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[Hugeshark]

Just recieved my carnet!

Any recommendations on a good bank to use in Chile? And more importantly, any recommendations on the cheapest method of transferring the pesos I earn in Chile into my EEUU bank account?

THanX

[ghostdog]

If you have been here long enough to get a CI, then you're likely to have discovered how very difficult it is to open a bank account in Chile. I could enumerate the reasons, but I don't want to waste my breath.

About the only option open to a newbie that is likely not to give you ulcers (or require a huge deposit that the bank will hold indefinitely and/or permanent residency) is to open a Cuenta de RUT at Banco Estado. This is a very basic account but you get an ATM/debit card and can make deposits and withdrawals. The charges as I understand it are more or less limited to the services you actually use in a given month. And the only real requirement to open the account is that you have a RUT number (technically, you have a RUN number, but never mind -- they don't seem to care.)

It is theoretically possible to sign up via the Internet but I never managed to do so on my computer (one problem may be that it requires "both" of your surnames, and most gringos only have one.) Otherwise, you can go into a branch and ask them to process an application for you. It takes two to three weeks to receive the card.

Hope this helps. As for transferring money to Gringolandia, if you find out how to do it from a bank into an EEUU account, please PM me and let me know. Locals here invariably suggest Western Union, which isn't what I had in mind.

[mike30]

Whenever I transfered money home I did it through BanChile. You have to sign up for an account there, but it takes like 5 minutes. You should be able to take cash in there, sign up, and then she'll give you a paper to take to the Banco de Chile counter with your cash. Go to the Banco de Chile on the corner of El Bosque and Apoquindo, the Banchile desk is just left as you walk in the door. I forget the woman's name, but her last name is German and she was really helpful.

[novia]

I have been living in Chile for three years and I have never had a bank account and never needed one. Two schools I worked at who needed to deposit for me opened one and gave me a card and that was that. At the end they close the account. I have my bank account from Canada still which people from Canada can deposit etc... and I use my little interac card and voila!!!!! Pay pal sometimes can do international stuff too I think. I jsut get paid here usually always in cash and spend it or hide it. You won't make THAT much teaching English here in Chile to worry about it.

[capalito]

You dont need a bank account in Chile, besides, it is very expensive to transfer money to a foreign bank account. For small amounts I recommend using Western Union.

[mike30]

It isn't expensive at all to transfer with BanChile as long as you're transfering at least $1000, it's like 17000 pesos or something like that. So if you waited to transfer at least $2000 then 30 bucks is hardly anything. That's pretty much a standard rate anywhere worldwide.

I would argue with the idea that you don't need a bank account. It's expensive to continually use a foreign ATM card, not to mention not all ATMs in Chile will accept them whereas you can use a Banco de Chile card anywhere. Plus you can use the RedBanc card just like a debit card, and having a checkbook is nice as well, for paying rent, etc.

Of course you could get by with an account one, but it's a royal hassle. What if you're going to take a trip of any reasonable length outside of Chile? You can't just carry $2000 cash on you through Brazil?