Some progress at the bank

Warning: this is going to be a pretty dry blog entry - no pictures, no humor, no funny situations.  It does mark another way-point reached in obtaining our residency visa, however.  Today, we achieved something that we hadn't been able to do for two weeks: we started to make inroads at a bank.

We met our translator, Gaby, at Banco Pichincha next to the World Trade Center here in Guayaquil.  Gaby had come highly recommended by our facilitator, and she did quite well.  She is a native Ecuadorian who is studying towards her bachelors degree in English and is planning to get her masters degree abroad.

After waiting about 20 minutes to see a bank rep, Gaby and Emily sat at Carlos's desk while I stood behind them (the cubicle was quite small and only had two customer chairs).  We explained to Carlos that we wanted to open a savings account so that we could wire transfer money to the bank; we would then use that money to buy an investment CD, a requirement to obtain our investor's visa.  Carlos told us that we could not open a savings account for a number of reasons, many of which we had heard before.

Carlos then explained (with Gaby diligently translating) that we could put money directly into a deposit certificate that would satisfy our requirements.  We couldn't wire-transfer the money, however, so it would either have to be cash or personal check.  Since I wouldn't feel comfortable walking around with that much cash (not to mention it would take over a week to get that much from the ATM), Emily wrote a personal check to herself.

There were no forms to fill out for this purpose, however.  Carlos wrote up a letter stating that the check was for the purpose of obtaining a CD.  Emily signed the letter and the deposit slip, and we were able to have the check deposited!  We now have to wait 12 days for the check to clear; once it does, we'll have our CD.

Some additional notes for anyone else trying to do what we're doing:

• We brought color copies of our passports and an electric bill to show our address.  Carlos made copies for us, but we were prepared anyway.
• The only receipt we received was a little two-inch slip showing the very basic information.  It's not much more impressive than a gas pump receipt, but it'll do the job (I hope!).
• Banco Pichincha wasn't our top choice of banks (Banco Bolivariano and Banco de Guayaquil were), but they do seem to have the largest presence in Ecuador (at least on the coast).  Bank solvency is a issue; we avoided co-ops.
• The interest rate we're getting is 4.5%!  Somehow, we should be able to leverage that against a mortgage in the US and get property for free...
• We met with Carlos at 1:00p.  We didn't know this, but his lunch break was at 2:00p.  As we got closer to his lunch break, he started working much faster and making things happen.  I don't know to plan such a thing, though.
• Once the CD is opened, we will be able to open a savings account (with some additional documentation).  No checking accounts until we have our cedula, however.

Once we have the CD, we can file papers for our residency visa.  Progress is being made!