Trying to get a bank account in the US is easy. As long as you have a SSN and some money, you can get a bank account within hours. And, then they practically give credit cards away. Trying to get a bank account in Chile is much more difficult (does that surprise anyone?). Even for a Chilean, it's like you have to know someone. Even then, it takes weeks, even months. So, as an extranjero, we almost wrote off getting a local bank account altogether, but the banking fees were really adding up. Since there was no BOA here every time we withdraw cash we pay a fee. We are able to use our credit card for most things without any type of fee, but it still doesn't eliminate the need for cash.
To get a Chilean bank account, we needed some kind of "in", a RUT number, and 3-6 months worth of pay stubs. As well as time. And lots of emails and meetings with a bank representative. So, how do we get an "in"? Well, Steve's company has contacts at various banks, but they are all in Santiago, so unfortunately, we couldn't utilize them since we literally have to go into the banking office - nothing can be done solely via the internet/phone. We had heard that we needed a "sponsor" to get an "in" - someone who already had a bank account to basically introduce us to the bank rep. Well, we were getting annoyed with the system, so one day Steve just went to a few different banks and plead his case blindly. The people he saw all basically said the same thing - oh, we have to contact our head bank in Santiago to see if we are open to taking a foreigner who works for that company. Well, because this is Chile, I assumed that was just a no. However, surprise surprise, we lucked out and one person actually got back to us that very same day no less! Steve had to email her a bunch of copies of things, and in about a week he went in to sign a ton of things, and we had a bank account as well as a credit line. Awesome, right? That's what I thought too. However, here's the catch. Now we have to activate the credit card and the debit card. They told Steve all he had to do was go to the ATM to activate it the next day before 2pm. Well, I went at 11am the next day, and it didn't work. So, I had to talk with the rep and she said oh, something is wrong with the system, it was suppose to be yesterday, you'll have to come back tomorrow. So, I came back then. Still not working. This time I brought both kids. Still not working. She says "Email me on Monday since you have kids".
Two weeks later Steve goes to talk to her and finally, miraculously, they are activated. Still missing my credit card, but that's ok. Now we need to put money into the account. We wire money from our bank in the US, which is very doable, all you need to know is the SWIFT code (usually easy to find online or on the bank's website). However, what we didn't realize, is that Chile is a "slow-to-pay" country. This basically means it is going to take a long time to get your money, and you will have to jump through hoops to get it. Two weeks later, after filling out another form and having a random man come to our house at a random day and time to make sure it was in fact us who were living at our address, we got our money. OK, now we officially have a usable Chilean bank account. WOOT WOOT!
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