MY Experience Updating My Bank Information in Costa Rica

 

I went to Banco Nacional today (Friday - December 27, 2013) to find out the actual SCOOP on what I needed to get my bank account up-to-date so they wouldn't close it the beginning of the year 2014. 



I spoke with a branch manager so I could get FACTS (we'll his version of them) thinking I'd need to come back with all the stuff people were saying was needed but since I don't keep much $$ in my bank account in Costa Rica, I was done in 30 minutes!!!



First off, this is per this story -

LivingLifeInCostaRica.blogspot.com/2013/12/GetUrBankInfoInNOWCR.html)

So how it worked for ME/people in MY category - people that don't have much $$ in their bank accounts in Costa Rica (and of course, this IS Costa Rica so you may have a TOTALLY different experience) was:



If you have LESS than $1,000 a MONTH in ALL your COMBINED accountS - you do NOT NOT NOT need to spend the $40-$80+ to get a Financial Declaration from a CPA!!!



ALL I needed was my ORIGINAL passport and my last 6 months bank statement from my U.S. bank and I verbally told him where my $$ was coming from (since it's not made in Costa Rica), updated my email address and phone number and signed some form (oops - I just realized I didn't read it - oh well!!  I guess that was that "Know Your Customer" form. Hopefully I didn't sign my $35 in the account away!).



That means if you have OVER $1,000 a MONTH - COMBINED in ALL of your accounts you WILL NEED to bring PROOF of where your $$$ comes from.  Now this part is conflicting as I've seen that only people with bank accounts in a corporations name MUST get the CPA "letter" but MY understanding of what he said sounded like if your $$ source was not so clear cut as say Social Security, etc. then you must get that CPA letter (basically proving you're not a money laundering, drug dealing, terrorist like we seem to all be treated like these days)!

ALL people with bank accounts in Costa Rica NEED to at least UPDATE their bank information - Tico's as well as ExPats!!

WHEN DO I NEED TO COMPLETE THIS BY?

We're SUPPOSED to do it BY years end (2013) - which for Banco Nacional is MONDAY - December 30 as they'll be closed on December 31 and January 1, 2014.




Now, what actually happens after that (meaning will they actually start closing people's accounts that have not complied with this new rule and if so, WHEN??) is anyone's guess BUT - I took it SERIOUSLY after having some accounts (that I wasn't really using anyways) closed down because I didn't want to spend the $$ to get that similar statement from a CPA a couple years ago when they first did this, plus I got a colon account closed down for 90 days of inactivity and I didn't want to spend that $ for a CPA's letter.



Do what ya want with this info - this was just MY experience today (and a friend that went with me) and I'm stickin' to it!!!




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LivingLifeInCostaRica.blogspot.com/2013/12/ExperienceUpdatingBankInfo.html

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