Banking in Costa RicaOne, most companies will charge an extra fee for finance charges on any International charges, so while your card can be processed in Costa Rica, if you use it on a regular day to day basis its going to add up real quick. The second reason is that one of the residency requirements for living in Costa Rica is that you must exchange 500 dollars into colones, the Costa Rican currency. That money has to go somewhere, so it is going to have to be a bank. Also, the best way to pay your bills for things such as electricity, water, telephone, mortage, etc is at a bank so you are going to have to open an account.
Opening a bank account in Costa Rica is going to take you some time, so be prepared to start gathering the documents needed before you arrive. In order to open a savings account, at the bare minimum you are going to need two forms of picture ID, two reference letters from locals, (if you frequent bulletin boards before coming to Costa Rica you may be able to ask some people to help you out so that you can start a bank account right away), and a paper signed in front of a notary who cannot be an attorney stating that you are of sound mind when you have decided to open a bank account. As you can see, the process is quite lengthy so its best to start making the preparations now. Some banks may require even more information before they will allow you to open an account.
Some larger Costa Rican banks do have online banking which may help with bill pay, but most of them are written in Spanish. There are two options for using them to pay your bills instead of having to wait in line at the bank every time they are due. One, if you have a trusted friend who understands Spanish they can help you learn the appropriate processes in order to access your account and pay your bills. The second option is use a a private smaller bank, and transfer some of your funds through it to a state bank. State banks are harder to open accounts in initially, but transferring the funds is pretty simple if you have gotten an account opened at the local bank. The reason for the transfers is that state banks are more likely to have online banking in both English and Spanish and have more English speaking tellers to assist you.
A last word of advice on money matters in Costa Rica is to be wary when using credit cards and ATM cards. Although in the United States and other westernized countries it is a way of life, here it is not so common or a perfected process yet. Some stores will not be able to accept plastic and ATM fees can be up to 5 dollar charges a withdrawal. Additionally, credit card theft is high as the entire number of your card is printed on the signature receipts and store clerks often will steal your information. If you have to use plastic , make sure to cross out the last 4-8 digits of your number every time you sign so they cannot read it. If that makes you uncomfortable, simply use cash. Cash is better in the Costa Rican environment anyhow as bartering is a quite common way of life and works better with cash in your hand. |
Banking System 