Opening a bank account in Guatemala

I am also interested in learning more about this; one can never have too many off shore bank accounts, and especially if one is relocating here, it could be very good to have the accounts set up already. I'd like to connect with others who know about this.

Thanks.

Hi Julien,

Because of my business "realtor" I open very often bank accounts for my clients.
The only thing they need is their passport, an electrical bill (because of my good relation with the bank I use one of mine) and money to put in the account. They can open checking account in Quetzales y/o dolares and saving accounts or CD's.
Some banks won't allow a tourist to open an account. Some would allow it with a Guatemalan signing with you..
The bank I use Banco Agromercantile is one of the biggest and solid bank of Guatemala.
http://www.bam.com.gt/
After the opening in 3 days you can have the check book.
For loan you won't be able to get anything as the only way a bank will give you money here is
either you know of of the owners and they will sign as a colateral with you
either if you deposit let say $ 100K in their bank and they will give you a back to back loan.
You need a third party in the bank I use to be like your guarantor.. which is a Guatemalan or expat like me that the bank knows and could refers to.
If you open your account like a joint account with me because you have a property in Guatemala and you have me as your property manager then I have the signature in the account.
If not you are the only one with the signature.
You need to be physically in Guatemala to open your account .. I have heard that you can do without it but it costs more than flying done and open it yourself.
For the moment
Armand

so who owns the checking account if you are signing on the account to open it? who has access to the funds and then make deposits?

thank you armand, for such a speedy reply

even though i live in the united states, can i open up a checking account ay a bank in guatamala  and have my social security checks  deposit in guatemala bank........and have a cosigner  and myself on my account

I do not want to say anything against ArmandAtitlan, but I have been here for 20 years and I have accounts in my personal name and business  name. I opened a new savings account in my name in trust for my two children just last week at Banco Industrial. Banks will allow expats to open accounts as long as they can show them an electric bill or water bill just as Armand said. You will also need your passport and the amount of money the bank requires for an opening deposit. I am not sure if social security can be directly deposited into accounts here, but that is something you will need to ask social security in the states. I know for example that PayPal does not work directly with Guatemalan banks due to money laundering so all the money I earned and get paid through PayPal i need to transfer to a bank in the U.S. and then use a transfer company called xoom to bring the money down here.

Well nothing wrong Guategringo about what you are saying but Banco Industrial as you mentioned them won't open an account to a tourist that easely if not. THe fact that you have your account for 20 years doesn't mean that you can do it today.. And if you can keep opening accounts it is because you have a long relation with the bank and they know you.. But I know by experience that for some banks they won't open the account like banco Industrial, Bac or Bam will do it if you have somebody guatemalan or resident or client of them that will sign with you. You can have your social security check send to your account or wired. And fo Paypal if you transfer your money on Paypal to your US account you can just deposit a US check in your Guatemalan Quetzal or $ account and it will clear in some weeks no need to use Xoom..
One thing for sure you can't open the account being not present.. you have to be here..

Armand,
yes it might be more difficult now, but I know at Citibank here in Guatemala City they will open accounts for anyone with a passport. I just called and asked them. I use paypal and xoom because with xoom I pay a small fee but the money is available within 30 minutes to one hour!!!! I have transfered money from xoom twice per week for two years and only once did it take longer than 1 hour for the money to be credited to by quetzal account in Banco Industrial.

All great information! Thank you for setting us straight

Are there banks we should be more interested in than others? Better care or customer service? Not losing deposits?

Thanks!

DQ

.... and, my other concern is do any of these banks report anything to the USA? Is there bank secrecy/confidentiality? That's the bigger question for me. I want privacy, and security -- something we no longer have in the USSA.

Thanks.

DQ

There are many banks to choose from here ArmandAtitlan likes BAM - Banco Agricola Merchantile. I personally like Banco Industrial. It really does not matter unless you have to work with a specific coorespondent bank in the U.S. then you need to ask these banks what banks they work with in the U.S.

These banks are professional and will not lose depostits. I have worked with the banking system for 20 years and it gets better and better each year. I transfer money weekly from the U.S. and have never had a problem.

The system is first rate and banks are everywhere. There hours are weird since there are a number of bank holidays, but in Guatemala city you can still find them open on Sunday's inside Malls, Pricemart and Supermarkets.....

Thank you for the great information.
I already have accounts in Guatemala just used my passport and it helped my husband is a citizen, definitely had to be there in person. However when we came back a year later the bank had suspended the accounts for lack of activity but it was no problem at all for them to reactivate it. I really appreciate the info about Xoom. It costs a lot to transfer funds via Wells Fargo. But I can use my visa debit card from USA for free with all transaction purchases through my Credit Union and they do convert to Quetzals for me.

As guategringo says it is not difficult to open a Bank account in Guatemala been a united states citizen, you can easily open a savings account at Banco Industrial (the bigest and largest bank in Guatemals) wich has branchs all over the country, you can open an account any time with just Q.200 wich is about USD$ 25 and they will open a bank account for you just the same day, and 5 days later you can go and pickup a Visa debit card wich can be used in any ATM all over the world (their ATM cards are international accepted, I have used their atm card in Miami, argentina, belize, france, spain and even cuba) all you have to give them is a copy of your passport and a telephone bill or electricity bill that says where they can reach you to send you notifications, (it can be the house of a friend or a related to you who lives in guatemala, the billing is not necessary to have your your name on it, it can have the name of your friend, one important thing is to know that people who work in the banks do not speak english, so it would be better if you go there with a guatemalan friend or relative, this friend could asure to the bank teller that you are temporarily living with them in that adress and if you trust this friend enough, you can also have him signing for you in the rare case that the bank officer asks you for a guatemalan Representative with DPI  ) Here is also another helpfull hint: in case you want to use your paypal account in Guatemala (deposit or withdraw money in Quetzales , the guatemalan currency) and you already have a bank account at banco industrial, you can easily have this done with a Guatemalan Paypal Exchange Website  wich lets you withdraw money from your paypal account directly in any Banco Industrial Branch or even reload your Paypal account with Quetzales from any Banco Industrial  too, the website is actually in spanish but it is very reliable I have already used it many times without any problem, you can check it at: paypalguatemala .com this is a very nice solution since xoom and payoneer are not paypal valid options any more, ok hope all this hints can help you to have a nice time in Guatemala, take care

great information.. I didn't know that you could pull out money from your paypal to a saving Q account

Hi, I’m not sure if this info is still up to date. But my question is, I’m from Guatemala currently in the US. Could I open an account in Guate and be able to use the debit card here in the US?

Hello slvmaldonado,

Welcome to Expat.com

You'll obtain up-to-date information by starting a new thread on the Guatemala forum as this one is inactive.

I would highly encourage to do that.

All the best,

Diksha
Expat.com team