Bills, bureaucracy and banking

22nd May 2024

“I think we need a local bank account” it seems obvious. Actual logistics, practicalities and day to day things, how do we pay the gardener, the pool man, the utilities?

We both have banked with the same bank since we were 18, things have changed. Money laundering, scamming, identity fraud, generally nicking – it’s all much more rife, more sophisticated. We appreciate It’s more difficult to prove who you are and they want to know where the money is coming from, there are more hoops to jump through. All fair enough. Surely we just jump through the hoops give them what they need and Bob’s your uncle.

So we start our research. We have some definite no gos, then there are the banks that don’t accept foreign nationals, then the ones with high charges and the ones with limits on foreign transactions. Surely we want a Barbados bank. Ideally we want to be able to open it online before we go so we can be operational pretty quickly after we complete the purchase. That rules out a few more options. We join local Facebook forums “Expats in Barbados” and ask the question. Unanimously people are disappointed with service they get. However we get a couple of recommendations.

We decide to divide and conquer.

Bank 1 – A request to open a bank account on an online form goes in. They want a few details, all above board. The site is obviously live we get an automatic reply “we will attempt to reply to your request in 3 working days”

Bank 2 – They want to engage with you in an online meeting. Thank you for your email the case ID xxxxx has been created please supply XYZ as well as inside leg measurement, shoe size and certificate of proof of clean feet etc. We comply! “We will respond within 48 business hours”.

So we wait, until the end of May. Nothing.

Mid June it’s now 13 working days and 91 business hours. We try Bank 3.

Bank 3 – it’s all online. Much more detailed, uploading all the documents they want seems very seamless. They want an introduction from our current bank (that was a bit scary as they think we are dealing with Wendy and Marty but apparently we are off the hook now!!). It feels like we are getting somewhere. SUBMIT! Done. “Thank you for choosing xxxx we will respond in 3 business days” That old chestnut!!

Well lo and behold they do respond – and apologise that it’s not within 3 days. Refreshing! After a few more uploads and huffing and puffing our application is provisionally approved – we still need to present all our measurements in person when we are on island!

Who knows how long it will take to get the debit card!

September 8th – still nothing from Banks 1 & 2!!!