Job Discussion Forums

Zorobabel · Joined: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 82

BCA is a crony bank that, prior to 1998, was majority owned by Suharto's children and later was almost fully owned by IBRA, which was one of the agencies through which the Suharto clan was able to secretly maintain their massive stock holdings after the collapse of the New Order. This is why you will find the service and professionalism to generally be substandard, since cronyism is imbedded in the company's culture despite it now having no majority shareholder. That so many employers require foreigners in Indonesia to hold accounts with BCA is...what?...depressing. I say this as a BCA account holder.

eddie honda · Joined: 18 Feb 2005 Posts: 59

use commonwealth bank for foreign currency accounts - i have always found them very professional and helpful. they even give you a personal banker who you can contact directly to ask any questions you might have, so u dont have to fanny about with some ludicrous automatic switchboard that has been designed by a simpleton. comm bank also offer better exchange rates than bca etc (these can also be 'negotiated' for better than published rates). u can open an account with a minimum of $1000.

on another note, bca did a mass cancellation of cards used in bali at the time of some atm scams - the problem is they didn't bother to inform those who were about to lose their access to money... most people found out about this when they tried to pay for something and were 'politely refused'... the customer is king eh...

Madame J · Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 2:04 pm Post subject:

So familiar. Every single time I've tried to bank with BCA I've been held up for at least another 20 minutes due to them quibbling over my signature (now that's a completely fraud proof security measure, eh). But then, I ought to consider myself lucky for the fact they even let me open an account at all-I had to return several times due to the signature issue, finally signing my name 15 times in front of three tellers. Perhaps it was my school's way of putting me in the perspective of my kindergarten students.

midwest-magpie · Joined: 01 Jun 2010 Posts: 11 Location: Indiana

What then, is the best solution for a newcomer?

The Wall Street Institute stipulates that it will help new teachers set up an account with BCA, and that it's "relatively cheap" to transfer money to my US account.

What, exactly, does having new US bills have to do with the banking process? I've read here a little that you might get better exchange rates for it, but to what extent does it affect bank transactions - like deposits?

I would rather not be that gullible new girl.... Wink

Fishy · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 138

I have used BCA for a few years and have never had a problem. Customer service has always been excellent and they are very cheap when sending money back home with only a 50,000rp charge.

Only problem I have experienced is the queues. Get down there when they open at 8.00am and this is not a problem.

Durian Tango · Joined: 05 Nov 2010 Posts: 65 Location: HCMC

I'm with Fishy. I've used BCA for 5 years now and while there are the occasional annoyances, in general they've treated me well. As Fishy notes, it's quite cheap to transfer money back home and the other thing I like about them is that they have more ATMs across the country than any other bank (if I'm not mistaken) - which can be very useful.

I will say that 1-3 years ago BCA wasn't as good, but over the last year or two, I've seen some big improvements. They've remodeled some of their offices, improved service and have friendly guards (at least at my local branch.

Yr of Living Dangerously · Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

I closed my BCA Dollar (i.e. $US) account soon after I discovered that you can only make withdraws from the branch where I first opened the account. I only discovered that after I had moved house. (They also only give out multiples of $US100, but that's a lesser issue).

I now have a $US account at Commonwealth Bank. They can give exact amounts (e.g. $289) with one working day's notice, plus some of their ATMs give out $US100 bills too.

gfisher · Joined: 16 Jul 2009 Posts: 20

Yr of Living Dangerously · Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

Hi gfisher,

Yes, they are the same and it seems most senior staff are on a sojourn from CB Australia.

At this stage, the only mutual benefits are cheaper withdrawals from the other country's ATMs. $A1.50 for Aussies in Indonesia, Rp10 000 for Indonesians in Australia.

They advertise a scheme for helping people moving to Australia (e.g. prospective university students) set up a bank account at CB Australia. I expect it would also be possible for expats returning home.

Unfortunately, they don't have a discount for international bank/telegraphic transfers between Indonesia and Australia. Before sending a larger amount, I did a trial send of $A200. Despite being promised that doing it online incurred no fees, only $165 got through to my Aussie bank account, and no one I asked at my branch could tell me why. So I just did a couple of large ATM withdrawals while in Australia, which was much cheaper.

To get one "free" international bank/telegraphic transfer per month (but see cautionary tale above), you have to have a CommPro account; last time I checked, the minimum balance was $5000.