Documents required to open bank account in Dominican Republic

We opened our first account at Banco Santa Cruz two years ago, and they did not require tax documents. We had to have three months of bank statements, a reference letter from our bank, proof of social security numbers (we are from the US).

I don't know if their requirements have changed over the past two years

Thanks so much for your answer... I appreciate your help.
I will let you know... Will check on monday.
All the best

Banco Santa Cruz only requires passport and a letter from another bank stating that  you are a customer in good standing. This was as of last week when I refered a person to the bank who recently moved to the DR. It is getting more difficult for Americans as the US puts more and more restrictions on the foreign banks who still will open a account for US citizens.

Questions. Is there a reason that the US don’t want us to open a bank account overseas? Besides tax purposes what else ?

Money laundering.

I also had to email 6 months bank statement in addition to the above.

The number one reason is tax evasion. They do not care if you open up bank accounts but the documentation required ensures reporting channels are set up!

Money laundering is an issue with ALL countries,  not American specific.

Rich1162 wrote:

Questions. Is there a reason that the US don’t want us to open a bank account overseas? Besides tax purposes what else ?

America is one of the few countries in the world that taxes Americans on their earnings worldwide. So they need to know where the Americans keep their money to make sure they get all the taxes they are owed.

Just 2 countries in the world
=================================

Which countries have a citizenship based tax regime?

    The United States and Eritrea are the only two countries in the world with the “Citizenship based tax regime”. The US taxes both citizens and non-citizens on their worldwide income.

This thread is about requirements to open bank accounts, not to discuss the US tax systems.

The reason for all the due diligence is money laundering! The DR does it too - I moved money from one bank to another (only $5000) and had to jump through all kinds of hoops to try to prove there was nothing nefarious going on!

Thanks all for your answers.

I was finally able to open a bank account with debit card at Banco Santa Cruz.

Documents which were required inluded last 6 months bank statement, passport, copy of additional ID card, copy of social Security card, proof of source of income (pension), reference name.
People were happy to help though I don't speak so much Spanish. So I had good first feelings.

Be sure you get a password for online banking.  Don't leave till you do.  They messed me up 7 months ago when they said it would be in an email.  Never happened, and they never answer emails.  Just a warning.

Thanks a lot...
I did not care about that...
So I will go back to ask for it
Thanks again

They didn't email me a password. I went to the website and registered. From the home page, just click on Access Request.

Why do many car rental places and hotels in the DR ask for a small down payment, like 10%, to make the reservation and then require the bulk of the payment in US cash?

Thank you for the information.

I am planning on retiring to DR by June 2026.

Can I have my retirement/pension payment deposited directly into my bank account in DR once I set it up?

If I can have my pension payments deposited directly, how is that money deposited?  Dollars? Pesos?

I thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

@gainkeeper

In respect to car rentals or any transaction you make in DR, everyone rather have USD and it is one of the only 2 currencies readily accepted.   Note that my experience is in Punta Cana only which might be different elsewhere in the country.   USD is more stable and accepted everywhere and esp out of this country where the locals want to move and some of them do have homes and relatives outside of the country and likely take this money out. While people love their home country, they also want opportunities they cannot have here so they need to have USD for that reason.

So even if you end up paying with Dominican Pesos, they will insist on using the current exchange rate  (USD-DR peso) and then determine what you owe at the time.  You can negotiate anything in this country so if you dont like the terms, try someone else.

@ondami

Hello, you open a bank account in DR in the currency of your choice, either USD or pesos.   Its not a good idea to keep all your money here in my opinion, as the banks dont have the same protections as you would in your home country (most likely).

If you want  your pension deposited from another country, the source bank will need to be consulted to see if they will do that for you and at what cost (fees).  In my experience, using WorldRemit money xfer service, I can transfer quickly (in an hour or less) money from my Canadian bank to my Dominican BanReservas bank, very fast and for $4 per transaction.  I only have a PESO account here in DR so the dollars are converted to pesos based on the exchange rate at the time.   I am talking smaller amounts up to around $2000, not very large amounts.  But this is done manually, by myself.

Why do many car rental places and hotels in the DR ask for a small down payment, like 10%, to make the reservation and then require the bulk of the payment in US cash?
-@gainkeeper

I've been living here for over 3 years and vacationing here for 20, and the only transactions I've ever had in USD are real estate. And I've never been required to pay anything in US cash - the real estate transactions were handled as wire transfers to my attorney's escrow account.

Thank you for the information.
I am planning on retiring to DR by June 2026.

Can I have my retirement/pension payment deposited directly into my bank account in DR once I set it up?

If I can have my pension payments deposited directly, how is that money deposited? Dollars? Pesos?

I thank you in advance for your time and assistance.
-@ondami

Even if you are able to have it deposited directly into your DR account, I wouldn't recommend it. Ours goes to our US bank and we transfer it in as needed. We have both USD and DOP accounts at Banco Santa Cruz, so we transfer it initially to our USD account, then move to the DOP account as needed for cash withdrawals or to make payments via bank transfer.

We use Remitly for our US to DR transfers because they are one of the few services that allow USD to USD transfers. There is a fee based on the amount, but I'm not getting screwed on the conversion.

@Karin1 Thank you!  Very helpful information.

Have a grand day.

@ddmcghee Thank you for the helpful information!  Have a grand day.

@ondami,

You would open a dollar account , Banco Popular is who I bank with.

However, I strongly recommend keeping an open bank account in the states or your country of origin for you banking needs. Ie; paying USA bills, etc. This is only from my experience and challenges soley banking in the DR

FYI banreservas gives a minimum of half a point over banco popular when exchanging from US to pesos!  This adds up over time

    Why do many car rental places and hotels in the DR ask for a small down payment, like 10%, to make the reservation and then require the bulk of the payment in US cash?
   

    -@gainkeeper

1) They like US dollars

2) Credit cards charge a fee to them so they avoid that fee if paid in cash

3) Cash is hard to trace

Those are the three reasons I can think of.

@windeguy

I believe they charge a small down payment so they have your credit card number in case there's any damage to the car that you refuse to pay. They always tell me that they would need to charge me 18% tax if you don't pay the balance in cash; but I think it's so they don't have to declare the income on their taxes.

    @windeguy
I believe they charge a small down payment so they have your credit card number in case there's any damage to the car that you refuse to pay. They always tell me that they would need to charge me 18% tax if you don't pay the balance in cash; but I think it's so they don't have to declare the income on their taxes.-@gainkeeper

That would be reason 3...traceability

And yes, having the number of your CC for any small deposit in case something goes wrong makes sense for them to mitigate risk.

For those from the USA collecting Social Security - Do not have those payments direct deposited into a DR bank or you will have to respond to snail mail that you are still alive to collect those payments.  That can be a pain if you get the payments cut off due to lack of response while still living.  With EPS forwarding me letters from the US, they take about a month to reach me from Florida. Then add the return trip time for the snail mail response and you could be out of the limits for a response and get cut off. Then you have to prove you are still alive....

@Karin1

Was it difficult to open up a bank in DR. We just recently purchased a condo in Las Terrenas and will need a DR bank account.

@windeguy

moving to Las Terrenas in April and i plan to have my SSA payments continue deposit yo my U.S. bank and access through my ATM CARD