Banks Requiring Life Insurance Policy To Open Account?

[americas]

Thank you, Steve. This is very helpful. I think I'll be banking with them as they were very kind. I just needed to check some things out first and make sure this was legit. As systems are different here than what I'm used to I just didn't want to rush into anything that wasn't above board without doing a bit more research. I admit I was a bit overwhelmed so said I'd be back next week. Your answer makes clear what I was wondering about. They may have been offering a credit card account rather than simple savings. I wasn't sure I was able to get that as a temporary resident on a rentista visa, so assumed it was for basic savings account and felt a bit uneasy. While I wasn't needing a credit card, it could be useful to build credit. Will go back with a bit of clarity and my wits about me and speak to the teller again.

Sorry Steve I should have made clear that I was asking OP. I was asking Paige. They said here that they are on temporary residency and I might be misunderstanding whether they've actually opened the bank account with Santander or not. The fact that they were signing papers means that they got further than I did, though.

 

[Paige55]

Sorry Steve I should have made clear that I was asking OP. I was asking Paige. They said here that they are on temporary residency and I might be misunderstanding whether they've actually opened the bank account with Santander or not. The fact that they were signing papers means that they got further than I did, though.

Hi, Americas. I didn't end up opening one yet but Santander Rio said they can open one for me with temporary residency (DNI and CUIL). I went to the office on Santa Fe in Recoleta. But the other day I was at the office on Maria Campos to ask a quick question and a couple ahead of me were there to open an account and the woman just asked if they had their passport or DNI. You are only offered a 'caja de ahorros' though with a debit card. You can't get an account with a credit line from what I understand. Just a basic savings/debit card. It's the only bank I've inquired as something else came up but perhaps if you go into the branch they can be of better help in person? The clerk on Santa Fe was really nice and seemed she could have opened it for me as she only asked I had my DNI/CUIL. They presented me papers that I would need to fill out and sign and one was what seemed a life insurance account and that's when I said I'd need to think and I'd go back once I was sure. Hope this helped a bit.

 

[americas]

Thanks for the info. I did go to the branch which is where they told me that I needed permanent residency, although they did say conflicting things on different days so I'll try again and ask clearly about the caja de ahorros with a debit card. There aren't many foreigners here so Buenos Aires services would be more primed for handling us (although the BBVA page confirms that some banks do have a restriction).

 

[americas]

Update: I was able to open an account, but Tucuman has little experience with foreigners so the confusion and delay was simply because they didn't know about the FATCA form (I told them FATCA was probably the missing step). Once they got clarification from HQ they were able to process it. Banks in Buenos Aires probably know what to do already. Many banks just turned me down until one was patient enough to figure it out with me and it took several visits and several hours. Their websites and internal tools all say that Temporary Resident visas can't open accounts but the supervisors were able to. Thanks for all the information!