Opening A Bank Account

[TruchoTango]

The new requirement for the residencia rentista is an argentine bank account.

I have been to four banks now and have been turned down by all of them.

They all seem want slightly different things, but the biggest sticking point has been the fact that I don't have argentine income.

I provided my income verification, which I used to procure my residencia rentista, but such income is not compliant with what they want.

Does anyone know of an argentine bank that caters to foreigners with my type of situation?

Alternatively, does anyone have any suggestions, perhaps a bank that has laxer standards than the others?

The lower the standards the better. LOL.

Too bad there isn't a Wells Fargo branch in Buenos Aires. They would give me a savings account, then without my knowledge, a checking account, a credit card, a mortgage...

 

[steveinbsas]

Please post the names and the branch locations that turned you down. It will probably save others some time.

Have you tried Banco Patagonia?

 

[ElQueso]

This is not a new requirement - I've had my residency for some 7 years and I had to have a bank account. It's possible that they only recently started pushing/enforcing it, although I was told when I applied for my residency that I had to have a bank account. I got residency through being married to a permanent resident (who is from a Mercosur country, how she got hers), not the rentista or any other kind that would make sense, to me, to have to have a bank account.

At the time, I went to a number of banks myself and was denied for the same reasons - bienvenido a la Argentina I got my residency via a lawyer, and this was one of the many reasons I did so. To be fair, 7 years ago it was a much longer and somewhat more difficult process than it is now (we've gotten residency for a number of my wife's family over the last 5 years or so, without any help, and things have been seriously opened up and streamlined since I got mine).

But I went to my lawyer after being rejected many times and told him I couldn't get a bank account opened anywhere (I went to a number of different banks, don't remember all of them now). He made an appointment with me the following day to accompany me to Banco Galicia and we opened my account. He knew the manager there, but he told me that "sometimes" you have to force the banks to do what they should do freely.

Galicia was one of the banks I'd visited before I got my lawyer involved, BTW.

 

[Irelander]

Anyone who's tried to open a 'cuenta universal gratuita' for their domestic employee will know what the banks are like on these kind of issues. Even if the prospective client is fully entitled by a very specific law, if they don't think there's profit in it for them they'll say whatever to make you go away.

 

[nikad]

Go to banco Ciudad ask to open a Free Savings Account http://srvdocs2.bancociudad.com.ar/Content/Personas/Cuentas/01%20CAJA%20DE%20AHORRO%20GRATIS%20Requisitos_1(2).pdf

 

[AmigoArtistico]

nikad, the link is bad.

 

[nikad]

nikad, the link is bad.

Here it is again, sorry about that: http://www.bancociud...e-ahorro-gratis

 

[Rich One]

Here it is again, sorry about that: http://www.bancociud...e-ahorro-gratis

Many bank clerks claim to ignore the existence of Cuenta Débito Unica Universal Gratuita..... B)

 

[nikad]

Many bank clerks claim to ignore the existence of Cuenta Débito Unica Universal Gratuita..... B)

That kind of account does not exist anymore, what you can now get for free is a basic and regular savings account in pesos with no limits or fees. I think banco Ciudad is one of the easiest ones to go and get one because its former president is now president of the Central Bank and they really are pushing banks to open free accounts to encourage people to operate within the financial system. Being the city's bank is the one the is fully aligned with Macri's guidelines, etc.

 

[Rich One]

That kind of account does not exist anymore, what you can now get for free is a basic and regular savings account in pesos with no limits or fees. I think banco Ciudad is one of the easiest ones to go and get one because its former president is now president of the Central Bank and they really are pushing banks to open free accounts to encourage people to operate within the financial system. Being the city's bank is the one the is fully aligned with Macri's guidelines, etc.

All Savings accounts are now cost free as the Universal Gratuita...!! They became one and the Same...

http://www.telam.com.ar/notas/201603/140385-caja-de-ahorro-gratis-banco-central.html