Popular (BP).  Whatever you choose is up to you, all banks are represented in my nearby 'big' town.  At the time, i went with BN because they had longer and Saturday hours... all of which do not exist right now.  But I don't' work so 'banking hours' do not affect me much, I have found.

I also have an account at the BN in colones; which comes with a Debit Card; as does the account in dollars... so I have debit cards from BN in both dollars and colones.  I rarely use them.  However, it was good to have an account in Colones when the dollar went extremely High in June 2022??   One US dollar was converting to 689 colones at that time. Not knowing how high it would go before dropping, I changed a big chunk of US dollars into Colones; and glad I did.  Yesterday the exchange rate was One US dollar to 500 colones.  That's a 189 colones drop... around 29%.???   I don't pay any bank fees aside from ATM credit card withdrawals that are from a foreign bank.  My accounts at BN actually make a little bit of interest here.

Banking online here isn't much different from North America.  I can transfer funds between accounts as needed; and I can pay most of my utilities and Caja.  I pay my Water, Electricity, Cable/Wi-Fi, and Caja from my lap - top; or you can get an app for your magic phone.

Note... you CAN have your pensions sent to your account in CR via a bank in north America that OFFERS that as an option; without having a relative or friend go to the bank and do it for you.  You'll have to open an account in that bank, and your pensions will direct deposit there.. and then they (the bank, not the gov't) will transfer it here for you. 

Last time I looked, Costa Rica wasn't on the list of foreign countries (yet) that the SSA would direct transfer to... probably never because it is, after all, Latin America.

You'll pay a monthly fee to do that via a 'middle man' bank.  There's a bank in NY state... I'm not sure what the name is... DaveandMarcia generally has that information.  He's thorough.  He'll answer this post soon, I expect.

Thanks so much for the info, Terry and Viv!

Thanks rainagain! As usual, you are a font of good info and experience!

CRJeanne

Just catching up . . .

Social Security (and maybe VA) payments cannot be deposited into a bank outside the U.S. Some, but not all, Costa Rican banks, however, can offer a workaround. For Banco Nacional, at least, they can help you arrange to have your monthly Social Security payment paid to Irwin Trust Company in New York. From there, Irwin forwards the funds to Banco Nacional. There is a $6US monthly fee. At BNCR, at least, the funds are always accessible on the third calendar day of the month. Some adjustments are made for weekends and holidays. We've used this arrangement at Banco Nacional since 2007; it's worked flawlessly.

My understanding is that no Costa Rican bank charges ATM fees. If you withdraw funds from a U.S. bank, using a Costa Rican ATM, then your bank may charge a foreign currency fee. Ask them.

We use our U.S. debit cards and also our Banco Nacional debit cards for most of our purchases. It's just easier. When we must spend cash, we deal only in Costa Rican colones which is what those we pay prefer. There's no question about counterfeit bills, no issue of the exchange rate, and the payee has currency which s/he can spend without any headaches. Leave your dollars out of it.

@daveandmarcia

Agree.  And 'american' bills are too easily ripped, torn, written on, soiled, etc... even creased.  If bringing US dollars in cash to CR... make sure you go to the bank and get new bills that have no flaws. Many CR institutions will not accept a bill that has any flaws.  Even, sometimes, their own Costa Rican currency... which holds up better because it is made of mylar; but can crease.  I dealt with that craziness in the airport here once... with Colones!!   One store gave me 'change' for a 20,000 colones note and one of the bills was creased... I walked 15 yards to get a coffee... and they refused it.  I called security and told them where the bill came from and that they can't hold me responsible for what other Airport Vendors were handing out.  The Security guard spoke with the Starbucks guy, and they accepted my money.  I asked him to walk with me to the previous vendor to 'inform' them that their neighboring coffee shop was not happy with them handing out 'flawed'  colones  He did it!!   The people at the bakery were miffed... but I made my point.   No tip at Starbucks.

Dave... Question about the $6 monthly fee... is that paid to Irwin Trust, or to BN?  And.. does that mean you aren't paying for wire transfer fees??  Currently, BN charges me around $17 dollars to RECEIVE a wire transfer; and my bank in the states is $55 per transfer to 'send;'. 

Is BN waiving the wire transfer fee because of their agreement with Irwin Trust??

Thanks as always

rainagain, above you asked, "Dave... Question about the $6 monthly fee... is that paid to Irwin Trust, or to BN?  And.. does that mean you aren't paying for wire transfer fees??  Currently, BN charges me around $17 dollars to RECEIVE a wire transfer; and my bank in the states is $55 per transfer to 'send;'."

I don't know who gets the $6 monthly charge (each) to transfer our two (Marcia's and my) monthly Social Security payments from Irwin Trust to Banco Nacional and, frankly, I don't care. It makes life so much simpler than messing with international wire transfers ($55? Lucky for you), dealing with BNCR's treatment (whenever they feel like acknowledging it) of the incoming transfers, paying the source bank in the U.S., and holding your breath while hoping that all goes well, which it often does.

The $6 fee comes off the top somewhere, so what you get is the net amount of your SS payment.

The grand total of what it costs us (each) to have our monthly SS payment transferred to our Dollar account at BNCR is $6.00US. Such a deal!

Oh! And the Service Platform at BNCR has the form to make all this happen. You and they complete the form and they send it to whomever processes it. Again, I don't care who that is. Too, we have only had to step through all this once since 2007.

And . . . The only drawback is that if you give the Social Security Administration a Costa Rican address, then periodically they'll send you a form to complete and return that verifies that you're still alive. They'll give you a couple of chances but after that your SS payments will be terminated until you send them the form. Once they get it, they'll pay you any missed payments.

@daveandmarcia

U the Man.  Thank you.  All good to know.   

I too, don't care who gets the $6.00 ...  but I was wondering about the institutions'  willingness  to not make $$ off fees.

And yep... SSA is nuts about addresses... I have had to go onto their 'site' and change my address BACK to my USA mailing address 2x now.  They somehow get my CR address (which is one of those crazy... "150 meters south of the purple church" type of genius CR things...) whenever something happens and I have to give it out (like for my initial benefits issuance... the phone interview was with an embassy employee) etc.   They actually mailed something, physically, to me from the USA.   Not sure who or how it was paid for, maybe SSA has a direct link to get mail to the embassy here...and then the embassy pays for Correos to send it to the receiver... ??  but it was simply a copy of something stupid.  I paid nothing.

Once again, thanks for your time and generosity with the information.

BNCR is not going to get hysterical about the loss of their fee for receiving incoming international wire transfers. They'll never notice the loss on their bottom line.

As regards the postage, it's my understanding that according to the international postage treaties, the originating country sets the postage rates from origin to delivery.

@daveandmarcia

makes sense...  SSA is part of the gov't and 'knows' how to get the information 'out there' ...  wherever a person lives. 

If only they knew how to stop school shootings...???

rainagain, above you wrote, "SSA is part of the gov't and 'knows' how to get the information 'out there' ...  wherever a person lives." Unfortunately, that is exactly not the case.

In the U.S., the Social Security Administration has access to the death records maintained by the individual states. They can check those death records periodically to look for matches with their own beneficiaries' pay records. In the other 193 or so countries around the world, no such access is possible, so SSA relies upon payees in foreign countries to respond to their occasional contacts to confirm that they are still alive and eligible to receive their benefits.

And yes, if they only knew how to stop mass shootings regardless of the settings.

@daveandmarcia

of course there will always be exceptions... but in the modern world, the gov't can and will eventually find out... and for those who don't respond; or 'can't' due to circumstances, they'll find out when they don't get their monthly.

Uh, "exceptions" to what? Remember, "the government" to which you refer has little clout outside the U.S. If you can think of another country's death records to which SSA has access, please let us know.

@TerrynViv

Can you tell me what the requirements are? I was told this was impossible so I would like to know how you did it? I will be arriving in CR Christmas eve and plan to stay long term if not permanent.

Thanks a bunch.

newlance777;

Can you be more specific with your question?

What were you told was impossible?

Cheers .... Terry

having a local bank account in CR without being a permanent resident. Not sure about being on a tourist visa though.

I have heard many different variations on what is allowed and what is not.

I can only give my personal experience.  We opened our bank account, with our Canadian passports, with Banco Nacional before we achieved our residency.  We were limited to $1,000 USD per month until such time as we received our temporary residency.  Once we received our Dimex cards, we were able to raise the transfer limit to $5,000 USD per month.  It remains there today.  I have helped two different couples in our community to open bank accounts (both with Banco Nacional) and neither couple has any intention of filing for residency.  Both couples have a house here in Costa Rica and have had their bank accounts for years.

@daveandmarcia

    Dave..... I think you didn't read my post carefully.... when I said, get the information 'out there'... I meant that that they were able to mail me something that I didn't even need.  It had nothing to do with them knowing if I was dead or not.

You just opened a can of worms ...  I was talking about sending out information, not retrieving it. 

And as far as the SSA knowing anything... I'm sure that if a person dies and the local cops inform the Embassy or Migration people that a 'gringo' has died (which is basic, common, protocol; unless you live in a war-torn central African Republic), that information goes directly back to the states and all parties get informed; from family to IRS and SSA.  It's common sense.

Always looking for an argument, aren't you!!

Tranquilo mae

@newlance777

I walked into a BN, with only a passport, and opened an account.   I didn't 'live' here yet, and hadn't yet applied for Residency.  They asked for a CR address....  I gave them the address of a house I was interested in buying (which, of course, didn't have an Address!! ... rural areas don't have 'addresses' .... just descriptions of 'where' a place is... like, 200 meters north of the blue church, turn right and look for the broken palms... then go south 50 meters; yellow house with red roof.)    I gave them my full name and a CR 8-digit phone number, my email address (really important!) and $500 to open an account in USD, and another $200 to be converted to colones so that I could open an account in Colones.  I returned 5 days later to pick up the Debit Cards for both accounts.  The guy gave me a quick tutorial for their On-Line banking system.  They sometimes ask for 'updated' info; like new phone or address or form of ID... I changed my ID on the original accounts from Passport to Cedula (the official CR id card) simply when they asked if I had one yet. 

The only things that they get 'iffy' about at Banks, are INCOMING wire transfers ...  they will literally ask you WHERE did that money come from (even Cash!!)... and telling them it came from your US bank account won't work.   Even if you want to show them your bank statement from 'up there'....   they have no way of checking to see if it is legit.   I always carried the documents from the sale of my house in the states with me... which showed them some sort of proof that the money is coming from 'somewhere'.  Now, I always have my SSA Benefits letter with me... just in case.  Something easy for them to understand is much more Reasonable than telling them that you and your brother-in-law just made a deal in Arkansas.

There are times when a wire transfer doesn't clear... I have to go to the bank to inquire.  It gets cleared up in a few hours.  They have the right to put it on 'hold'.  They are just paranoid about money laundering.  After you've been a customer with the bank for a number of years... there won't be issues unless a transfer is going to be Giant.  In that case, go there before you do it to give a heads up; and show them where the money is coming from.  So much better to be ahead of them... than trying to do clean-up after the 'crime'.

When I bought a property here... the sizeable transfer wasn't to my account... It went straight to the Real Estate firm's account. If your seller wants cash, don't buy from them.  Period.